Publicity for folk dance clubs:
Most of an email sent to the Committee at Willand Folk Dance Club in early September 2026 in response to a simple request: Could you put something on Facebook and Instagram for our next dance?
Committee:
(a few sentences have been omitted in this
published version because
they pertain specifically to Willand Club)
You cannot hope for much effectiveness simply
'putting something on FB and/or Instagram'.
FACEBOOK (FB) and similar platforms.
FB is a platform where what you see is governed very much by your past browsing
history (as on Marketplace, a part of FB), unless you are specifically searching
for something or you belong to a FB group, or you happen by chance to see it.
I believe FB is moving to a charging model for cross notifications of events.
Jeremy in Exeter has said he is spending money on social media coverage (I'm not
sure how, yet).
Meet-up groups (via an app) have declined in popularity and their use varies
widely across Europe. I know some have been active around Dartmoor and Torquay.
They contributed to attendances at one or two dances. They are not a part of FB
and not further discussed here.
FB posts can be transitory and quickly overtaken in many groups by the next post
– FB stories disappear after 24 hours and reels (short-form videos) are likewise
often very short-lived.
FB is full of fake profiles, AI generated images of women and reels just seeking
attention. It has a slew of medical adverts for miracle products, portrayed as
documentaries, and fake interviews with celebrities.
There have also been long-running marketplace scams. There are millions of
obsolete adverts that FB doesn't remove because either they can't be bothered or
because it makes the platform look larger than it actually is. This is very
similar to dating websites. FB are soon going to start removing obsolete
Marketplace adverts - those that are over 2 years old.
I saw an advert for a dance recently, it was copied onto a local Sidmouth FB
group that I occasionally look at. Ten minutes later, I would probably never
have seen it.
FB is large - and much of it is rubbish. Worldwide, FB employs an estimated
20,000 people whose job it is to scan content before it is accepted onto the
platform. This is even after AI systems have rejected many posts. These workers
have seconds to decide to reject or allow new content -
and they can suffer
mental burnout.
There are millions of groups on FB - there are several in Sidmouth with the
number of posts ranging from 2 to 200 per day.
............. There are three necessary components (to new videos) – I will outline these at a
later date.
There are scores (hundreds?) of FB groups for notification of events within
specific geographical areas of the UK (for example, What's on Cullompton) as
well as for specialised interests (mending a Mk 1 Golf GTI, for example - this
would be a worldwide group). Easy enough to put posts on local groups, but
hardly anyone will see them before they are overtaken by the next post. Unless
you have created a group that contains something sufficiently interesting that
people would bother to join (and not leave in boredom after a week or a month),
they will not see any notifications of future events (but maybe via automated
cross-posting?).
As for Instagram and TikTok (about which I know relatively little), a review of
their scale was published in a lengthy Guardian article, itself an abridgment of
an even longer discussion—
https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/sep/03/a-crisis-of-authenticity-the-truth-about-food-influencers
Several points stand out—so-called short-form videos (Reels) last from a few
seconds to a few minutes. Most are measured in seconds. They are relatively new
to advertising and whilst they have developed a sizeable revenue-earning
capability this is across many thousands of content creators and may be more of
a passing craze than a format that could rival serious YouTube videos. Unlike FB
stories (which expire after 24 hours), all short-form videos seem destined to be
overtaken and forgotten - maybe in as little as a day.
Little information is given about earnings: "Meta (FB and Instagram) has the
most transparent numbers here: it launched Reels in 2020, and by 2022 Reels’ ad
revenue was about $2bn. By last year, Mark Zuckerberg said it was set to make
$50bn, and Meta released viewer stats showing that about 50% of all time on
Instagram is spent on Reels. YouTube also features short-form videos but on this
platform they are called simply 'Shorts.'
I would not advise spending any time on producing short-form videos.
UK PUBLICITY.
An understanding of publicity is something I am developing for other clubs but
it needs to be a structured approach – you cannot hope for instant results. I
shall, inter alia, be listing the approaches that have been used by folk dance
and other clubs over the years and analysing why (often) they work and don't
work, and why some can be worthwhile when selling other products. I will publish
this on my own website for anyone to use as the basis for their own
developments. This will take time.
As was mentioned at the AGM, some types of folk dancing are dying out - and all
over the UK. Youngsters doing simple loud ceilidh dance flourishes in places,
but most of these people would not be interested in Willand dances. Contra dance
has perhaps become popular for three reasons—it is fast, American, and it is
easily adapted to gender-free calling. Some people find it tedious because it is
so repetitive—the same series of simple moves repeated many times over.
Nevertheless, one approach would be directly to target the more serious and
older of the attendees in these venues, again, once you have something
attractive to offer by way of your own publicity.
CLUB CEILIDH.
Club Ceilidh use Instagram and regular stories on FB. The group is based around
Plymouth (the local nightclub and disco scene) and some of their 100+ attendees
'follow the band' to other venues (Exeter, for example). Their website is well
developed.
https://clubceilidh.com/ It is the same (loud and often fast) band every time,
the same caller, and many of the same (simple) dances.
They also hold barn dances near Dartmoor –
https://clubceilidh.com/event-category/village-barn-dance/
and at other occasional venues in Devon.
One local example of a well-attended ceilidh was at the Scoriton Show, Dartmoor.
31 August. (I didn't even know about it).
All CC FB video stories are deleted - but I have recorded one from 31 August
using a camera. The clip is too large to send by email - I'll show it to you at
a committee meeting sometime (if you remind me to bring a laptop). Few Willand
dancers would cope with it - and 95% or more of the attendees would probably not
be interested in attending Willand Club.
EXETER CEILIDHS vs CC.
I can copy to you a summary of CC events that I sent to Jeremy Child. You need
to understand the factors that make these events appealing to various sub-groups
(and you cannot hope to match many of these).
Jeremy Child has recently published a Code of Conduct (C of C) for Exeter
Ceilidhs at Kenn which is variously unhelpful in places. I will discuss with the
Committee, sometime, the history of these events, when (a year ago) Jeremy asked
me if I wanted to take them over (I thought he was joking) and what has led to
this C of C - it specifically makes the events less attractive to some people.
https://barndancecaller.net/exeterceilidhs/CoC.html
(original source)
THE FURORE OVER GENDER-NEUTRAL DANCING AND 'WOKE BRITAIN'.
NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN? WHY DO I SAY THIS? (See below for the answer).
You could read the following webpages from my website - these have already had
some welcome effect on Exeter callers (especiallly Chris Jewell who is very
good) but they have (of course) made me some enemies too. Do I care? Some
discussion of my ideas for publicity is included in these links.
https://seered.co.uk/woke2.htm - a long webpage which discusses some Willand
dances and the good and poor aspects of Exeter ceilidhs.
https://seered.co.uk/woke1.htm - this followed from a long article in the Daily
Telegraph and centered upon EFDSS that discussed the 'wokeness' that has
infected folk dance - and why it has become less attractive to 'normal' people -
according to many of the comments.
https://seered.co.uk/charlotte.htm - a discussion of a woman who is currently in
charge of folk dance at Sidmouth FolkWeek.
A further article discussing this topic was recently published in EFDSS magazine
- I've not seen it yet, but it is likely more of the same 'woke' nonsense.
The important point is, in my experience, that most people prefer to be taught
as men/ladies rather than as larks and robins or as fish and chips (yes,
really). Most people do not subscribe to extreme 'woke' views (which disallow
use of the terms men, women, girl, boy, etc), yet these views predominate in
some young and influential folk dance callers. People who agree with me can be
afraid to say so – mirroring the 'cancel culture' in universities: more
recently, 'woke' and DEI (Diversity, Equality, Inclusivity) have been much
discussed in all newspapers (and very widely on the internet) following the
Jason Arday episode at Cambridge University.
THE DEBATE OVER WOKE IN THE UK - the backlash over Arday at Cambridge.
Several worthwhile videos are given below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOUmXQt8lYU
I’m Fighting to End Anti-White “D.E.I.” Discrimination - Sophie Corcoran
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C27UXFdz0sA ("Here's how I exposed Jason Arday
and Cambridge") Professor David Starkey taught at Cambridge for 56 years before
he was thrown out by the DEI movement. One hour long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YsCTD83W0s ((ex) Professor Kathleen Stock, a
lesbian(?) but an accomplished academic, sometimes nowadays called a National
Treasure.) 43 minutes long. Contains adverts (as do most YouTube videos). A
highly intelligent (and attractive) woman, referenced elsewhere on my website.
"I would rather there are questions we cannot answer, than answers we cannot
question." - often attributed to Professor Richard Feynman (he was a leading
theoretical physicist in the USA) but there is no proof of this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQm-ct5ir9s criticism of the WOKE MIND VIRUS in
Britain. Brilliant. Nearly 400,000 subscribers and over 260,000 views inside
four weeks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wllIfYrMek discussion of Cambridge.
FUTURE PUBLICITY - directions and implementation.
Let me know when you have read the above. I could show you some existing folk
club videos, and ask you to analyse what is inadequate about them.
My own recent low-key efforts at publicity have centred on filling a gap – no
one has really been teaching folk dance. Exeter ceilidhs ran for 5 years with
little progress – but more recently a folk dance group at Exeter University has
reformed. It was 40 to 60 people decades ago, shrank to almost zero, but is now
growing slowly. I often get 1 or 2 people interested in lessons via ceilidhs
locally – but never a group of eight new people who are all free at the same
time and place. My own publicity emphasises the health aspects of dance - as do
parts of my website. Yours should do the same.
In my view, YouTube is the way to go for video publicity. It has a higher
reputation than FB. You need credible three part videos (why three?) you need to
load them onto a YouTube channel (2 minutes' work), and then you need to attract
subscribers. You can do this via FB, via Instagram and via your website, or
other local free or paid publicity – but first you need something decent to
sell. (deleted text)
However one feature of FB also holds for YouTube – what anyone sees, what is
offered to them (suggested channels and specific videos) will be very much
determined by their stated preferences and stored browsing history. Complex
algorithms (some of them described in mathematical talks that are available
online) control all of this – you just have to accept it. In a lifetime you
could not hope to view everything that is already available (even if you had no
better way to spend your time!), and the amount of content is increasing
rapidly.
EXAMPLES OF PROFESSIONALLY PRODUCED YOUTUBE CHANNELS.
If you want to view one of the most professional YouTube channels - try this. It
has attracted tens of millions of views. They obtain revenue from the adverts
that are displayed and sponsorship. This is how much of the internet works. You
may need to scroll to the beginning of all these videos using my links.
The channel has 21 million subscribers. Derek Muller (the lead presenter) has a
PhD. Other presenters also have science degrees.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQYuyHNLPTQ (this is how sewing machines work -
for all you ladies!!) The video has been viewed 15 million times over 2 years.
Here is a video on prime number theory -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HBDE-msUjw
and a video describing the most complex machine ever built:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiUHjLxm3V0
Here are two of hundreds more ‘serious’ channels - they are judged on their
merits, but often the people who subscribe to 'fringe' channels are themselves
religious or political nutters (so bear that in mind; there might be a billion
nutters in the world).
Diagnose Dan – a man in the Netherlands (?) who is an expert in diagnosing the
electronic faults of cars – he sorts out cars that other garages cannot fix and
shares his results online. Hours of fascinating viewing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLgqa6BioO8 (Diagnose Dan has 280,000
subscribers)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKnQI2IScPU&list=PLvtY1UaRIHfXjR9wR0uIavltIe5aPOr0L
(diagnosis of CAN-BUS errors and containing a useful explanation of how CAN-BUS
works) (CAN= Controller Area Network, BUS = data highway or data bus)
Another in the UnHerd series - this time featuring Professor Sir Dieter Helm of
Oxford University discussing Net Zero and world economics and energy supply. (I
can relate to all this; I was a government energy scientist for nearly 20
years.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gyzum0jUFj8 (UnHerd has 543,000 subscribers and
a good reputation for serious journalism.)
However, if you wish to attract the attention of the man on the Clapham Omnibus,
you could do little better than to steal his car.
This channel has over one million subscribers and hundreds of thousands of views
for this one video alone. People can see how useless the police are even when
career criminals are caught ‘red handed’. There were apparently no prosecutions
even for a £100,000 theft.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggGmHMELqt0
One example (of many) where TikTok and Instagram are used to glorify criminality
is here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3QDMQFIHCw
WILLAND PUBLICITY.
So, these and similar video channels attract huge audiences – probably more
people than nowadays read internet articles or read text-based websites like
mine.
How many worthwhile videos can you produce? How will you structure, film and
edit them? How many subscribers will you attract, and how many new dancers?
Given time, I can do much of this, but you need to understand the internet and
how people use it nowadays.
There is another issue also. My plans for Exeter ceilidhs (if I go to them in
future) included handing out invitations to the better or older dancers to
attend the forthcoming Gittisham Club event at Dawlish spread over several days
(midweek November?). They could attend for an evening, as indeed I might, to get
a feel of what an 'away day' dance event in a hotel is like.
Most of these people have never been to a dance festival such as Towersey (as
was), Shrewsbury, or Wadebridge (always very poor for dance). A very few (if
any) of the keen older dancers who attend ceilidhs I could invite to Willand
club nights, or to Saturday dances, or even to the Willand Torquay weekend for
an evening if (as some do) they live closer to Plymouth than to Exeter. (deleted
text here)
It is not only English Folk Dance where numbers are declining. In Ireland, the
so-called ‘revival’ produced sometimes 600 people at a ceili. There has been a
steep decline since those days. Some of the history is on my website – on a
webpage that is over 5 years old. https://seered.co.uk/folkclub16.htm
this
contains a discussion of why folk dance is in decline. It is still a valid and
relevant analysis.
I suggest you read it. It will show you, inter alia, that violent disagreements
amongst dance organisers and dancers much predates the present-day cancel
culture of gender neutral dance protagonists.
Many of the links on my website no longer work – so called link-rot is a disease
of the internet age.
There are several distinct possibilities for increasing the number of dancers.
Good quality videos may be helpful in all these approaches. They will take time
and effort to produce.
I will outline other possible initiatives later.
Stephen J Wozniak
5 September 2026.
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