Managing platforms

One of the major challenges you will face as a club is to decide which Internet tools to use for your web presence. Whilst the idea of having a website, many social media platforms and a presence on other sites might seem attractive, you have to remember that each platform will need different levels of management. Why use multiple tools? There are two main reasons:

• Some platforms are more suited to certain processes. For instance, social networking platforms are set up for easy communication.
• People often prefer one Internet tool over another. This can be because of personal preference, age, peer pressure and/or limited exposure to certain platforms. Thus, clubs often find themselves having to use different platforms to interact with their members, supporters and sponsors.

Here are some things to consider regarding the platforms that your club uses and selecting which Internet tools to use. Remember that many clubs face the challenges of finding volunteers with the time and skills to handle any Internet related tasks, so try to avoid having too much complexity.

Web presence coordination

Whatever your club adopts, it is a good idea to have a person or your committee overseeing the coordination of the web presence, especially with regards to those platforms that provide interaction between members, sponsors and supporters. Ideally, a person or group would either be on the main committee (or report to the committee) and should be aware of how the different platforms can integrate with each other. There should be processes in place to monitor their operation.

If you do not do this, there is the risk that your web presence will be fragmented - with the committee unaware of what the web presence involves and lacking control of what happens on the web in the club's name.

Also, what happens if a key person (eg knowing the passwords) leaves the club? It is important to think about how key web presence knowledge will be maintained within the club.

Two important questions that each club must face are who keeps control of the passwords for the various web presence platforms and who manages the content of the web presence. In some clubs, one person may currently do all (or most) of this. Other, larger clubs, may have sub-committees or dedicated people devoted to these tasks. It is a matter of deciding what works best for your club.

Administration passwords

Decide who has the 'administration' passwords for each platform. Who can make key changes to how things look or makes the final decision with regards to what is posted on the platform? What if this person is suddenly unable to perform this task?

Updating content

Finally, there is the decision related to who is allowed to make routine updates on each platform - such as entering scores or results or posting comments on social media. With regards to social media, clubs will have different approaches to how this is managed. Content on websites is usually (but not always) updated by a 'webmaster'. It is important that clubs are aware of what is being posted on the Internet in their name. One way to assist with managing this is to have policies in place to manage online behaviour.

One challenge with having different people managing the content of different platforms is that there may not be a consistent message being posted by the club. However, some clubs see this as a strength, as different people bring multiple perspectives to what is posted and keep the content interesting. You need to decide what is best for you.

One efficient way of managing content across platforms and keeping a consistent message is to link content across platforms. For example, when a message is posted to a social media page it is automatically posted to the club website.

Certainly, anything that can be done to minimise having to duplicate the creation of content is helpful. For instance, some clubs prepare match or event reports for local newspapers and can also post these on their website or social media media pages with little or no editing.

Another problem with posting content is that it often needs to be prepared in the form of text or text and pictures. Many clubs are aware that they need to prepare content that is engaging, such as match or event reports or news items, so that people will read it. This not only takes time, but some clubs have said that they would like to know how to write engaging items for their online presence.

Online 'hub'

Sometimes clubs manage their web presence on multiple platforms by identifying one place as the main platform for online traffic and then directing people to that via their other platforms. For instance, if a club's website is its 'hub' then it might post a news item there and then post a link to it on its social media pages.