MSTA on Twitter

[RIDEMYST]

It’s certainly worth the try! Nothing drives me more nuts than someone saying “this is the way we’ve always done it!”
That said, perhaps on these sites (as I believe we did on Facebook) direct users to our MSTA homepage and forum. -JEP-


Oh yeah.....our Smugmug site too!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[STLTHMSTA]

As a guy who at one time only used the "List" (remember that?) I managed to navigate through the forum. I'm not looking forward to the social media onslaught because it may be more traffic than I could handle. But it'll be what it'll be. Wish me luck. :^)   TM

[Patmo]

perhaps on these sites (as I believe we did on Facebook) direct users to our MSTA homepage and forum. -JEP-
Oh yeah.....our Smugmug site too!

Absolutely!  Twitter and such things are like headlines on news feed.  The objective is to get someone to click on the link that takes them to the story...or in our case, the forum and website....for more information.

[normkern]

The Facebook group has 1200 members and someone estimated that only about 400 of them actually belong to the club. Is that some sort of problem or sign of failure? No.

The non-members who join and hang out in our FB group get daily exposure to MSTA culture, club members, knowledge of what events are happening, where and when. They get to see pics and postings of members at events, having dinner together, riding interesting roads, their bikes, etc. EVERY DAY.

It is precisely this repetition that makes the club become familiar to newcomers. It enables them to comment on posts, ask questions and become part ot the conversation. Over time, newcomers and members friend each other and become better acquainted.

Very few will join and pay dues UNLESS they are motivated enough to attend an event in person. If it's an event that requires registration, they become a full member of the club for a year. If the event turns out to be great fun and they enjoy the company of members they now get to meet in person and ride with, they spread the word to other friends, who proceed much faster in the membership process because they have a good friend who is already a member to go with.

For many, it is hard to get days off from work to go to events, so they might hang out on the FB group for a year or more before the stars align and they get to attend an event. It's a process, and it involves repetition. The people on the MSTA FB group are on FB for lots of other reasons- keeping up with family and friends etc, but every time someone posts in the group, that person gets a notification, so they get constant reminders to click and see what is going on. That daily repetition builds familiarity andf interest that converts MSTA FB members into real club members.

When new people show up at an event, it is the organizer and other attendees' responsibility to seal the deal by making sure the new person has an experience that makes their continued membership and participation a no-brainer. With that in mind, I worked my butt off on FlyBy Week to make it a memorable riding and social opportunity. I got 7 new members and there were others who had joined earlier and came to FBW as their first event.

Will England is welcoming new people to the MSTA FB group every week, and the numbers are accelerating. IMHO, it is our best source of prospects. Let's engage with them and convert them to members!

Norm Kern

[Brick]

Very Interesting!!I'm not a Twitterer... is that a word? I'm not ruling it out but I seem to be on this stupid phone more than I like/want already!
I think Pat is on the right track and Norm hit it on the head! What he said is one of the things I have always preached... It takes some personal touch/work to get and keep members! Step up and introduce yourself to riders at our events that you don't know. The club officers has been promoting this for years but it really needs to come from you the member.
As an event coordinator I think about these new media venues and try to figure out how I can use them to promote my event. However, I'm in a particular interesting situation with the Big Lynn Lodge in that The Big Lynn Lodge ONLY has 42 room and thus a limited number of beds. This has it's good and bad points. There are many positive reasons I intend on keeping this at the Big Lynn Lodge. One very interesting situation occurred a the second year. As Members left after the event all were making reservations for the following year. Thus NO different members could ever get a room. So I got lots of complaints. Ok so the solution I came up with is I don't release the rooms until some undisclosed date after January 1st. This does two things 1) allows other members to get a room at the Big Lynn Lodge and 2) The only place I post the date the rooms will be released is on the Forum and the Website (if I can coordinate this properly) thus encouraging members to use those two. I'm not using these other platforms thus I'm not posting there. I really don't want to start using those other social media outlets. So I guess I'll be leaving them out. I still sell out my event and always have a few who can't get a room at the Lodge but do get rooms at the 3 overflow hotels all within 3 miles of the Big Lynn Lodge.
Side note: I have tried and tried to get the release date in the STAReview but really want all locations to be coordinated so that all CAN find out on the same day. Never has this been possible.

I say all this to point out that each event/venue has it's on uniqueness.

I'm really glad that Pat is working on this AND I really appreciate all that Norm has done for this club recently! Bob, I can't thank you enough for all the online stuff you have done and are doing. You are THE MAN! 
Ok, my rant OFF... back to your regularly scheduled program!
Brick

[Rayk86ss]

From David Burge, "The three possible states of human existence, ranked in descending level of happiness:

1. Having better things to do than Twitter

2. Not having better things to do than Twitter

3. Having better things to do than Twitter, but going on Twitter anyway"