Reciprocating Trotec's support of SLMS

[Brendon_Hatcher]

Trotec lend us our Speedy and provide ongoing support.
I’d like some input from members on how best to reciprocate.

We have in the past asked members to post their projects on social media and mention Trotec.
I think we can probably do better!

It has been a long time since I did Social Media Marketing, so I need some up-to-date input.

I was thinking of white or neutral grey board kept next to the laser with “Made at South London Makerspace using a Trotec Speedy 300”. Members are encouraged to place their job on the board and take a photo, and post to their social media using tags @LDN_Makerspace and #troteclaseruk.

Thoughts?

[Ryanf (Ryan)]

Could we have members photograph their piece in the frame/in front of the board and send the image to the welcome team who can then upload to SLMS insta?

Curated feeds and all that.

[tomnewsom]

I think we own it. They lent it to us at the start, but then we bought it out.

Refurb and OWN the laser cutter - £1,000

As you may know, we’ve been having some issues with the laser cutter. Trotec UK have very generously loaned us the machine free for a year, but it’s at the end of its useful life. Cutting power is reduced and engraving is blurred and inconsistent. As a result, we’re not very able to give Trotec the publicity that we promised as our side of the deal. We now have a fantastic opportunity. [image] Trotec have agreed to do the required maintenance on the machine, including a new laser tube, at th…

[petra (Petra Backovska (they/them))]

Yep, members seem to have pooled for the 1000£, but the price was justified by us promising well tag them online. I used to mention it on all of my inductions …

[Brendon_Hatcher]

Asking for responses to @Ryanf’s idea…

Do we need to curate or is it OK that people post stuff on their own channels?
If we do need/want to curate, who would do it?

Is there a better approach that combines simplicity for users with benefits to the space/Trotec?
If this is too complicated, people won’t do it!

[crafty_creator (Sally Brown)]

Personal opinion - I don’t use social media of any form so a curated approach would be better for me when the time comes.

[Ryanf (Ryan)]

I know some people curate their feeds depending on the market they’re trying to attract and posting laser cutting images might not fit in.

They might be willing to send them to SLMS and be tagged in a post that isn’t specifically linked directly to their account.

I also think we could use user generated content to populate the SLMS Instagram thread. We have so many people doing such cool things, we’re definitely not starved for content, but I do understand this is a complete job in its own right.

What I’m getting at, people might be more willing to send a quick image to welcome than to upload to Instagram, tag all the relevant people and write a bit of copy.

Can the welcome team get a WhatsApp account that we can send pictures to quickly?

[Amit_Kohli]

I could definitely do a better job. I have many videos of it going crazy doing it’s thing, but only posted a few times. I didn’t get many likes retweets when I did… including them not liking my message… which is a bit suboptimal. Or maybe they hated what I did?

I like Brendon’s idea, but it might get a bit “samey” if everyone’s posting a selfie w/ their work.

Hrm. A video? A few timelapses w/ a gopro?

A full video going thru design, lasercut, with music production value etc?

Do we have any social media ppl in SLMS to advise what would be good?

The other idea could be a laser-engraved QR code saying “we use Trotec stuff… they are awesome, here’s their website”, and then we post that on the street outside our door so everyone going to the bar can scan it?

Can we get a link from them that would enable them to see the hits coming from us? Like trotec.com/slms or something?