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Social (new) media – different communication style requiring new approaches/mindset

Traditional media is a 1 to many message, broadcastingTraditional media is a 1 to many message, broadcasting

Social media is a 1 to 1 conversation, about connecting, community.

By 2010 Generation Y will outnumber Baby Boomers, and 74% of GenY have joined a

social network.

Future membership, digital natives, need to be part of their world.

Our competition will not be another association, but what’s available online.

•If I can find professional and business development resources online, as well as

news and information, and if I can connect with folks to plan f2f meetups, what’s

the point of joining an association?

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Before diving into social media, look at your current situation -

1. Regularly assess members current needs? Giving them what they need?1. Regularly assess members current needs? Giving them what they need?

2. Have updated strategic plan, scan environment, project different futures? Anticipated

future needs? How needs of their customers will change, affecting how members do

business?

3. Site analytics? Popular pages? Where visitors come from? Search terms?

4. Easy for members to share? ShareThis buttons?

5. RSS feed?

6. Email/mail to everyone? Segmented by target? Email too frequently? Coordinate with

other departments? Track clicks?

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Wrong reason - because everyone else is doing it, feeling pressure.

Right reason - tool for achieving strategic plan goals.Right reason - tool for achieving strategic plan goals.

But lots of assns (and biz) didn’t start with goals, instead created a Fb page or Twitter

account.

Don’t do it backwards. Begin with goals and objectives, tie your strategies and actions to

that.

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LI – business reception, Twitter – after work happy hour, Facebook – backyard

barbecuebarbecue

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LinkedIn for professional use (see handout for best practices) - online resume – job

listingslistings

•Connecting with others

•Professional dev – group discussions/news items

•Branding – groups, questions/answers

Assn use - Groups – require moderation - host discussions, share news, post jobs,

subgroups for board/committees/SIGs

•Networking platform

• Recruiting help – lost members, prospects, volunteers

•Market research – focus group - members’ problems, needs, perspectives

And….

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LI – providing professional development resources thru discussions, news items (links) –

content provider and curator - demonstrate status as thought leader and provider content provider and curator - demonstrate status as thought leader and provider

of valuable resources.

Example – ASAE LI group

Twitter is another great source for professional development. My #1 source now. Links

to blog posts, information, webinars, etc.

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People don’t get Twitter – experience depends on whom you follow (be selective) and

how often you engage with them. See handout.how often you engage with them. See handout.

Professional - sharing links, conversation, relationship building (mix of

personal/professional)

Association – news and info sharing, marketing, conference hashtag (announcements,

session soundbites, promos), lists (helps members find each other)

#assnchat – Tuesday at 2pm – online Twitter chat for association professionals.

Reserve your Twitter username so no one else takes it.

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Twitter – because of conversational nature (mix of personal/professional tweets), great

platform for peer-to-peer networking and relationship building – my experience with platform for peer-to-peer networking and relationship building – my experience with

ASAE and Raleigh

•ASAE – LI group, blog and comments, led to Twitter � relationships � F2F at

annual mtng

•Raleigh twitter/social media community

Make it easy for members to find you online and find their fellow members. Create a

social media page for your website showing your online outposts. Market it. Build

community. Put icons on home page too. Be their social media coach, encourage

participation/train how to use tools.

LI group and FB pages ……

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Personal – check privacy settings – defaults may have changed due to Facebook

changes.changes.

Everyone has different connecting/friending philosophies and may have different

ones for different platforms. Ok not to connect/friend with others. Follow your

own comfort level.

Assn – Fb as member platform for connecting

Professional development – share news, links, videos, blog feed

Lobbyists FB friending capital staff � relationship strengthener

FB “Share” feature allows viral marketing – esp events

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Social media = word of mouth on steroids – VIRAL (twitter, FB posts)

Conference hashtags, pre and post event marketing on FB, LIConference hashtags, pre and post event marketing on FB, LI

Public face – prove value to all

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Marketing/prof dev – conference videos (previews and post), special events, interviews

to supplement magazinesto supplement magazines

Get members involved with Flip videos for YouTube –stories re volunteering, political

action

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Future is mobile – younger generation, everyone’s attached to their phone

More and more applicationsMore and more applications

Latest tool – geolocation – Foursquare, TriOut– Facebook getting into biz soon

•Application for assns – Conferences? Volunteering? Still figuring that out.

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Mobile apps – texting for political action

Also volunteer calls, polling, crowdsourcing decision-making (articles, session topics), Also volunteer calls, polling, crowdsourcing decision-making (articles, session topics),

promo codes

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Good 1st step for using social media for professional development - where I began –

reading/subscribing to blogs, later commenting (social mojo, link exposure)reading/subscribing to blogs, later commenting (social mojo, link exposure)

Can subscribe to a blog’s RSS (real simple syndication) feed – orange icon

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See Commoncraft videos on RSS and Google reader (handout)

An RSS feed brings posts to you as they’re published. Read them when you have time, An RSS feed brings posts to you as they’re published. Read them when you have time,

won’t miss anything.

Assn blogs – need time/talent for content creation. Acronym supplements staff posts

with member posts.

WordPress blogs – free user-friendly blog platform

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Use tools personally first so you can get a feel for them, what they’re capable of, how

they can help your assn achieve its goals.they can help your assn achieve its goals.

Use it for your own professional development - association management

•Read blogs, subscribe, comment

•Find thought leaders to follow on Twitter

•Join association groups/pages on LI or FB

•Get a sense of the culture – etiquette, do’s and don’ts

•Complete your profiles

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First step for assn – listen. Critical yet many biz and orgs don’t do this. Be positioned to

respond, engage and correct. Know who’s talking about you. Know where industry respond, engage and correct. Know who’s talking about you. Know where industry

conversation is taking place.

Set up Google Alerts, Twitter advanced search, Backtype (blog comments). Decide on

keywords. Good exercise for your team – brainstorm.

Assn name/variations/misspellings/acronym, affiliate names,

event/product/service names, CSE/leaders name, URL for web site/other sites,

competitors’ names, industry terms/phrases.

Check Google Analytics for search terms

Start small, grow as you get more competent. Review/refine.

Businesses use social media to respond to customer questions/complaints. Works for

associations too. Very useful at conferences.

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Next step – Find where your members are hanging out so you can fish where your fish

are.are.

Upload contacts to the tools (members, prospects, capital staff, journalists – whoever

your target community is). The search is based on email addresses so will also need to

supplement this search with….

A member survey –

•What socmed tools do you use regularly – personally and/or professionally

•What blogs do you read professionally

•Professional LinkedIn groups do you belong to

•Profesional Facebook groups/pages

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Let’s review, you’re

•Familiar with tools.•Familiar with tools.

•Reviewed strategic plan, know how tools can help achieve goals.

•Listening tools are set up

•Know where members are

Choose one tool. Let your members know (market). Be their social media coach (train

them how to use tools for self and biz).

•Or improve your web site (user-friendly, not dept friendly; seo), or add ShareThis

button to your web site

•or relook at your email/newsletter strategy.

•or RSS feeds from site or blog

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Gather your team – staff, maybe members too if staff is small. Need team for content

collection/curation/creation, listening, responding, marketing.collection/curation/creation, listening, responding, marketing.

Cross departmental team – no silos allowed, social media can’t be isolated to one

department.

Training – guidance - what they can’t do but more importantly how they should behave.

Trust – big issue – why training is so key

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Social media results in a culture shift for many assns. Issues emerge (like trusting staff)

that require a new approach and mindset. This is good since many of the changes that that require a new approach and mindset. This is good since many of the changes that

associations will face due to expectations of younger generations will require the same

mindset and approach. This change is inevitable. Social media as catalyst.

•No silos, more true collaboration

•Loss of control, more trust required

•Transparency

•Power of personality

•Learning culture

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Review some proven best practices (6 slides) for success

Focus on providing valuable content, not too much self-promotion – be the content

expert, content curator

Limit promotional messages – low tolerance for (and looser definition of) spam (self-

promotion = spam). Use content for promotional reasons.

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Viral media – sharing is easy – provide content that is worthy of sharing.

Share content of others, sharing spotlight – give credit to them.Share content of others, sharing spotlight – give credit to them.

Culture of collaboration and support – link love and recommended reading lists in blogs,

RTs, FB sharing posts

Expectation of giving, not taking. Good social media karma

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Issue – privacy. Your views on your privacy may evolve as you get deeper into using social media. Everyone has a different comfort level, and that’s okay.social media. Everyone has a different comfort level, and that’s okay.Google search – personal and private both come up and live forever online.Staff as 24/7 ambassadors

•Negative – personal life is unbecoming, sense of privacy/comfort level•Positive – better relationships, whole person – differentiation; people prefer to connect with a person (rather than institution or logo) - social media

•Success = bring personality, more interesting and accessibleCulture - expectation of transparency for both organizations and people. A demand that we be up front/genuine/trustworthy.

•Caveat - habit of withholding information from membership at large or the public, or putting a spin on things that isn’t quite honest.

Outcome – viral negativity

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We want to get members engaged to retain them. Works the opposite way – we must

get engaged with members. get engaged with members.

Listen and participate in conversations through blog commenting, Twitter replies,

Facebook discussions – requires daily attention .

Our goal - Be a community that provides valuable knowledge, services and connections

to its members. If we succeed, no online community will be a threat.

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You can lose a lot of time in the SM space if you don’t have a plan and a schedule.

Personal tips:Personal tips:

•Set a timer for your social media time online.

•Close social media applications when your time is up.

•Use your cell phone while waiting in line to catch up on social networking. Set alerts so

you can respond to a Twitter reply or DM.

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We’re dealing with a lot of change now and we will continue to do so in the near future

– budgets, industry, online communities, younger generation’s expectations.– budgets, industry, online communities, younger generation’s expectations.

Time to be innovative, takes some risks, try some new things/approaches.

Anticipate mistakes, learn from them and move on. Everyone’s learning in this new

space.

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