Out of the pandemic and disasters we are finding people who are seeking the need to contact, communicate and help. These same people are looking to social media for their connection guidance.

Article by PDG Brian Coffey, Assistant Rotary Coordinator

Sadly, many Clubs came up with a variety of reasons not to meet or find activities to engage the members during the COVID years, as a result, marketing opportunities reduced and even disappeared with some Clubs.

When you think about it, we had our rural areas in drought (the effect is still there), a country on fire, the global pandemic, a mouse plague and now the rains and floods – Rotary is resilient and is still there. In some cases, Clubs are growing and benefitting, but for others the struggle continues.

The COVID-19 pandemic should have taught us that the people and businesses are resilient – so too should be the service Clubs. The Clubs that are benefiting already are those that re-invented, transforming the way members meet and what they do as a Club or District, as opportunity arises.

COVID-19 has presented us an opportunity for growth – a message that was given by leaders from the onset. We knew the needs of our members would be different, we knew how we operated had to be different and we knew that we had to be innovative if we were to come out of the other side in good stead.

Out of the pandemic and disasters we are finding people who are seeking the need to contact, communicate and help. These same people are looking to social media for their connection guidance.

As of November 2021, Facebook easily remains the dominant social media contact in the world, with the 25-34 age group (males) being the biggest users, this age group is also the most popular platform for Instagram users, however it seems to be the preferred domain of females. Twitter and Pinterest for males in the 30-49 age group are clear leaders, while LinkedIn attract the 46-55 users, with genders being equal. TikTok and Snapchat are definitely the domain of the under 25s.

If we turn to Rotary in our Zone 8 area, women represent less than 30% of our membership, and unacceptably we do not know the ages of 42% of our members. How can you help a Club or District if you do not know what you are working with? Of the members that we do know their ages, it is very evident that we need to address the 40–60-year-old groups. Selecting the right social media platform can be beneficial in attracting members if it is shown that you are happy and active in the community.

Facebook has 11.23 million active users in Australia. 79% of all Australians use social media, and 74% of high-income earners use Facebook, Millennials and Gen X are more likely to share content on Facebook. Since 32% of influencers say Facebook is the best social media platform for influencer marketing, we might be reasonably safe and comfortable starting here.

Clubs that have continued marketing through the previous two years are likely to thrive, as they have stayed relevant and are able to recover quicker when things return to ‘normal’ and are already attracting new members keen to contact, communicate and help through a worthwhile organisation.

We could all see the opportunity, just how many seized it?