Social media

Andrew writes …

We’ve made a deliberate attempt this year to increase our engagement with social media. As well as advertising our programme, we aim to keep Sheldon in people’s minds so that they think of us when they need us. We can do this in a number of ways but as Sheldon is so photogenic it’s easy to use images to give a sense of the beauty and peace of the place. We’re also aware that many people are interested in what goes on at Sheldon and some of the behind the scenes stuff so we try to give a flavour of that – whether it’s lambing, clearing the drains or commenting on the latest concert in our Open Air Theatre. Humour plays a large part in our lives at Sheldon and pictures on Facebook of Fred’s escapades bring a smile to many people’s faces! (Fred came to Sheldon as part of a very generous legacy and now feels very much part of the family).

On a more serious note, we tweet the Friends of Mary and Martha prayer calendar every quarter and we are posting regularly during important times in the Christian calendar and in our calendar – for example, during Lent, over the Easter weekend, in the lead up to our Community Rededication and the feast of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, etc.

We’re starting to explore being more proactive with social media by reacting to other people’s posts or linking to other on-line sources. We expect this to expand when the Sheldon Hub goes on line in 2017 (with its own social media channels). We are also beginning to work more with video and expect to be posting more on our YouTube channel – if you haven’t already watched them, do have a look at the animation that introduces the Sheldon Hub and a video with members of the Hub working group talking about how they would have found the Hub useful.

To really harness the power of social media for spreading the word about Sheldon, we need you to like, follow, comment, share, retweet our posts on the various channels. If you’re not yet in to social media then maybe you would like to try it out by interacting with us! You can find us at:

Facebook: maryandmartha
Twitter: @smmretreat
Instagram: @sheldonretreat
YouTube: SheldonRetreat