Building Community
A clear theme appears to be emerging, connecting the School’s social media, , marketing and online event communications. The theme is ‘building community’.
Social media
Following some early, pioneering efforts, the UK School has been running Facebook (now with over 14,000 followers) and Twitter (2,000) for some years.
The Facebook site is active with live broadcasts several times a week on Philosophy, Awareness, Sanskrit and Economics. Leaders of events, such as the Sanskrit lecture or Philosophy Café, can also now post short video adverts.
According to Christine Lambie, who drives much of the School’s social media development, the main focus in the last eighteen months has been on Instagram and YouTube.
“Our new Instagram account already has over a thousand followers, thanks to a dedicated team working on regular posts, quotes, reels and stories.”
The YouTube account has also developed significantly, Christine says: “New videos are uploaded every two weeks and, more recently, we started streaming Philosophy Live to YouTube as well as Facebook.
“We’re now getting around ten thousand views each month. As well as our ten-minute videos, we have also begun to upload ’shorts’ and to post on YouTube’s community channel, which attracts a few hundred views each time.
“Another development,” reports Christine, “has been in getting all these channels working together. So now, when advertising for forthcoming events or when a new video is posted, a notification goes through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube Community as well as via our own in-house Notices.
“This multi-channel reinforcement seems to be helpful.”.
Philosophy Café
The Philosophy Café is a free, weekly drop-in session on Zoom. It caters for “like-minded people, looking to engage or recharge their interest in the practical benefits of studying philosophy.”
According to host Peter Whitfield “It acts as a kind of bridge between those ‘in school’ and ‘out of school’.”
It would seem its easy-going vibe and an atmosphere described as ‘warm and friendly, are proving popular with both sets. Since first opening its virtual doors in October 2021, the Café has increased its registered members to 1,800, with 100 – 130 attending each week.
One of its main attractions is two ten-minute breakout rooms. Students meet in small groups of 4-6 people to consider questions related to the evening’s topic.
“Those attendees who have been in the School for many lifetimes enjoy offering their experience of living the philosophy teaching,” says Peter Whitfield
“Quite a few elderly cannot provide a traditional service like making and serving tea. Instead, they find delight in offering their expertise and knowledge in the cafe.
“New students, in return, provide a beautiful spark of encouragement and a reminder to those who have been around of how precious the teaching is. Everyone is welcome.”
The Café is open from 7pm on Friday evenings eight times per term. There’s no need to attend every week. Just register once and join when you can. For more details: Philosophy Cafe.
Marketing Working Group (UKMWG)
The UKMWG is presently developing a marketing strategy for implementation in September 2023, a piece of work being led by Sebastian Munden. The emphasis will be on developing the brand through community presence. We look forward to bringing further details in a future issue.
If you have any questions or comments on this article, do let us know. Simply follow this link.