by Amy Martin 

Are you a follower of NTMN official Facebook page? You should be — it’s a happening place! We have 4,450+ followers, double what we had just a year ago, and gaining more each day. It’s a great mix of NTMN news and informative articles ranging from local to national. Many TMN chapters have become followers just to glean our posts to share! 

The North Texas chapter participated in a Social Media Takeover at the state TMN page, doing all the posts for a week. We aced that, too, causing a big bump in readership at that page. We’ve been invited to return in the fall! 

NTMN also has a members group with 314 participants, but could use some more. Great place to share info with our naturalists, ask questions, or even post cartoons. Sign up here and provide the year you completed your TMN training. 

Our Twitter feed is doing well with Carol Garrison at the helm and has 656 followers. Spread the word! You can find many of our popular Facebook posts repeated there along with other content.

For attractive photos, mainly from NTMN activities check out our Instagram page. It has an impressive 1,296 followers under the guidance of Diana Stephens. 

And if you’re just not into social media, try the NTMN members Yahoo Groups listserve. To join, send an email.  It’s not very active, but I do post a collection of our Facebook posts there each weekend. 

Join the Team! 

We’d be so happy if you’d join our social media team. Great way to earn VH on your own schedule from the comfort of your home: 

At Facebook, we are seeking folks for two neat tasks: 

• Post a new cover photo at the page every Friday. It keeps the page interesting and increases our Facebook metrics, helping us stay in the main feed. There are so many fine photos at our Flickr site and also at the page’s photo albums. 
• Create a Sunday feature called Deep Dive. This is an in-depth look at topics covered in the TMN curriculum. A focus on prairies, for instance, or ecosystems. The topics are endless! A Deep Dive on geology, for instance, had a synopsis on North Texas geology, several informative links, and a number of geologic map graphics. It would also give the moderator a much needed day off. 

At Instagram: 

• We need a graphics wiz to make a flier promoting our monthly meeting and a few NTMN programs that need ongoing promotion.
• Also someone to select a few of the more photo-friendly posts from Facebook at get them out on Instagram in photo format, plus share occasional posts from the TMN Instagram feed, especially about the annual meeting in October.

At Pinterest

• Need someone to re-activate it and make it sing! 

With a new book contract, my time to devote to NTMN social media is getting pinched. Sure could use a sub for a week every now and then. Or even coordinate all the social media so I can focus just on Facebook, which is the only platform I know well. Contact me if you’re interested!