Technology has played a very important role in the process of NatWest CricketForce@Sawley & Long Eaton Park Cricket Club from using the www.play-cricket.com database to www.twitter.com and www.blogger.com.
The launch meeting did not generate an attendance which our membership should have produced. One of the issues was we did not have membership details to contact them electronically. In the knowledge we would have to revisit the membership through another meeting we set about cleansing, updating and redesigning our www.play-cricket.com member’s database. We chose to use that database because it was relatively simple to classify people, dividing them into meaningful groups, in our case – seniors [65], juniors [88], supporters [55], vice-presidents [24] and partners [28].
FREE to most cricket clubs |
Apart from the quantity of people we could now communicate with we were also able to send ‘specially designed messages’ to each group including points relevant and appropriate for a particular group [e.g. partners]
The club revitalised its Facebook group page with postings about NatWest CricketForce. As the group grew, while all sections of the club membership was representated, it was apparent that teenagers were significant users of Facebook – traditionally a group which the club found difficult to engage with.
The immediate posting of news items on Facebook brought excitement to NatWest CricketForce and helped build and maintain momentum for the event. Asking members to post NatWest CricketForce postings on their ‘wall’ took our message to a wider audience, engaged these members in the event process and making it a topic of conversation through the Facebook ‘comments’ facility.
Shows club as modern and up to date |
The realisation about the impact of new technology prompted the club to open a twitter account and send tweets [only 140 characters] of significant events – in the end 20 people were following our every move. Tweets convey excitement while the spread of smart phones means followers receive the message immediately on their handset. Like Facebook it requires nothing more than investment in time, and provides another opportunity to acknowledge partner donations and member contributions. Additionally it can be used to direct followers to other news sources for more detailed analysis and information. Incidentally Tweets and Facebook postings can be sent simultaneously using an application called www.tweetdeck.com
Helps people understand the club. |
Simple to set up - only takes 10 minutes |
In conclusion, while the impact of each medium is worthwhile, it is making them work in combination [i.e. using tweets to direct followers to other news sources] which brings more dividends to the effective use of communications technology. It is also likely to be a significant legacy of NatWest CricketForce@Sawley & Long Eaton Park CC.
As at 13 March 2011 - 1,110 emails sent, 1,022 hits on the event blog, 60 members on club's Facebook page [started NWCF with just 28] and 59 tweets completed to 18 foloowers.
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