So just how did Shrewsbury Morris take twitter by storm and grow their audience to over 102,000 followers? We wanted to find out more, so we invited them to talk to our membership on 21st February. Graydon Radford, their twitter guru, and Ray Langton outlined the journey the Shrewsbury Morris Twitter account had taken; they outlined the rationale, top tips, issues, awards and other things they encountered along with how the use of social media has embedded the presence of Shrewsbury Morris into the town of Shrewsbury and the benefits it has brought to the team.
Brian Kelly, a Morris Federation volunteer, reports:
“The story Graydon Radford told to an audience of about 40 probably resonated with most of us. He described how over 10 years ago a conversation with his dentist revealed that, although the dentist had lived in Shrewsbury for over 25 years, he’d never heard of Shrewsbury Morris.
“We’ve probably all asked a similar question: “How do we become better known within our community?” often followed up with “And how do we recruit more dancers?” But we won’t have been successful as Shrewsbury Morris in engaging with their local community, with their successes in raising sponsorship from local businesses and promoting local charities leading to two local awards. And this was followed by national and international recognition.
“How did they do this? Initially they experimented with Facebook – and their Facebook page is still maintained. But their success was due to the passion and commitment to – and a fair amount of experimentation with – one particular service: Twitter.
“And the evidence of the success: the @shrewsmorris Twitter account has over 101K followers – or that is what the publicity said when the Zoom meeting was first announced, but it’s now 102,750 followers!
“It all began about 10 years ago, when the team was at a bit of a low point. The team had displayed posters around town and submitted articles to the local press but had no joy. And the need for people to recognise the team was highlighted when they received a comment: “We saw you dancing on Saturday“ but it was a different team – Shrewsbury Morris don’t dance in all white: Shrewsbury Morris didn’t appear to have a brand recognition in their home town.
“How to be recognised? How to recruit new team members? These were topics discussed at an AGM 2011. Use of social media was, of course, suggested and the Shrewsbury Morris Facebook page was created. Concerns expressed initially that a social media account was likely to attract trolls turned out to be massively over-stated (4 incidents over the years), and the account continues to this day, with 1,240 people currently following updates to the page.
“Shortly afterwards it was decided to explore the potential for Twitter – and what a success that proved to be! The simple secret to the success seems to be “be patient; be different; be engaged and be nice!”
“Graydon originally managed both the Facebook and Twitter accounts, but he subsequently focussed on Twitter, with another team member managing Facebook. There were two main goals for the service:
- Raise the profile of Shrewsbury Morris
- Raise the profile of Morris dancing generally
“which led to a decision to seek engagement with local community including local businesses and charities. And in an example of the trust which was developed between Shrewsbury Morris and the local community they allow local trusted organisations to manage the Twitter account for a short period. And this has further benefits, as it ensures that the account posts on a diversity of topics and not just “Shrewsbury Morris are dancing out this weekend”
“The Morris Federation’s Day of Dance was held in Shrewsbury in 2012 – and this proved to be another stage in Twitter account’s success – raising sponsorship. As hosting a Day of Dance can be a costly exercise the side recognised they needed to raise money. And the Twitter account became the focus of the sponsorship drive.
“After that success the team decided to set themselves a new challenge: “Let’s see if we can attract sponsors for a year!“ In brief, they did, with a sponsorship income of £1,600 ensuring that travel and meals at festivals are nicely covered!
“Success breeds success – the team won a Mayor’s award on two occasions; have raised funds to host Zulu Traditions in a number of schools; raised £3,000 for Midland air ambulance and organised a ‘marath-own’: a marathon which can be completed in different ways – which, in Shrewsbury Morris’s case, involved 40 dances in which dancers covered an estimated 26 miles!
“Graydon concluded by admitting that running the Twitter account is a lot of work – but its enjoyable work. And he admitted that the Twitter account failed to deliver on one if its objectives: it wasn’t successful in recruiting significant numbers of new team members. It seems there will still be a need for conventional approaches to recruitment.
“It struck me that the success was due to a willingness to experiment, having a passion for the work and using an authentic ‘voice’, with the support from team’s squire and rest of the team being essential.
“It also made me think that I should revive my tweeting; I was an early adopter of Twitter in 2006 but stopped using it after finishing work. But it does seem to me that Twitter might be particularly relevant for my local team (Wyld Morris) as it’s our 10th anniversary and will be looking to strengthen links with the local community.
by Brian Kelly of Wyld Morris, fron near Monkton Wyld, near Bridport, Dorset and Haymarket Rapper of no fixed abode, and former member of Newcastle Kingsmen
Donations from participants raised money for Graydon’s chosen charity – Cuan Wildlife Rescue: https://www.cuanwildliferescue.org.uk
A video recording of the “Shrewsbury Morris on Twitter” talk (58 mins) is available on The Morris Federation’s YouTube channel.
“This left me looking forward to taking part in the second workshop to be held the following week where Abby went over the steps we had been taught, together with adding a few new ones. As before, each step was shown, practiced by all and gradually joined up with other steps, once again ending with a freestyle session.
“Our hosts, Abby Ladin and Sam Bartlett promised an hour of dancing, not talking, and we were not disappointed – on both days the whole hour went by in a flash of well-organised and well-presented dancing demonstration and instruction from Abby, accompanied with wonderful playing by Sam on Banjo.
If you fancy diving into some morris history, or sniffing out some old clogs, or maybe you would rather dance a Cotswold jig or get your toes to learn a new clog stepping routine, or try out a new Border style dance, then have a peek at what we have on offer.
Talk – Clogs in Britain & Beyond – Michael Jackson – Sat 13th March 16:00-17:30
Talk & Workshop – Kirtlington Morris – Sun 21st March 14:00-16:00
“You are at a Morris practice (remember those?), and it has been announced that you have been invited to perform at an important festival. You have practised all your dances to perfection and re-invented your processional, but you still feel you need something spectacular to add to the performance. Among the various ideas put out at random, someone is heard to say, ‘Why don’t we make our own giant?!’ And there is huge enthusiasm. ‘We can take it to other festivals!’ ‘We can enter in the local carnival!’ ‘We can dance with it around the town!’
“First, we were given the background. Ray and Bev were approached at Sidmouth in 2018 by Andrew and Kathy Kim, professional puppet-makers and performers with Thingumajig Theatre, with the idea of collaboration between them, Shrewbury Morris and volunteers from the local community to make an animated giant to be used in performance around the town of Shrewsbury. This led to successful funding applications from the Arts Council England and Shrewsbury Town Council and vast amounts of planning in terms of logistics, construction and performance. A character and name were chosen by Shrewsbury Morris and one of their members, a professional writer, wrote his back-story. New dances and new tunes to be performed with the giant were written and practised upfront.
“With two weeks to go until the first performance, Andrew and Kathy moved in and construction began, all recorded by a professional film company. This film provided the second half of the talk and it was riveting. With the action speeded-up it enhanced the incredible skills of puppet maker Andrew as he modelled the huge head and beautiful face from wet clay, painted the so-lifelike green eyes and supervised the construction of the frame.
“So what did we all take away from this talk? We certainly learned the complications and considerations involved in making a giant and in devising a wider project. But we also learned that, although giants may not be within reach of every Morris side, we all have our own talents, interests and creative abilities that can be used to make or create something that that will compliment and enhance our performance and that will become unique to us. We were encouraged to involve other artists in performances and days of dance, and to get to know and work with our local community. So look forward to some exciting shows when we all get back onto the streets again.