Case study 03 · A founder’s passion project
More Than a Saturday Morning Run
Building a community through social media, one Saturday at a time.
Since Three Brooks parkrun launched in July 2024, I’ve volunteered as a Run Director. I developed and lead our community-first social media strategy, which we deliver together as a three-person volunteer team.
Three Brooks parkrun · Unpaid volunteer work · July 2024 to present
2.4M
Organic Facebook views
165,372
Facebook viewers
36.6K
Content interactions
2.5K+
Facebook followers in around two years
Views, viewers and interactions: 1 January to 21 October 2026 · Followers: cumulative total as at October 2026 · 100% organic · No paid advertising or boosted posts
What this shows agencies
Content and social media skills alongside SEO, plus the people skills to plan, share and lead work across a team.
What this shows businesses
How a consistent, community-first content plan builds real engagement without spending on ads.
The brief
Building a Community, Not Just an Audience
At first, our social media had a practical job: finding enough volunteers each week. Within a few months, I saw the chance to do more. I led our shift towards a community-first strategy that would celebrate participants, recognise volunteers and reflect parkrun’s welcoming, inclusive values. Facebook stayed the priority for event information and volunteering, while Instagram and TikTok gave us room to try more playful content. Our audience spans generations, from young children to participants in their eighties.
The challenge
Keeping 400 People Running in Circles Interesting
Around 400 people turn up each Saturday to complete the same 5km course. The challenge was finding new stories within a familiar weekly event. Photos, personal milestones, results and volunteer experiences gave us material, but some weeks had no photographer or social media volunteer on site. Staying consistent is hard when everyone is giving their time freely. I spend up to eight hours a week on this, so our approach had to be both creative and sustainable.
What we did
A Strategy Built Around People
We put a seven-day plan in place, with recurring themes shared across the wider volunteer team. Two of us split responsibility for Facebook and Instagram, supported by step-by-step guidance. Our third team member, also an Event Director, focuses on volunteer communications and stories from the running community. We shared know-how across the team, including Meta Business Suite, analytics and account settings, and worked with Crumble Digital on reusable Canva templates for regular posts. I also came up with the “Threes” three-finger gesture, a simple idea that around 100 participants now use regularly. Facebook content is adapted for Instagram, while TikTok stays a place to experiment and learn.
01 / Plan
Seven-day themes
Repeatable content that gives the community something to look forward to.
02 / Share
Volunteer-led delivery
Clear responsibilities and practical step-by-step guidance.
03 / Create
Templates and Threes
Canva templates by Crumble Digital, plus a community gesture that caught on.
The results
2.4 Million Organic Views
From 1 January to 21 October 2026, Facebook recorded 2,398,903 content views, 165,372 viewers and around 36,600 content interactions. The page has built a following of more than 2,500 people in around two years, reaching 2,593 lifetime Facebook followers by October 2026. Everything was organic, with no advertising or boosted posts. Single-photo posts generated 1,340,474 views and multi-photo posts 791,644, together around 89% of the total. Reels generated 88,432 views. Familiar faces, community stories and photos worked best. These are Facebook results only; no Instagram or TikTok figures are claimed.
What the community watched
Facebook content views by format, January to October 2026
Photo posts and galleries made up around 89% of views. Views are not unique people.
“Three Brooks parkrun is my happy place.”
Tegan Ireland, Founder
What I learned
Good People Make Great Things Happen
It has brought new friendships and had a real, positive effect on my wellbeing. Some of my proudest moments are seeing people embrace the Threes, reading warm comments thanking volunteers and hearing from other parkruns that enjoy our social media. I’ve shared an introduction to our approach with interested teams. Most of all, it has shown me how much people can achieve when they turn up every week because they care.
The bigger picture
The Community Becomes Part of the Story
People now send us their own photographs to share. They recognise the Threes, celebrate one another in the comments and make the social channels feel like an extension of Saturday mornings. Next, we’d like to grow Instagram towards Facebook’s level of engagement, while keeping TikTok as a place to experiment for future audiences. Those are goals, not reported results.
Good People. Good Business. And a Lot of Saturday Mornings.
I’m proud to have steered the strategy, and of what we’ve achieved as a team of three volunteers and a community that gives us the stories worth telling. It’s what happens when professional marketing skills meet something close to your heart, and the same curiosity, commitment and practical thinking go into our work at Fireland SEO. And yes, sometimes that means spending eight hours a week creating content about 400 people running around in a circle. I wouldn’t change it.
Fireland SEO
Good SEO. Good People. Good Business.
Looking for practical SEO expertise, fresh ideas and someone who cares about the people behind your business?
Independent, unpaid volunteer project led personally by the founder of Fireland SEO, supported by fellow Three Brooks parkrun volunteers. Crumble Digital created the Canva templates. Not a paid Fireland SEO engagement or an official parkrun marketing campaign. Meta Business Suite figures are Facebook only. Views, viewers and interactions cover 1 January to 21 October 2026; follower total is cumulative as at October 2026.