BCA On Instagram

Tommy

Active member
I came across a "BCA" Instagram account over the weekend.

It seems a little off though...I wonder who is running it?

https://www.instagram.com/british_caving_association/
 

langcliffe

Well-known member
I'm not very keen on the strap line: "Are you an adrenaline junkie with an interest in exploring caves?"
 

Jenny P

Active member
Let's be fair though, it does plug cave conservation.

Quite a few of the movies are not in the UK so some might be disappointed that they will not to get to traverse giant underground lakes in a boat or see some of the gobsmacking formations illustrated unless they head abroad.

Still, many cavers probably start as adrenaline junkies and go on to become respected cave scientists keen on conservation, so let's not knock it.
 

markpot

Member
I think that its great that the BCA are using instagram as a platform to promote caving. I have to say on first visiting there page i got a similar impression. As jenny said,not to be knocked but given the wide audiance the BCA has to cater for,most of the posts seem to sell caving to new cavers.Maybe a more diverse selection of images/videos of all sides of caving would give a more rounded feel to there page ,attracting a wider audience.
 

PeteHall

Moderator
To be honest, it looks more like a prank to me than an official BCA publication, but perhaps this is a deliberate effort to reach out to a wider audience.  :confused:

You would also have thought that the BCA would have made some effort to promote a new media stream...

Until I see some official word from the BCA taking credit for this, I shall remain sceptical.
 

Caver Keith

Active member
PeteHall said:
To be honest, it looks more like a prank to me than an official BCA publication, but perhaps this is a deliberate effort to reach out to a wider audience.  :confused:

You would also have thought that the BCA would have made some effort to promote a new media stream...

Until I see some official word from the BCA taking credit for this, I shall remain sceptical.
Whoever has set this up uploaded a poor copy of part of my Wild Wookey video with the comment NEW FOOTAGE Warning: This is not for the faint hearted. It cannot be an official site.
 

markpot

Member
Bit of a learning curve for me
.Dont use social media much.Thank you for pointing that out .badlad and caverkeith.
 

langcliffe

Well-known member
Jenny P said:
Still, many cavers probably start as adrenaline junkies...

Fair enough - your experience is obviously very different to mine. People I have seen starting their caving careers have done so because it's adventurous and different, and not because they expect to get a rush of andrenaline.
 

markpot

Member
At least something posative came out of this thread that your superb vids are not being ripped off keith.An d an opportunity for the BCA to sort a proper account .i think this is a great opportunity to link with a wider audiance.
 

Rob

Well-known member
Presumably it was something to do with these lot:
https://darknessbelow.co.uk/presenting-cavings-future
 

Pegasus

Administrator
Staff member
'The current BCA website, they agreed, was dull and old-fashioned, and as a shop window for British caving, mediocre'.  As reported, this is being actively looked at. 

'Worryingly, none of the students seemed to have found their way from the BCA homepage to the New to Caving website, with its stacks of useful information and alluring photos ? although the site was designated as an ?official? BCA partner more than a year ago'.  o_O  Google 'caving' and there's New To Caving - not that hard to find.

'As for social media ? the critical means of communication for anyone under 30 ? caving as a whole, caving clubs and the BCA might just as well be invisible'. Caving as a whole...might just as well be invisible - I strongly disagree, a quarter of the 2700 cavers who follow UKC on FB are under 34 and I'm sure there must be at least one person who's under 30 on the forum itself!  Caving is not invisible on social media - many clubs have twitter, FB and instagram accounts.

?On the day we checked, the BCA Facebook page only had 841 likes!?  I post on the BCA facebook page regularly (as do others), support BCA and please like the page if you are on facebook. https://www.facebook.com/BritishCavingAssociation/

'?The BCA doesn?t even have an Instagram account!?  True - and it's something I'm aware of, however there are only so many hours in the day and I do a lot of social media (on a voluntary basis) as it is - volunteers, please speak up now!

'Another common theme was the need to generate awareness that women both enjoy and derive great benefit from caving'. Perhaps if the students had found New To Caving they would have come across Adele's 'A novice caver's experience', seen the many photographs of women caving and spotted the UKC logo. 

'....caving really does have a lot of work to do to attract future generations ? and at present, little understanding as to how this might be done'.  I disagree, understanding of the issue is increasing all the time, however implementing changes takes time...and help.


 

Tommy

Active member
Yes it was those guys judging by the images and overall "feel", funny they didn't enter their logo into the CHECC competition.

Perhaps a marketing team with more of successful a track record of promoting outdoor activities could be consulted, with the involvement of student cavers and non-cavers alike?

No mention of the BCA Vision Quest/Future Vision working party, is that still on the table? (Apologies if I got the title wrong).

This looks like the right sort of thing to be happening, but as is often the case with drives like this, execution and follow-through is key.

It doesn't show the greatest confidence in your message, nor does it back up the validity of your campaign if you delete evidence of it after just a few days.

"Something something synergistically stunting the organic growth of increased demographicalised brand awareness something".
 

2xw

Active member
New to caving is on the second page of results if you Google "caving" with loads of websites higher up, such as Wikipedia, the dictionary, the NSS, petzl, the New Yorker. It won't get a look in on Google unfortunately.

Its fairly close to the top if you Google "caving UK" and at the top when googling "start caving"

Obviously, lots of caving sites are ON social media but whether they are visible to outsiders is a different matter. Would a student who has never heard of caving before know to search for ukcaving, darknessbelow, RRCPC etc?
 
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