In September 2020 we formed a Publicity Committee to coordinate better our output for our website, local newspapers, Facebook and Instagram. Increasing our audience on Facebook was top priority, for which we successfully bid for a District Public Image match funded grant grant
The main drive of our Facebook activity is a campaign called "Around the Town with Northallerton Rotary Club" to promote and support small local independent businesses. Fortnightly interviews with business owners or managers are recorded on Zoom and posted on Facebook.
Each interview has been viewed by between 2,000 and 4,000 people. We have increased to 620 regular followers on Facebook, and our Facebook boost advertisements (the subject of our District matching grant) have been seen 136,000 times. We have also posted some short videos about our Club, and similar summaries of our Club's activities are sent by email to those seeking information on Rotary and the Club, using an auto responder on our website.
As a result, we have gained two new members and another is on the verge of joining. While new members are a welcome outcome of this publicity drive, it is equally important that we have greatly broadened our reach in terms of spreading the word about Rotary, and we are convinced that this will bear further fruit in future.
We are now building an audience on Instagram, with 130 followers so far, and expected to rise quickly.
Find out more about Northallerton Rotary:
Rotary Club of Northallerton | Facebook
Rotary Club of Northallerton | Founded in 1947 and still going strong (northallertonrotary.org.uk)