How does your Cycling Club work online?

[Boopop]

My club (http://lbrcc.com/) currently has a single facebook group, which is public. We also have mailchimp set up so we can email our members.

We're considering how we can make it all a bit more organised so posts don't get buried. So far we've almost reached a consensus on adding a second private fb group for private club matters, like kit orders. Also we'll start making use of fb's event function more regularly, and I think everyone agrees we need a calendar on our website for those who don't use facebook. I'd quite like a forum of some description but I get the impression the people in the club I'm talking to about it aren't too keen!

Anyway, down to the question at hand...how does your club do it? facebook and Forum? Just facebook? Just a forum? Please feed me your ideas on how your club does it, so ours, a growing club, can improve how we serve our members.

Cheers!

 

[mjr]

We've a WordPress website, Facebook page, Facebook group, email lists and still some posted as paper AFAIK. Rides are posted to the website, Facebook group events and if we have time, ride social, street life and the BBC.

 

[Racing roadkill]

I've got no idea. I turn up at the shop at 9:30 on a Sunday, and we go for a ride. I'm a Ludite, they know this.

 

[derrick]

Facebook open. Facebook ride leaders closed. A web page and a forum. At the moment we are trying to get everyone on to the forum, But facebook is so easy.
Plenty of choice, Facebook is winning at the moment.
http://forum.cc-london.com/

 

[mjr]

Thing is, Facebook is like so many of these advertising-supported services. They might cripple you at the drop of a hat if you rely on them and when they do, good luck getting anything like a human answer from someone there.

(I've not had trouble with Facebook yet, but I've been learnt this the hard way from a few other "free" services.)

There's already significant minorities of "faceblocked" people and the site has growing spam and troll problems that come in waves. Rely on your own website. Anything else is just a nice extra to use while they last.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Meetup
There's an annual fee though.

 

[Pale Rider]

Thing is, Facebook is like so many of these advertising-supported services. They might cripple you at the drop of a hat if you rely on them and when they do, good luck getting anything like a human answer from someone there.

(I've not had trouble with Facebook yet, but I've been learnt this the hard way from a few other "free" services.)

There's already significant minorities of "faceblocked" people and the site has growing spam and troll problems that come in waves. Rely on your own website. Anything else is just a nice extra to use while they last.

My group uses a private facebook group.

We are not that active in the sense there are not many rides over and above the weekly Sunday morning ones which always leave from the same place at the same time.

No problems so far, but I agree what facebook giveth, facebook can also taketh away.

Relying on facebook to move lots of information around members is a risk.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

we've got a pretty good website, and a facebook page plus a twitter feed; seems to work well, something for everyone. there was a lot of hand-wringing half a decade ago about losing the monthly paper newsletter, but even the elder members of the club seem happy now.

http://www.macclesfieldwheelers.org.uk

 

[Ian H]

We do things on FB, public and private. We have a web page. No forum, as yet.

 

[MiK1138]

Mine uses Meetup.com, i think there is a charge but not sure how much

 

[Ian193]

Club I'm in has a website for information and results and a closed FB group for chat and impromptu rides and results

 

[dellzeqq]

I ran the Fridays for nine years by e-mailing people, receiving e-mails back and putting stuff on a blog. No Facebook, no forum. And......it was pretty successful.

 

[Elybazza61]

Mostly facebook;one open for ride announcements etc plus a couple of private ones for members only.

 

[Winnershsaint]

Facebook and Whatsapp

 

[BlueFox]

We in the Central London Outdoor Group have a nice website (based on blogger). Blogger makes it really easy to create and maintain a website and is completely free (other than the cost of the domain name if you don't wish to use their blogspot domain name. Domain names are cheap: around £8 per year
http://www.clog.org.uk/.

We use a a combined membership and email system - people can join and pay their subs and are automatically added to the members email group (unless they opt out) and automatically removed from the group email if their membership expires. Joining and renewal emails are sent automatically. This costs £60 per year but well worth it! Support is very good. https://membermojo.co.uk/clog.
More information and a free trial of the membership software can be found: https://membermojo.co.uk/

An events calendar (embedded in our website) where members can post events (with the option of moderation). The calendar is called Localendar and it costs $50 per year (around £35 to £40) for the premium licence or free if you just need the regular licence
http://www.clog.org.uk/p/events-calendar.html

We also use social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr).

I can provide more details of any of these as I helped set them up!