Little Belters are certainly not your traditional choir. They’re well known in the Manchester area for singing everything from Joy Division to the Tings Tings to The Automatic.
And each year they’re one of the real highlights of the Altrincham leg of the Manchester Marathon.
Their videos always go down well, but this year everything shifted up a gear.
At Altrincham HQ we posted a video of Little Belters across, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Freddie Mercury fronting up Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” seems to break though internationally and the video has had over 1.2 million views (and rising)
We caught up with Tina from the Belters to find out more about the impact of social media on the choir.
Q: The video of your Manchester Marathon performance just reached 1 million people. How does it feel to go viral?
That’s just crazy numbers! There’s always been a good response to our videos – and we have been doing the Manchester Marathon since its start in 2012. But it seems there was just something about this one that has really captured people. We love it!
Q: For those that don’t know about Little Belters – do you want to tell us how the choir formed and how you’re different from other choirs
Little Belters was set up 13 years ago by myself and my sister Claire. We had one goal – to provide a fun, local singing group for children who loved to sing. Our motto was “no audition, just ambition”. Little did we know that we would be sowing the seeds of a such a strong singing community – one that now has more than 300 members. We are both trained opera singers, so it was always so important that Little Belters children learned proper singing technique. But, just as importantly, we wanted it to be done in a safe, fun and high-energy environment. We are so proud of the Belters family. No one is judged, everyone is welcome, and new friendships flourish. Being a Belter is definitely about being part of something bigger – a caring community that learns how to sing together – and knows how to have fun!
Q: Outside of this viral moment. How important is Social Media to a choir like Little Belters and what’s been your biggest success before this?
Social Media is really important to us. As well as being able to show the Little Belters performances, it allows us to share with our followers and especially the Belters parents what goes on in the rehearsal room as our rehearsals really are very different. Our followers obviously love seeing the children singing but being able to see what goes on in the rehearsal room is always really popular. Our biggest Social Media success was definitely the marathon last year. We were lucky in that one of the Belters parents, who is also a content creator (the_manc_family) offered to film behind the scenes with Little Belters and they also filmed ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and guess what? The response to it was great – not as crazy as this year but it was a hit.
Q: Apart from the sheer numbers. The comments section wow. In a world there’s so much negativity this just brings joy. What was the one comment that really stood out to you and why?
Interestingly, the comment that has stood out for me is the same comment that has stood out for many of the parents of the Little Belters. One person offered to donate their medal to the children. That just seems incredible, after running 26 miles and going through all that pain they still wanted to celebrate what the Little Belters gave to the day. Also, there were so many comments about the energy of the Little Belters and that is really important to us.
Q: As well as the views there have been tangible benefit. Followers went up by 100’s within 24 hours and parents have reached out for their children to join the choir. Has anything else happened that we’re not aware of?
We’ve had so many messages asking us to set up a Little Belters in different areas, not just in Manchester and people contacting us asking if they could lead a Little Belters group. It’s been such a positive experience.
Q: Looking back at the video one things that stands out it it’s obvious what the choir is called even if you don’t read the caption itself. Our friend Craig at Mclellan Clothing does all your t’s and sweaters. How important is the red and yellow branding to stand out as it’s all over your socials?
Yes, we’re really grateful to Mclellan Clothing – they’re always so happy to accommodate us and especially with our rushed orders. They just always take the pressure off us and come up with the goods. The red and yellow combination was really thought through. We have always wanted the main colour to be red as it’s such a strong colour to have on stage and it definitely stands out on photos.
Q: When I saw the numbers blowing up and I told you it had reached nearly 200,000 people on TikTok you were surprised. Will you be joining TikTok?
I think we’re going to have to. I think it would be silly not to.
Q: People have been asking if Little Belters can performs at various marathons across Europe and the world. Could we see a Little Belters world tour?
How great would that be! We always tell the children to give things a go, even when it’s scary and challenging, so it wouldn’t be right to dismiss any opportunity that comes our way.
Q: Lastly. How can people get their kids involved in Little Belters and tell us how the mums can get involved in the adult choir Absolute Belters?
We would love people to get in touch and try out a free taster session with our Little Belters and Absolute Belters. We have Little Belters groups in Altrincham, Chorlton, Sale and Urmston and we always welcome new members and our Absolute Belters is based in Altrincham. Just go to our website lttlebelters.co.uk and sign your child up for a free taster and for our women’s choir just email us on absolutebelters@littlebelters.co.uk or direct message us on our Instagram absolute_belters
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