TreasureWriter
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- Nov 13, 2011
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The Key to Creating and Running a Successful Group on TreasureNetBy H. Charles Beil (TreasureWriter)
TreasureNet Groups allow members to create a more personal social network of likeminded members to share your treasure hunting experiences. Rather than browsing all of the threads or searching for your friends among the over 40,000 members; a group allows you to communicate easily with members that youâve come to know through a common interest whether it be ghost town hunting, wreck diving, cache hunting or simply the proximity of living in a certain state or region. Groups were designed to provide a more personal style of communication among treasure hunters within a niche interest an added value that youâll only find on TreasureNet.
Why You May Want to Start a Group
The main reason to create a group is to share your interest in a specific area of treasure hunting with other likeminded treasure hunters; generally living within close proximity. Once your group is established youâll be amazed at how eager other treasure hunters are to share their stories, hunts and research as it applies to your niche and to get together for group hunts that promote camaraderie.
TreasureNet groups also allow you to communicate over a geographically large area with ease. Imagine trying to communicate with 30 members of a club spread over an entire state 20 years ago. It was difficult at best but generally impossible. With a TreasureNet group itâs a simple matter of making a post and all of the group members will get the message.
The old saying âtwo heads are better than oneâ definitely applies here. When you get several members researching and sharing information on a particular site youâll be able to uncover details that you probably would never find entirely on your own. Youâll also have the benefit of more ears to hear of a local treasure tale that youâll then be able to follow up on. In the Ghost Town group we have several local caches that we would never have heard about without the benefit of members sharing information.
Group hunts are a snap whenever you have a TreasureNet group. Simply put out the word of where and when and youâll have members arriving from miles away. Our members in the Ghost Town group have come from as far as 250 miles to hunt with the group; yours will too.
Since starting the Central Pennsylvania Ghost Town Group I quickly became good friends with many of the members. We have visited at each otherâs homes, shared our stories, metal detected together and dug privies. The hand of friendship and the common bond of treasure hunting will undoubtedly maintain our ties well into the future.
Starting Your Group
For your group to be successful youâll need to provide something of value to the group; you cannot simply create the group and sit back and wait. For others to want to join your group youâll need to at least initially provide content related to the group interest. You need to give your group an exciting appeal. Content can be in the form of informative articles, pictures, stories or any other related content.
When I began the North Central Pennsylvania Ghost Town Group, I did so because it was my special interest and I also noticed many TreasureNet members who were also interested in Pennsylvania Ghost Towns. I had already detected numerous towns that are now long gone so I decided to create the group site and a digital newsletter with the details of each town that includes directions to the town, original pictures, map of the town as it existed and pictures of what it looks like today. I discovered that the Ghost Town Group members really enjoyed seeing the old photos next to the photos of what exists today; and so the newsletter and the group site were a quick hit on TreasureNet.
I also set up the group as âinvite onlyâ. I did this for several reasons but not to deliberately exclude anyone. I wanted to focus our membership on those treasure hunters who were within a certain proximity where it would be within reason for them to get in on the group hunts. I felt that it was important to get to know each member and make them feel welcome and included in all that the group would plan to do. Personal invitations, welcome messages and dialog initiated with the TreasureNet personal messaging feature will be important to having an active group.
Pictures, pictures and more pictures are what we all like to see. I cannot over state this; we all like to see what out TreasureNet buddies are finding. Sometimes I get skunked out at a site but I always have interesting pictures to post of something that I found or saw on the hunt. When Iâm out with the group I spend as much time doing the photography as I do hunting. I believe that itâs important to display the finds of your group members; many may not have the technical knowhow to resize and post their own pictures; but everyone appreciates seeing their finds in print.
Maintaining an active group is essential to its survival. We plan a group hunt at least once a month. There have been months where we were out every weekend. We have had several members drive over 250 miles to participate; itâs great to see them and important to let them know that they are appreciated. We had a group picnic with a seeded hunt for the kids. If a new treasure hunter doesnât yet own a metal detector we always make sure that there is one available for them to use until they can afford one of their own. We are also building a resource library of treasure hunting movies, maps, books etc⌠Activity is key to holding your members interest. We all like to see fresh information and youâre likely to lose members if your group site is not updated almost daily. Add content as often as possible to maintain interest and create value in being a member of your group.
How to Promote Your Group to Get New Members
In order to identify TreasureNet members that may be interested in joining your group simply browse the threads that are within your niche; coin roll hunting, water detecting, relic hunting etc⌠and locate members who are interested in your niche and who also live within your state or region. Once you have identified 20-30 individuals you will simply send them an invitation to join the group. Be sure that your group site is well developed with articles, how-to information and pictures prior to sending out your invitations to join or your prospective members will see nothing and have no reason to join and participate. Always be on the lookout for new members. TreasureNet is growing at an extraordinary rate and you donât want to become complacent and inadvertently exclude prospective members that just may make a considerable contribution to your group.
Share the power. You may have started the group however itâs important to allow the members to have their say. A member may take offense if you delete one of their posts. If I encounter an issue within the group I private message the poster to correct the post; usually itâs just a technical glitch with pictures not being displayed properly.
Talk to your friends and family who are interested in your treasure hunting activities and have them join TreasureNet and join your group. Ask your members to do likewise and soon you will see your group membership expand. Iâll send invitations out as often as possible. Iâve also joined other treasure hunting sites so that I can let those treasure hunters know about the great group that we have going at TreasureNet so that they can join TreasureNet and participate with us as well.
It's also a good idea to private message group members that you haven't heard from in a while; a simple "hey, what have you been finding?" will often be enough encouragement to reactivate them in their group posts.
Use your imagination. I find that everywhere I go people are now asking me about my hobby, wanting to know what I have found and how they can become involved. I now have treasure hunting note paper and business cards with my email address on both to give to prospective group members.
This is certainly not an activity that you need to be shy about promoting; itâs the hot topic today. Itâs time to start that TreasureNet Group that you have been thinking about!
Cheers
H.Charles Beil received a degree in History from Duquesne University in 1982; studied historical geology, archeology and oceanography under Skinner and other world renowned geologists and archeologists and has been an avid treasure hunter for nearly 50 years. Heâs published numerous articles on the subject of treasure hunting and has been a frequent researcher in the tiny historical societies, large libraries and museums all along the Eastern Seaboard and the Mid-Atlantic States. He now shares the combined knowledge of this experience with treasure hunters worldwide allowing them to garner more satisfaction from their sport, make more and better finds, and share their appreciation for history. Beil publishes the Ghost Town Journal, several Treasure Hunting books, pamphlets and electronic articles and Blogs under the name TreasureWriter on the Internet. 
