Promoting Your Society
If you are reading this you know the power of the Internet to spread information. It is well worth every film society having its own website. This may be little more than the electronic equivalent of a poster on the library door or parish noticeboard. It is a start.
A growing trend is search engines which localise their searches to provide information directly relevant to you in your area. Ask your webmaster to make sure that the postcode of your venue is included in the metatags of your webpage (the hidden parts of a page which help search engines find you) and also include it on the first page of the site. That helps localised search engines place you. If you don't know the postcode (shame on you!) there is a free lookup service on www.royalmail.com
is one such engine. John South and Kimble Earl who set up the site invite you to list your society with them. When people look there for "film" it will list societies and cinemas ranked in order of how close they are to the asker's location.
As at the end of February 2006 not long after the site's launch there had been an astonishing 12,300 events posted to the site, and visitor numbers passed 2,400 a day. Events listed ranged from the largest county show, national museums, etc. to the smallest village or parish concert - a real variety. Typical comment "I find it extremely easy to use, both for placing events and also searching.... excellent ." - Brenda Keer, London Cornish Association
The site organisers say they hear about many organisations and websites that would be of interest to the type of people using WhereCanWeGo.com, but are not events or attractions as such, so they have added an Active Ideas section to the site. If your website could benefit from this publicity please let them know. There's no charge but theyreserve the right to decide what to include.
They are also keen that you link your website to them since the increased visibility helps us all.
The basic service is free. You can get a more advanced service for a modest fee.
Do remember that as a film society you are selling a season rather than individual shows - but you have to get people hooked before you can sell them a membership!
Spread the word!