SAOCA facebook page

[alpine_64]

This is an old thread, but it's the right subject so I'll run with it.

I notice that our FB page gets almost no activity. The latest post is from September, 2022... no others for 2022... then one post in 2021, and smattering for 2020.

Are the US Sunbeam'ers just not FB folks? Not that I'm trying to detract from the forum - not at all - just curious why its so dead?

I think it's great the forum is the primary saoca location.. FB is full of BS .. spam... and the amount of misinformation on the cars etc makes the forum much more valuable...not to mention the search function etc

 

[Bill Blue]

It seem the SAOCA folks are their own kind of weird. Don't do Invasions or Facebook. Just SAOCA. A few oddballs do Invasions but not Facebook, or vice versa. Personally, I have no use for Facebook. Joined fifteen of so years ago to see what Son #3 was doing in Collage. Dropped out after a year or so, feeling that Facebook was too damned nosy. The interesting part, Son #3 dropped out at about the same time, basically for the same reason.
Bill

 

[ernestovumbles]

Ok.. color me ignorant..
Didnt realize there was a page. I see it now, but dont see a way to add new posts.

 

[puff4]

Ok.. color me ignorant..
Didnt realize there was a page. I see it now, but dont see a way to add new posts.

Hmm... yeah, I hadn't noticed that, but you're right... no wonder there are so few posts!

 

[Alpine 1789]

Hmm. This is really interesting. While we have generally just used FB as a way to drive traffic to the forum, I didn't know until now that 'the public' wasn't able to post. That explains why people message us with things that really should be public posts. I just spent some time looking through the page's settings and found where I think I should be able to let anyone post, but it is grayed out and, even though I am one of the administrators, I can't change it. Does anyone know much about Facebook business pages?

 

[ernestovumbles]

I manage a different club page and there is also no public posting ability..
I am also not able to find where to change the setting

 

[Warren]

Wow, how did I miss this thread.
I said to a few guys on other club that Facebook is eating our lunch..
They didn't like it at all...
What they didn't get was that we may lose content to them. I guess if you think about what is the value added from these platforms. Sharing of knowledge, personal contact with a similar hobby, or some as a business. The aforementioned line looking for content suggestions is big deal or the gorilla in the room.

I'd think the reasons for all clubs not having a Facebook page are the same. Competition with their forums, Tiger Tales STOC Cats Whiskers STOA Tiger Tracks newsletter or their forums.. Then there's a banned member we all know him as Voldemort I mean he who's name shan't be mentioned. I mean the guy 65B__m . If I was a moderator I'd change his username to Voldemort as if the shoe fits

But back to the gorilla...
Content is king and it's an extremely rare occasion when things get cross posted or shared between the pages. There's a constant tug of war between the pages for that content. An example would be an air filter piece about an NLA, K&N or paper air filter for the Tiger stock housing. Kinda important to me as I was a seller of the repops AC housings as I still get asked what's the best one. an article I wrote in conjunction with the editor of Tiger Tales about the recovery of a stolen Tiger shared . Another article I wrote was about all the hoops DMV in California has made me jump through.
While I wanted to add value to the membership I'd rather of spread them around.

Totally agree on using Fakebook page as a place to only solicit likes and steer possible new members here it'd be worth while. It's best to set them up flagging and helping members sell on when aging out or have to sell situations.

It's the guys that promote themselves in some way be it brake booster's a restoration shop or me being a hobby vendor.

There's a FB classified page that Tiger guys put together. But it's got lots of scammers jumping in. A very positive side of shopping within the forum is we can keep our own house clean. Even a new member can be vetted a little by paying the minimum 10 dollar membership. In a sense PayPal does something for their 2.9% just like Craigslist now charges 5 bucks on a car for sale ad. It totally makes sense to have a smaller paywall as of you have a 35 dollars one guys will actively take advantage of it. Ask me how I know ....

 

[Knightowl61]

I'm anti social media (and then some) and will go along with what the first few posts say. I think the sunbeamalpine.org & forum are great.

 

[Alpine 1789]

There is no question that this is the best way to communicate with fellow Alpine owners (I looked at many different forums once and, as far as I could tell, we have the most active Sunbeam site in the world) and I consider the various Facebook groups to be a threat to our club. So, we will continue to do all we can to make sure this is the best place for owners or potential owners to go to learn and connect with other members. (BTW: a big thanks to Greggers here. He personally reviews every membership application to weed out potential spammers.)

But, that said, I don’t think it hurts for us to optimize our Facebook presence so we can use it to drive traffic here. I just need to figure out how to do that.

 

[ernestovumbles]

I just need to figure out how to do that.

How about throwing out a facebook "interesting post of the day or week" with a link back to this site, just to get some activity on Facebook and eyes back to here..

 

[Alpine 1789]

That is a terrific idea. Anyone reading this thread on Facebook regularly? I’d love to have some help on this.

 

[ernestovumbles]

I can watch.. if you need help, let me know

 

[Gary T]

I am with some others, flip phone no "smart phone" NO NO NO social media. Just my opinion!

 

[Alpine 1789]

As addicted as I am to my smart phone, I am also increasingly turned off by social media (except, of course, this site, to the extent that people would classify it that way). But, that said, that view isn't shared by everyone and if we can use it to let people know about the many benefits of the SAOCA, then I am all for that.

I can watch.. if you need help, let me know

Thanks! I will send you a PM and we'll get together to see how we can make this work.

 

[Warren]

I lurk on the other pages, mainly to cross post my Craigslist ads. I have a misspelled last name like another guy. No I'm not a Catfish
I did not know what that means. I was told elsewhere that people " may not know what IMHO means."
But that's another story. The same guy said " we get tired the same old stupid questions. " But that's the main reason why they come . It's personal contact not that they can't figure out the search window. I followed with how many times on the predecessor email list for CT90 Honda's first question asked was how do I clean a rusty gas tank.
Of course searching that list is like

tigers Archives

 

[puff4]

I manage a different club page and there is also no public posting ability..
I am also not able to find where to change the setting

Jim & Ernesto, I manage a couple of pages. There is a way to change it... here are the steps...

1. Go to your group page
2. On the left side of the page are the management functions. Scroll down until you get to "Group Settings" and click on that.
3. Scroll down the main section until you get to "Manage Discussion". Expand that and you'll see "Who can post"... click that, and you can change it from "Only Admins" to "Anyone in the group".

For reference, see the image below... I help manage this MG TD page, which is somewhat popular.

Again, I'm in NO WAY suggesting we should allow the Facebook page supplant this forum, nor am I advocating for you to make any changes at all, despite the above instruction. This forum is wonderful, and I'm sure most of you know I have supported it heartily for neigh on 17 years, and continue to do so.

To me, FB is simply a place to post fun stuff like a weekend meetups, perhaps some pretty photos of an outing, and generally social-type stuff with photos and the odd funny meme once in a while. It could NEVER do what this forum does... provide deep dives into technical, originality and modification areas, offer a platform to safely sell and trade bits and pieces among known and trusted parties, and serve as an easily searchable technical resource for the marque. Bravo to the creators, admins and moderators, and long may it be so.

 

[ernestovumbles]

There is a way to change it... here are the steps...

Thank you!! That is what I would expect to see..
I think the difference is that you are on a "group" and this (and the other one I manage for the Chicago MINI Motoring Club) are set up as a "page" which is perhaps why I am not seeing that option.

I agree with you.. Facebook is nice for the "fun stuff" posts..
my main thought/focus is to try to help direct some eyes back to this forum..

 

[Alpine 1789]

Thanks, Kevin. I think it must relate back to when the page was initially set up. We could probably find a way to change it, but for now it looks like what Ernesto/Steve is doing is having the intended effect. I think it will pick up even more once we start linking to interesting and/or very active discussions here. We want engagement there to drive people to the forum, but not so much engagement that the forum becomes superfluous. Stay tuned!

 

[Series6]

Thanks, Kevin. I think it must relate back to when the page was initially set up. We could probably find a way to change it, but for now it looks like what Ernesto/Steve is doing is having the intended effect. I think it will pick up even more once we start linking to interesting and/or very active discussions here. We want engagement there to drive people to the forum, but not so much engagement that the forum becomes superfluous. Stay tuned!

Facebook should be a recruiting tool for this forum.

 

[Alpine 1789]

Facebook should be a recruiting tool for this forum.

That is the plan!