Blog, blog, blogging

I always preferred numbers to words. In fact I often read news articles on our travels to and from Boarding School and have to spell out words for Hilton to pronounce for me. I find English to be properly hard and confusing so when we decided we’d have a blog I was terrified of doing it… Take this and add to it on-line criticism. It makes one want to hide. But, hide we cannot!

The first thing to do when beginning anything new is to get as much information as you can and so I have attended many a social media marketing workshop and conference. I think, deep-seated, is the ultimate wish to find the one thing that will work like no other. Wish, we’d become an instant hit everywhere! Wish, people will talk about our business! Wish, we’d have raving fans coming out of the woodwork. Wish, life will just be incredible! So far, nope, this hasn’t happened…

As I listen to one Marketing guru after another I have realised that they are just as confused and unsure as we are. Messages can be conflicting, the audience is harassed and concentration spans are diminishing. Less seems to be more and keeping relevant is much trickier than we ever imagined. What worked last season becomes so last year but thankfully there are always a few steadfast truths.

The dogs, our great Drakensberg influencers. They remain the all-time top social media achievers at The Cavern. They are solid, model well, always happy to be included and just a walk will complete and make their day. Our guests and followers adore them. They love to see them and they engage on every platform. They get sponsorship for their Big5Hike and many an emoji for an appearance.

The views. Somehow we are all touched by the beauty of nature. Sharing views of this magnificent Drakensberg range always gets a wonderful response. It’s recognising sometimes where you have been, recalling a happy, deep-seated memory or just soaking in the magnificence of the scenery.

The people. This Cavern is made up of a family, an incredible working team and our larger community. We have purpose and relevance and so many of our Cavern followers buy into this. It’s tricky to articulate and hard to measure but the support of all things Cavern is special.

So it’s taking the digital back to the physical and tangible. It’s about growing our community. We do this through conversations and by keeping relevant. We build life-long friends who relate to our purpose and who aspire to join us. We have to be authentic, solid and steadfast when everything around us changes.

And so we try to be real in our words too. Sometimes they may seem arbitrary but we hope they give greater insight into not only a place but space where community matters and nature abounds.