I was asked to write this as a regional Druid of ADF for new grove organizers within ADF but in all honestly, this would apply to anyone attempting to form or run any sort of organization. I will be writing this as directed to Grove Organizers and new Senior Druids. I will attempt to be sure to cover any free options but also highlight paid options. Running an organization of any size can be cheap but rarely free. Be it money or your time. Often if you are paying for a service you will be saving your self-time, you will need to keep this in mind as you organize your online presence for your group.
Websites
The place you find you will start for the majority of your online presence will be your website. You want to create a website that will provide as much solid factual information as you can while offering the opportunity for your readers to ask questions and reach out and contact you. Our website is very involved and detailed and contains a lot of information that I am constantly adding to. I personally want to create a portal that anyone can find and educate themselves on Druidry from an ADF perspective. We have a page for our virtues and beliefs. We have a fairly active blog that provides more topical information as well as media and resources we have created. The most important aspect of your site though is some form of contact that your readers can use to reach out to you and discover more. You do not need to provide personal contact information or phone numbers but a central grove email is essential, more on this later.
Your website will most likely take a fair amount of time and resources to get started, but it begins to run its self, which is excellent. It is the front door to your grove so be sure to maintain it.
Below are a few solid options for quick and easy website options. These are not the be-all-end-all of options. There are thousands out there and it changes on an almost hourly basis. These are the resources I personally have experience with as well as the more common options that you may be able to find help with from an associate.
WordPress ( https://wordpress.com/ )
WordPress is a bit of both world. There is an excellent and involved free option which will most likely cover the majority of your needs. A domain can be purchased separately and forwarded towards your site with ease but the WordPress URL will eventually reveal itself. There is also a paid plan option and many include a free domain if paid annually, these would keep a consistent domain throughout your website. WordPress has been around for years and provides an easy-to-use and easy-to-understand backend that allows you to easily customize your website with a huge portfolio of various free and paid themes and templates. As well WordPress has a huge selection of mods that will most likely add any service you may need that isn’t an option in the base install. Another bonus is WordPress providers an excellent option to export your website if you needed to move or backup the website itself. I would highly recommend looking at WordPress, but with one negative point that WordPress has had issues with being easily hacked and broken into over the years. Many hosts will refuse to allow it on their servers as a standalone program but be aware that you will need to keep it constantly updated.
Wix ( https://www.wix.com/ )
I am not going to gentle but I personally really dislike Wix. The reason I am writing about it though is a lot of people do consider it one of the best free options out there. The sites are incredibly customizable and their ability to easily integrate online shopping into their sites is a huge bonus for some groups. Unfortunately, my experience with Wix is limited but reviews online are excellent. I personally am just not a fan of the layout and back-end system.
SquareSpace ( https://squarespace.com )
Personally, this is my website provider of choice but it is far from free. Sadly with no non-profit support, Squarespace may not be for everyone but of the sites listed so far it by providers the most in the box options. With everything built in from HTTPS services to free domains and even free google suite access for annual plans. Squarespace has a large variety of templates and designs you can start with and easily customize from there for your own needs. On top of all the services, the others provide Squarespace providers advanced options that will help improve your SEO (more talk on this later) as well as an excellent export option of your website content.
The email will become your number one form of communication with new potential members and readers. There are many free options out there and I will list a few as well as a paid option.
Hotmail / Outlook ( https://outlook.live.com/owa/)
The old standard is still around and going strong. Free and easy to use. The only thing is it doesn’t give the ear of professionalism as using your own domain. It isn’t as hip and cool if that matters to you at all but it’s a solid option that isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Free with a paid option.
Gmail ( https://gmail.com )
The hip cool new kid on the block. I say that. but Gmail has been around for some time now. Once again a solid option that isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Also free with a paid option.
G Suite / Google workspace ( https://workspace.google.com/ )
The paid version of Gmail is my personal go-to for all sorts of social organizations. The ability to connect your members via email as well as share documents in a well-structured organized space is phenomenal. Now, this does come at a price but below I will discuss a way to make it free for your organization.
Social Media
Here is the big bad wolf of this post. Social media can be a positive tool used to spread the word of your organization as well as engage with users outside of your bubble. There are of course a lot of options when it comes to social media and it’s ever-changing. Something may be in this week and out the next. Below I will list some of the more major social media options which will help you engage with the most users as well as at the end list some tools to help you manage your social media in such a way to consume less of your time. Luckily social media itself tends to be free so no costs are expected here but the tools to manage it can be free or paid. The paid options of course just giving you more control.
Twitter ( https://twitter.com )
Twitter currently is one of the more influential social media platforms. Independent from others it allows you to post pretty much anything you like. It allows you to control the content you view in the form of following as allows you to be either private or open about your own content. For paganism, I personally feel this is the starting point for most people’s social media journey. Now for every positive of Twitter, there is a magnitude of negatives. The community is full of trolls and haters which you will need to monitor if you get on someone’s bad side. luckily there are several controls to block and mute other users. I highly recommend using them to make your usage as agreeable as possible.
Facebook ( https://facebook.com )
Everyone has a Facebook. We don’t even really need to discuss this one. Facebook consists of groups, pages and profiles. Depending on what you want to use it for any of those things may apply. We personally have a private group for our grove which has severed us well. In the future, I’d like to see us have a more public page but that’s for the grove to decide. A large portion of our new members has come from Facebook as that’s where they find us. Facebook though has a long history of issues concerning individuals’ privacy and selling user data which makes it a turn-off for many people.
For Groves, there are a few options such as pages that would be in the form of a direct advertisement for your Grove or use groups as a way to connect your grove members. From there you would need to decide if your group is private or public. Private would allow you to perform actual grove business on the group or to keep it public allowing others to join in the conversation.
Instagram ( https://instagram.com )
Instagram owned and run by Facebook is mostly a photo / image-focused form of social media. Plagued with similar issues to Facebook over censoring content as well as privacy concerns Instagram still goes strong. Between posts as well as “stories” Instagram has a huge reach for a younger crowd. The shift to a more commercial experience though has turned a lot of users off. While it still has a purpose it doesn’t have the reach it did a few years ago. The online pagan community though on Instagram is still very strong.
Youtube ( https://youtube.com )
Youtube, the video version of Instagram has been around since the early days of the internet. Now not really your typical form of social media it definitely deserves inclusion. If your group is into live streaming or video content creating a youtube channel can be an incredibly powerful thing. Users can subscribe to your content with ease.
TikTok ( https://tiktok.com )
Personally, I am relatively new to TikTok so I cannot talk from experience too much but this is the new kid on the block. Having much richer content has attracted a lot of new and fresh faces to social media. TikTok though can be incredibly time-consuming in the content department as the content created for the platform is much more involved. Pagan Tiktok though is alive and well with several popular Instagram stars moving to Tiktok in the past while bringing their audience with them.
Tools
The internet can be a wild wild west of the world at any given moment. There have been attempts to control it over the years but in the end, the underbelly of it all still exists. It can be incredibly fulfilling but also incredibly time-consuming. Listed below are going to be a few random tools you can use to navigate the wild west as well as tools that may just general help you establish your presence online and reduce your time consumption. As well as I will list other tools that may help you organize and manage your grove or group with ease.
Buffer ( https://buffer.com )
Buffer is an all-encompassing social media tool that helps you update your content from one easy location. The free option allows you to connect three social media platforms and can post on all three from one location instead of having to go to each source and post individually. This can be a huge help in saving you time and energy. It also allows you to schedule posts for the future which makes things so much easier.
Hootsuite ( https://hootsuite.com )
Similar in all regards to buffer Hootsuite was the powerhouse of this service. While writing this piece, they have removed the free option and are now only a paid service. Offering the same system as a buffer, from scheduling posts and posting to multiple social media services.
Later ( https://later.com/ )
Newer to the tool world Later offers similar services as buffer and Hootsuite but has a focus on Instagram. Instagram has been a trouble spot for the other two for years. I personally have no used Later but I suggest you look into it. Has a free option as well that covers the main three social media platforms.
Google Analytics ( https://analytics.google.com/ )
The tool you will use to see if all the hard work you are doing is amounting to anything. Now you don’t really need this in any form or fashion, but I like to see the results of my work for some like myself. I want to see where my content has travelled and the interactions that are taking place. You can take entire courses on analytics but even for the most basic user you can look at the content and get a grasp of what is happening
Square ( https://square.com )
Not needed by everyone but a very useful tool is the online payment program square. Easy to use and very user-friendly square can be used for a variety of things such as members dues, selling crafts or fundraising. Be wary though as Square in the past has rejected users who may sell things of an occult nature. Their argument in the past has been to protect users from scams but it’s fairly broad.
Techsoup ( https://www.techsoup.org/ )
If you take the time to register your grove as a non-profit society where you are located you may be eligible for TechSoup. Techsoup is a non-profit enabler that connects groups and societies to discounted services from larger donors. Some of the services above are free if you are verified under tech soup. I highly recommend looking into this. Registering as a non-profit in your area may have various fees associated with it.
Apps
Like tools, Appls are great little extras that you can use on various systems that may help spruce up what you are working on and creating.
Mojo (https://mojo.video/)
While Instagram of course provides a tool to create stories within Instagram, Mojo is just that on coffee. It is a fantastic addition to any tool belt for just adding that little extra.
Canva (https://www.canva.com/)
Canva has been described as photoshop for non-graphic designers. An excellent little app that lets you do a wide range of things that the normal phone editing just misses out on.
Repost (https://repostapp.com/)
One thing Instagram lacks over Twitter and Facebook is the ability to share content from other content creators. Repost fixes that by allowing you to share other content to your feed. It is a huge help with community engagement.
Asana (https://asana.com/)
This is a new app for me. Similar to basecamp this allows you to share with a team various projects and schedules.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Search engine optimization is one of the most difficult aspects of running any sort of web presence. It is something that constantly changes and can be difficult to stay on top of. If your grove just intends to give your domain and social media directly via cards or whatnot then SEO is less important but if you are hoping to garner members online-only then SEO can be important. Now luckily being that Paganism and Druidry is a bit of a niche community it makes SEO a little simpler for you as you won’t be exactly competing against anyone for some key terms.
Google Analytics will help you with this by showing you some terms users have used to find your website. You can then focus these terms on your website to build a higher ranking. Personally, the Grove of Nova Scotia Druids has found the best tool we have for SEO has been our blog. It generates an incredible amount of clicks to our website based on various niche posts we have done. Posts about gods and goddesses have been a huge success for us as they are often searched on google.
Perils of the Internet
The internet is a wonderful place that allows us as a society to share more information than we ever have. I can pull up a browser and find the number of Pi to the 23rd decimal point in seconds. I can find someone's favourite banana bread recipe, I can find the hours of a local business.
With this power though comes some darker sides. There are plenty of people out there who are only out for their own and their own means. This may affect you more than you think. Druidry and Paganism being a minor religion / spiritual practice in the world can often mean there are a lot of individuals out there who look very negatively on us. They may go out of their way to cause you problems by reporting pages and groups and causing all sorts of administrative headaches. Just keep in mind that we live in modern society and in this society all people are and should be treated equally. You are allowed to believe what it is you believe and that is ok. The community around you is larger than you may think.