golf clubs and social media

[MikeH]

Hi all

We are putting together a piece on the use of social media by golf clubs and keen to get some views and feedback from the forum

• Is it something clubs should be doing or not bothering with
• How do you currently get your club info - noticeboard, hard copy letters, email newsletters, social? Does current method that work for you
• What’s the best channel(s) to use - twitter, Facebook, Instagram
• Is your club on social media? If so what sort of content do they post
• What do you think is 'good/useful/engaging' social content from clubs - comp results, course updates, reminders on social events
• Any good clubs you follow (that you're not a member of) - what sort of stuff do they post
• Any horror stories

Any input much appreciated!
Thanks
Mike

 

[Simbo]

We have a Facebook page for both juniors and seniors. The junior section Facebook page is very active and is constantly going the adults page is poor It's only really used for promoting the clubhouse events, results and things like that. There's no actual banter between members and stuff like that
Golf clubs are stuck in the dark ages regarding technology. If you post something on a clubs twitter feed/Facebook page how long is acceptable to wait for a reply?
On my short game lesson thread I asked for recommendations for coaches, received 6 or so recommendations and I emailed them all, to which I received 0 replies. Even mailed them on a few of their own sites-no reply. I'll also add here this happens a lot and isn't exclusive to golf clubs.
Last night I also posted on the Nairn and murcar Links twitter feed, no replies yet
Which begins the discussion, what's the point in having them if you're not going to reply??
So regarding social media/email/technology 0 replies from 8 for me in the last 2 weeks or so. Dreadful!

 

[Junior]

• How do you currently get your club info - noticeboard, hard copy letters, email newsletters, social? Does current method that work for you

I get pretty much all of our club info from the ‘members’ section of the website. Competition results, council minutes, general news, clubhouse events etc. We do have a twitter account but it is rarely used. The facebook page is becoming increasingly popular thanks to the growth of our junior section.

• What’s the best channel(s) to use - twitter, Facebook, Instagram
Varies dependent upon the user really. Social media wise for me, its twitter, then facebook, then instagram. However, the best communication medium for me is email as I check daily.

• Is your club on social media? If so what sort of content do they post
Yes. Mostly we use facebook and its pictures of our junior section taking lessons with Andrew Murray and the fantastic junior organisers we have. Course / members photo’s are also posted (both old and new). It really only started last year though.

• What do you think is 'good/useful/engaging' social content from clubs - comp results, course updates, reminders on social events

To be honest, anything photographical is engaging. Pictures of the course, clubhouse, members and special events get my attention. For comp results I would always use the members area of the website.

• Any good clubs you follow (that you're not a member of) - what sort of stuff do they post

I follow a few courses around the North West and S&A and Fairhaven are quite active regarding posting course pictures and maintenance work that is going on at the course. Dan Webster (pro at SAOL) is very good at promoting the club through twitter. This time of year, you usually just get courses saying if they are open or not though J

• Any horror stories – Non that jump to mind.

 

[fundy]

Yes its a medium clubs should be using
Our current info is by noticeboard, a monthly newsletter posted on the club website and there is an unofficial facebook page where info is shared plus a large dose of "banter"
Facebook would work best of the options for me, ideally with a page which has both formal and informal sections
Think the bare minimum should include; course conditions and trolley status, calendar, link to tee booking system, a feedback/comments section, comp results, upcoming social events and any other club news as well as an area for members to post/chat/debate
With regard to horror stories, our website is up there sadly, as a proprietary club, with a technophobe owner, any attempts to change/improve it from the committee have disappointingly been futile

 

[beachbunker]

Just focussing on that bullet about good/useful/engaging content, what about tips and tricks?

Video is big on social, especially Facebook and Instagram, so maybe the club pro could post videos offering advice? Or even, use Facebook Live to host a live Q&A. That would be awesome!

 

[Deleted member 1147]

• Is it something clubs should be doing or not bothering with
- Yes, a good idea to pass details to both member and non-members alike. Cheap, quick and unobtrusive

• How do you currently get your club info - noticeboard, hard copy letters, email newsletters, social? Does current method that work for you
- my club uses a weekly emailed newsletter (which is also put up on the website), twitter and noticeboards - seems to work pretty well.

• What’s the best channel(s) to use - twitter, Facebook, Instagram
- I think anything you can look at when not actually on that platform is best, ie, I'm not on twitter, but can read posts and get info without "logging on"

• Is your club on social media? If so what sort of content do they post
- Yes, Kedleston uses Twitter
• What do you think is 'good/useful/engaging' social content from clubs - comp results, course updates, reminders on social events
- course updates, social events and general advertising (photos, news of upcoming events etc)

• Any good clubs you follow (that you're not a member of) - what sort of stuff do they post
- occisionally look at other clubs - I like to see course photos and news of events which may interest me - Opens etc

• Any horror stories
- No

Hope that helps

 

[Deleted member 21258]

• Is it something clubs should be doing or not bothering with........Yes I think, could just be simple stuff, like course being open, comps off due to weather etc. As well as showing details/pictures of the course to non members

• How do you currently get your club info - noticeboard, hard copy letters, email newsletters, social? Does current method that work for you..........No hard letters, the rest a bit of all. Generally works for me

• What’s the best channel(s) to use - twitter, Facebook, Instagram.......I don't have/follow any of those, but I do have the clubs facebook page saved so I look at that on a weekly basis

• Is your club on social media? If so what sort of content do they post.....not much at all, sometimes if the course is closed or a comp is off and sometimes who has won something, but they are fairly hit and miss on facebook

• What do you think is 'good/useful/engaging' social content from clubs - comp results, course updates, reminders on social events.....yes all would be good apart from probably comp results as these are on HDID and posted on the noticeboards. Would be good to see a list of events online somewhere and better course updates online. If I did book tee times, then online would be handy as well.

• Any good clubs you follow (that you're not a member of) - what sort of stuff do they post....do not follow any other clubs, to be honest I just don't know why I would, unless I was going to play there and looking for deals or the condition of the course.

• Any horror stories....none heard of

 

[Slab]

I think there’s a key aspect that needs to be considered by clubs when using social media and that is the expectations of those who contribute

Even from the first reply (and without criticism) there’s ref to a post somewhere last night and by 11:30am today there’s no reply and it doesn’t meet the expectation, when the post has been there less than 3 ‘office hours’

I doubt clubs will ever have the resource or member support to keep pace with the real-time demands users have

It’s all well and good clubs using facebook/twitter as all the development has been done and clubs just have to register for a free account but there are hidden costs in the damage to reputation/lost business if they can’t reply pdq or maintain activity

The response bar has been sent by big business with entire teams to manage social media where replies are measured in minutes but a pro may well take a couple of days or more if he’s got lessons or comps etc blocking a day or two that limits his ‘online time’ to maybe just a few minutes a day

The above coupled with the clubs that just don’t reply or maintain their websites (including one I use) means they basically fall into a state of disrepair but are there for the world to see

Dammed if you do dammed if you don't

 

[Maninblack4612]

Our club has a website on which the "latest news" is posted. Poor format with static front page & hard to navigate. The club also has a Facebook page where members can only comment on items posted by the club. This is not widely used & hardly at all for marketing. This is a shame because other clubs I know have reached thousands of potential customers at minimal cost by promoting & sharing their Facebook page. Our Committee have no idea.

A while ago I started a club Facebook group, which grew to around 100 members. Unfortunately it was mostly used by a small number of members, who managed to upset the head greenkeeper, Honorary Secretary & the catering staff. I eventually closed it down. We also, for a time, had a forum, which was used by the same few for the same purpose & the Committee shut that down too.

Don't know whether our experience is typical but it seems that any medium that invites the participation of members just attracts people willing to criticise & contribute nothing.

 

[devonlad]

Is it something clubs should be doing or not bothering with - 100%
• How do you currently get your club info - noticeboard
• What’s the best channel(s) to use - Facebook
• Is your club on social media? Not a member
• What do you think is 'good/useful/engaging' social content from clubs - comp results, course updates, reminders on social events - All
• Any good clubs you follow (that you're not a member of) - No
• Any horror stories - Emailed 4 local clubs about member ships fees over 4 weeks ago...still no response from anyone

 

[Simbo]

I wasn't digging at murcar or Nairn, it was at the others who have had 2 weeks or so and never bothered to answer. For the record, I think 3 days is a reasonable amount of time for a club to reply. A week is a bit much, anything over that is nonsense. If you want to have a presence on social media you need to keep on top of it or people will just stop using it.
The thing with golf clubs and social media is clubs are generally run by an older generation who aren't as social media active all the time as much as the younger generation.

 

[Fish]

• Is it something clubs should be doing or not bothering with

Yes they should be making themselves as visible as possible using all the social platforms available to them, after-all, you can link most of them automatically to each other so it's not a lot of hard or repetitive work, if work at all!

• How do you currently get your club info - noticeboard, hard copy letters, email newsletters, social? Does current method that work for you

We get a mix of communication dependent on its content. General information that comes from the office will be via email, more less time sensitive or general notices go on the various boards around the club. Very little comes through Twitter or Facebook with any degree of regularity or substance. It could and should be a lot better!

• What’s the best channel(s) to use - twitter, Facebook, Instagram

As I've stated, you can link most if not all of them together automatically anyway so there's no excuse IMO to not feature across all platforms creating greater visibility.

• Is your club on social media? If so what sort of content do they post

They have a Twitter & Facebook account and both are very poorly used. I will explain further on.

• What do you think is 'good/useful/engaging' social content from clubs - comp results, course updates, reminders on social events

Everything can be bullet pointed or explained in detail with supporting photographs in say Facebook and then automatically link it in brief to the other platforms to create more visibility. Course updates are a must, comp results, social events, a welcome to societies or visitors with their times & playing numbers which equally informs us as members if the course is busy.

• Any good clubs you follow (that you're not a member of) - what sort of stuff do they post

I follow a lot of Greens staff on Twitter who post their work and activities which I think is excellent. There are a lot of proactive clubs that post almost daily with deals or simple reminders of forthcoming open comps or just pictures of their course to entice you.

• Any horror stories

No

Further information:

I contacted my club secretary over a year go and offered my services as I recognised we didn't have anyone in a 'Press Officer' or 'Marketing' position and I volunteered my services. I put together a detailed letter of what I would or could do to create greater visibility for the club. The secretary thanked me and passed it on to the relevant committee!

I was contacted about 4 weeks later to attend a meeting with 2 committee members, I laid out what I would and could do in the meeting and they duly took notes, unfortunately due to their age I might as well have been talking in Arabic!

They then came back to meet about 3 weeks later asking me to put a Powerpoint Presentation together for the next committee meeting so everyone could understand! I immediately got back to them stating they were overcomplicating this and that I would bullet point all the duties I was happy to cover for all the departments of the the club which wasn't currently being done in any way.

I then heard nothing for 2 months when out of the blue the VC contacted me and invited me to another meeting (4th) where I presented to him everything again both verbally and in writing what I was prepared to take on for the club.

Approximately 2 months later when speaking to a department head I heard third hand that the committee had decided on giving every department head access to all the social platforms and informed them it was their responsibility to report things in association with their departments. Nobody ever got back to me after that meeting with the VC!

I had attended 4 meetings, presented many documents and informed them all what I could do for the club, and.........nobody had the common decency to say, 'thanks but we're going to try this or that and if that fails we may come back to you but thanks for all your highlights and ideas', what I got was squat and will never put myself forward for anything again!

Nothing has changed, in fact if anything it's now worse as you have more people with access to a couple of social media sites and nothing of substance is being reported with any degree of regularity.

:rant:

 

[Deleted member 15717]

• Is it something clubs should be doing or not bothering with
Yes, absolutely. 21st century and all that. Can easily update with course closures, events etc and takes less time than to send an email

• How do you currently get your club info - noticeboard, hard copy letters, email newsletters, social? Does current method that work for you
Email newsletters from our club manager have really improved the communication. A weekly bulletin of what is occurring, societies visiting etc, and then a momthly newsletter. Also get regular email updates on important news items

• What’s the best channel(s) to use - twitter, Facebook, Instagram
All of the above. Twitter and Facebook for news. Instagram can be used to post photos of around the course.

• Is your club on social media? If so what sort of content do they post
Yes. One of the greenkeepers runs it to the best of his ability, although think some others in the office have access (may not know what they're doing though!). The main club account tweets updates on course closures, information etc. Good source of information. Our Greenstaff also have their own twitter feed with news on whats going on, on course, as well as sharing photos from around the course (which go on IG too)

• What do you think is 'good/useful/engaging' social content from clubs - comp results, course updates, reminders on social events
All of the above. As much info as van be given is always useful. It's a major marketing tool

• Any good clubs you follow (that you're not a member of) - what sort of stuff do they post
Hadley Wood GC, Emirates GC. Mainly for the photos!

 

[full_throttle]

i update the Facebook page, normally to advise of course closure due to competitions or to post results, some members use it to ask questions, the chairman looks in regularly so gets involved when required