Finding the WW&F on Facebook

[Mike Fox]

I am still impressed with our 4500 followers. That is a remarkable achievement in the short time the Facebook team has stepped up their game. We noticed it last (2016) Easter when the Easter event numbers doubled. That was a result of Facebook. It is a super tool for getting the word out, and has gotten results. Keep it up team. 5000, here we come.

[James Patten]

FYI - the membership database has been computerized for the last 16 years, but on a local machine only. 

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

I am still impressed with our 4500 followers. That is a remarkable achievement in the short time the Facebook team has stepped up their game. We noticed it last (2016) Easter when the Easter event numbers doubled. That was a result of Facebook. It is a super tool for getting the word out, and has gotten results. Keep it up team. 5000, here we come.

Thanks Mike. Here's a bit more info: The 4,500 represents people who are facebook members and are signed up to follow our page.  This means they see every post we make.  The posts are actually seen by more than just the "followers" and viewership can increase depending on the type of news and photos.

Examples of posts from the last few weeks -

* The railcar 4 yard tour video reached 6,733 people.

* Video of the Mason's train leaving Sheepscot yard was seen by 9,903

* Our special July 4th weekend notice reached 10,868. 

Along with viewership is the number of "shares" which is when members copy our post onto their own page to be seen by their group of friends.  The Mason's train video was shared 63 times which makes it available to many more people.   

[Stephen Piwowarski]

We could also use more reviews on TripAdvisor and Yelp, if you are so able. Please be unbiased when writing reviews.

We need the Facebook page to be directly linked to tripadvisor and vice-versa. This will enable people who visit our Facebook page, many of whom are already great supporters and friends of the Railway to easily write a review. We should set a goal for ourselves of having at least two new tripadvisor reviews each week. I am willing to set this up.

Steve

[Bob Holmes]

Go for it.  I am working on my TripAdvisor review tonight...

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

The TripAdvisor - facebook link is a great idea.  Thanks Steve.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

The Thursday post features a series of photos of the progress the Mike has made on the first washout north of TOM .  There's also a look back 123 years at how the W&Q did earthwork.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

The Sunday evening post is a look at the Weeks Mills freight house with photos from 1905 and 1965 with comparison "matching" photos to the Sheepscot replica.  The neat thing is that the original Weeks Mills building still stands in 2017, the 1965 color view shows much of the original paint.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Check fb tonight for a special post that studies the track and buildings at Weeks Mills.  There are a number of historic images along with recent photos of the remaining railroad structures.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

The Thursday post covers today's filming of a documentary (which will be an hour program) about the restoration of #9.  Three film crews from Blair Media in Thompson, CT shot video, stills and drone footage of #9 working at various places along the line. 

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

The Sunday evening post is a short (and rather unprofessional) video of #9 working northbound through Alna Center.  See if you can pick out the unwanted visitor.

[Mike Fox]

Looked like you had more than one

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Yep.  They were busy up there, only took a minute for them to find me.  That's one of the reasons the video is called 60 Seconds Over Alna.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

July and August are the biggest months for tourists traveling to Maine and the first two weeks of August are usually the busiest.  Last Sunday was an example with about 100 passengers riding our trains.  Now that we are a week into August here are some indicators from Facebook as to the level of interest the public has in seeing the WW&F:

Facebook usage as of 8:00 o'clock this morning -

* Page followers have gone from 4,500 to over 4,600 since early July.

* The most recent post, the video "60 Seconds Over Alna" has reached 24,426

* Tracking the number of people who have seen our posts in the last 7 days which includes the Alna video, a 21 campaign update and the report on the documentary film crew from Blair Media visiting Sheepscot, the total is 33,662

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

The Thursday post features a first ever type of historic photo for a museum first ever event which will be the WWI re-enactors camp at Alna Center.  This will be a special display to help commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Great War.