Steve

About five years ago I created the following internet social media resources for the American Bladesmith Society in addition to our Website:

ABS Forum

ABS YouTube Channel

ABS Twitter

ABS Pinterest

ABS Constant Contact Monthly Email Newsletters

There's a lot of folks on Facebook. A private approved members group page dedicated to ABS knives and techniques with no selling allowed would be nice. One would not need to be an ABS member. They would just need to agree to the principles of the group and no direct selling to protect the non-profit status of the group.

I'm an administrator one a private group that is both educational and doesn't allow sales. If someone wants to buy they take it off line through messaging. If the rules are violated you get a warning. Next time we just bar you from the group. We have over 2,000 members in the group.

Awareness through FB groups works...

George

You could prepare a proposal and volunteer to be the administrator and send it to the ABS Board of Directors for their consideration. You would need ABS Board approval and have to follow all of the rules already in effect on the ABS Forum.

|quoted:

Steve

About five years ago I created the following internet social media resources for the American Bladesmith Society in addition to our Website:

ABS Forum

ABS YouTube Channel

ABS Twitter

ABS Pinterest

ABS Constant Contact Monthly Email Newsletters

That's a lot of work! I didn't know we had a twitter account or Pinterest page. Our YouTube account has some great vids on it but probably hasn't reached it's full potential. We could routinely solicit members for content as we do for knives. Perhaps having some rough guidelines for certain aspects of the content could help present a unified message and image. Picture/video quality, touching on one or two of a list of talking points - what might otherwise be considered branding?

I would like to produce content but as an apprentice it is safe to say my skills are not representative enough of the group's. Much like participation in the forum, it's hard to know when I have something useful to contribute! Maybe a video with commentary/narration by a master explaining what I'm doing right and wrong and what a Master Smith would recommend doing next type thing to educate people on our learning process?

Maintaining a social media presence is a full time job. Dan, you can probably attest. Are there funds to employ Dan or someone in this endeavor. Another option would be to hire a marketing firm to assist. The latter can turn into a costly quagmire very quickly but the goal would be for them to maintain some blogs, fb, youtube and pinterest accounts, gather routine tweets and content and post them, generate reports on our social media's consumption for Dan to review, etc. Perhaps if there were no ad spending or media buys the cost would be containable. Brainstorming.

This is a great topic.

Steve

Dan,

I'll call you to discuss this as soon as I know for sure I will not be having foot surgery in December. I don't want to start and then drop the ball due to my not being able to get to a computer. I would gladly set it up and and be an administrator. I'll work on a plan of action to present.

Lots of potential on Facebook.

In my opinion this is the part of the ABS' educational mission that is the most overlooked, and where we need to do the most work. The ABS has taught a lot of people how to work with steel and to make better knives, but we need to do a much better job of teaching the public (both the public in general and knife enthusiasts specifically) about what bladesmiths do and why they do it.

I deal with a very broad segment of the knife community on a daily basis, and most of you would not believe the fundamental misunderstandings of bladesmithing even among "knife people." As an example, a LARGE portion of knife enthusiasts have come to believe that the terms "bladesmith" and "knifemaker" are completely interchangeable. To them the "American Bladesmith Society" does not immediately bring to mind the forged blade -- which essentially means that they don't know what the ABS is all about. This is a clear sign that we have a lot of work left to do.

I'm sure there are many ways we can do this both as individuals and as a group. Every time you interact with the public as a bladesmith is an opportunity. This thread is an excellent topic and I hope it generates a lot of ideas and a lot of enthusiasm.

At the risk of sounding self-promotional, a sample copy of the new publication I'm launching, KNIFE Magazine, should show up in the mailbox of most ABS members in the next several days, if it hasn't already. The second issue will introduce a bimonthly feature called "Letters from the ABS" (alternating with a similar column from the Guild) a regular column which provides the ABS with a means of communicating directly with the knife collecting/using/buying public -- an educational opportunity within the knife community. So far as I am aware the ABS has never had a regular column in a knife magazine before, and Kevin Cashen has done a superb job with the first installment. I believe that it's needed, and I hope it does some good.

If this seems like a worthwhile effort to you, I hope you will choose to support it with a subscription. You can read more about the new magazine in

this thread.

Mark Zalesky

ABS Board Member

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