Raising the profile and promoting membership
Report to Stapleford Twinning Association AGM, 23 November 2023
By Tim Jessop
There are a number of initiatives working towards raising our profile in the village and informing residents in the area about what we do – all aimed at encouraging people to join.
Website – http://twinning.staplefordvillage.org.uk
Our website, newly created in 2022 as the hub of all our promotion activities, has been continually expanded and updated throughout 2023. It is achieving the objectives that were prioritised at the outset: greater impact; easy navigation; and focussing on new and recent activities (particularly social events, exchange visits, 100 Club draws and news from Villedômer). Information about older events has been retained and reorganised in a new ‘Archive’ section.
The previous site has been taken down and anyone using the old address is automatically redirected to the new site. Using search words like ‘twinning’ and ‘Stapleford’ will find our site appearing at or near the top of the search results list.
We are now able to monitor statistics regarding the number of visits to the new site: one or two visits per day on average is the norm.
Articles in local media
Nine articles about the Association have been published in the Stapleford Messenger during the year and similar articles have also appeared on the Stapleford Online website (which is linked to the Stapleford Online newsletter). The most significant Messenger article appeared in the July issue. It was a report on the exchange visit of the group from Villedômer in May, the first such visit for four years, and included a front page photo of the chairs of the two associations.
A news release was issued to a selection of local print and online media about the exchange visit but it is believed that only Great Shelford Village News used it.
Our details on the Stapleford Parish Council website were expanded.
There are regular postings of news on our Facebook Group page which has 66 members.
Significant news items are now also being posted on the Great Shelford & Stapleford Facebook Group page which has a following of around 4,200 people.
Leaflets
Leaflets about the Association are available to anyone who can make use of them. It can be noted that the Granary and the Three Horseshoes pub have our leaflets on display.