What We Want to See
Web Sites
The following information should be found easily in a lodge’s web site:
- Lodge Hall Location
- Schedule of meetings, socials, and other activities
- Recent newsletters
- Link to the lodge’s Facebook page
- Helpful information for new members, such as how to order nametags
- Information should be up-to-date. The website should be well maintained.
- The web site should show events, including pictures, of an active lodge.
The web site should make clear to people visiting the site that they are encouraged to join the lodge. Contact information should be provided and should be easy to find.
Make sure that your lodge has the right to use the intellectual property of all documents and photos on your site. Be careful not to download pictures from other sites. We advise you to get permission from people whose images you display in your photos on your site.
Webmasters should provide passwords to at least 2 lodge officers so that the web site can be continued even if the webmaster is hit by a bus.
Make your passwords strong. Mark Zuckerberg’s Twitter and Pinterest accounts were hacked; his password was “dadada”. Statista reports that the most popular of LinkedIn’s weakest passwords are:
- 123456 (753,305)
- linkedin (172,523)
- password (144,458)
- 123456789 (94,314)
- 12345678 (63,769)
While we encourage the use of WordPress, we don’t require it. As long as the requirements above are met and people in the lodge are available to take over from a webmaster hit by a bus, we are happy. However, web sites that conform to the guidance in the SMSC Toolkit page will get a better level of support from SMSC.
Facebook Pages
The Timeline part of the page should have posts added from time to time reflecting that your lodge is active and vibrant.
The About part should show lodge hall location, normal schedule, and link to the lodge’s web site. You can enter the normal schedule under “Company Overview”. You should enter other information about your lodge where Facebook prompts, such as when your lodge was founded.
The Photos section should have photos of activities in your lodge. If your lodge has a web site and you have photos on the web site, you can skip this.
The Events section should have upcoming events in your lodge’s schedule.
Visit the Valhall Lodge Facebook Page to see an example of a lodge’s Facebook page.
Remember Your Customers
- People considering joining your lodge
- Members of your lodge
- District officers who want to visit your lodge
Examples of Lodge Websites
Listed below are the lodge websites maintained by members of the Social Media Support Committee (SMSC):
- Nordahl Grieg, San Jose, CA (Bruce)
- Valhall, San Diego, CA (Steve)
- Solskinn, Palm Desert, CA (Steinar)
- Desert Fjord, Scottsdale, AZ (Roger)
Other Examples of Websites
- District Six (Bruce)
- Camp Norge (Bruce)
- Camp Trollfjell (Bruce)
- San Diego Chapter of AAII (Steve)