May 8, 2012

How’s Your Association Attitude?

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Quiz time:

  1. How often do you try a new recipe? A different gas station or restaurant? An unfamiliar magazine or radio station?
  2. When’s the last time you talked with someone about an idea or project that flopped, or asked for constructive criticism?
  3. When did you last seek ideas from someone with a different perspective? Or collaborate with a colleague from another department?
  4. Who lights up your office with their energy, passion and creativity? Is it you?
  5. Whose reactions concern you the most: your boss, the CEO, leadership or the average member?

These questions are based on traits identified by Jasper Visser as signs of a good organizational attitude. Visser is a digital strategist and workshop facilitator who works primarily with museums. His recent post, The Future is About Attitude, Not Technology, got me thinking about individual and organizational attitude.

You can have the biggest technology budget on the block, but if your association’s culture and attitude is stuck in the 20th century, that slick AMS or online community is only going to take you so far.

When Visser looks at museums that have successfully adopted new media and technology, he sees five common characteristics that hint at the attitude organizations need to succeed in the 21st century.

Read about these five characteristics at the Avectra blog.

the future belongs to the few of us still willing to get our hands dirty

Photo by Stephanie Vacher (Flickr)

 

April 20, 2012

New Member Onboarding (Part 2)

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How’s your first-year member retention rate? Not that great? You’re not alone. First year retention is a challenge for most associations, maybe because they spend much more money on acquiring new members than on guiding them into the association. Last week I suggested several onboarding ideas, beginning with the application and welcome touches. The next touch: orientation.

New approaches to orientation

Many associations still run orientations the way the Pennsylvania School Boards Association used to: “We talked at new members — the ‘It’s all about us’ approach.”

Turn the focus around and make the new member reception (more appealing than ‘orientation’) about them. Hold it before an event to encourage participation. Allow plenty of discussion time. Ask veteran members to learn more about the new members, answer questions, show them around the website and advise them on membership paths.

Invite new vendor members to a marketing workshop where a veteran member panel explains how to market and develop business within the association. Send tips on association networking and relationship-building to all new vendor members.

Please read the rest of this post about new member onboarding at the Avectra blog.

association new member onboarding orientation membership

Photo by Global X/Flickr

 

March 23, 2012

New Member Onboarding (Part 1)

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There’s a restaurant saying, “turn ‘em and burn ‘em.” Get customers in the seats and back out the doors as quickly as possible. Although turning tables helps the cash register, you risk alienating customers if they think you’re only interested in their money, not their dining experience.

I thought of “turn ‘em and burn em” recently when I read this in MGI’s Membership Marketing Benchmark Report: for every dollar spent on recruitment, associations spend only 27 cents on new member onboarding and engagement. Why is so little dedicated to new members, the ones most at risk for not renewing?

Do you know how it feels to be a new member? Think about the first time you joined a gym. Like new association members, you had membership expectations and goals. Membership would be good for you, but only if you made it part of your life.

Like successful gyms, we should make it easy for members to fit this new habit (membership) into their lives. If they see early results, they’ll be motivated to keep coming back.

Please read the rest of this post about new member onboarding at the Avectra blog.

associations new member onboarding association orientation retention

Photo by Ms. Phoenix (Flickr)

 

March 15, 2012

Is Your Association the Online Hub for Ideas?

Posted by deirdrereid under Associations & Nonprofits, Web and Social Media | Tags: , , , |
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Museums and associations, they’re more alike than you think.

  • Nonprofit mission-driven membership institutions governed by member boards
  • Engaging audiences through education
  • Traditional and hierarchic cultures
  • Professional staff siloed in departments
  • Risk-averse and slow-moving
  • Striving to remain meaningful to a growing younger market

While volunteering in two different museums, I overheard many staff conversations: they worry about the same things we do. When I read the blogs of museum professionals, I’m struck by how much we’re wrestling with some of the same issues.

Many museums are experimenting with new ways to engage with visitors and the public — fun short-term initiatives, like the New Museum’s visitor tweet reviews, and bold long-term steps, like the Walker Art Center’s new website.
 
The online museum community has been raving about the Walker’s new site, calling it “a game-changer” and “a potential paradigm shift for institutional websites.” What’s the big deal? And what can associations borrow from their approach?

Engagement catalyst

Like most museums, the Walker’s website was focused primarily on providing information about their collections, exhibits and membership. It was all about the Walker. Now the site is, in their words, “an online hub for ideas about contemporary art and culture, both inside the Walker and beyond.” They busted through their physical walls to start a conversation in the online world, where they engage not only those who might visit the museum in Minneapolis, but anyone interested in contemporary art and culture.

Please read the rest of this post about websites as industry hubs at the Avectra blog.

association website content marketing

 

March 9, 2012

New Employee Orientation: What’s on Your Agenda?

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I fell into the association world. During the first interview my future boss and I hit it off talking about food and travel. The position sounded interesting so I bit.

I’m not the only one. I bet many of you accidentally landed in associations. After that first job, we were hooked. We were promoted or moved to another association. We learned that despite some similarities, each association is unique.

Even if you’re an association veteran, you still need to get oriented to your new one. Orientation shouldn’t only entail filling out forms and signing the employee handbook. It should help you understand your new organization, members and responsibilities.

What should associations teach new staff? I have a few ideas of my own, but I also reached out to the Twitter community to see what they thought.

A day in the life of your member

When I worked at NAHB, I attended a two-day class for local and state association CEOs. We learned about the entire home building process from land purchase to home closing. At the end of the two days, I finally had some understanding of what our members really did for a living.

Please read more about new employee onboarding (and the rest of this post) at the Avectra blog.

new employee orientation onboarding training association

Photo by U.S. Army/Flickr familymwr

 

March 7, 2012

Adapt or Die

Posted by deirdrereid under Associations & Nonprofits | Tags: , |
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Brian Solis, in his post, The Importance of Brand in an Era of Digital Darwinism, talks about tone-deaf brands like Netflix that didn’t engage with customers and didn’t monitor social network conversations, consequently screwing up and losing their customers’ trust:

“Brands that fail to instill this level of confidence in consumers run the risk of falling to digital Darwinism. The brands that survive this era of economic disruption, will be the ones that are best able to evolve because they recognize the need and opportunity to do so, before their competitors.”

I wonder how many associations still think it’s business as usual. Many of the large national associations get it, but what about the smaller ones or state associations? They’re not reading the industry blogs. Just what are they reading? Anything? Many of them don’t belong to ASAE, and even if they do, are they paying attention?

Their boards don’t know any better. Why would they? They’re not association professionals.

Sometimes I feel like I’m mourning a patient that doesn’t even know it’s dying. It’s sad. A stupid loss.

The state SAEs, heck, everyone who cares about associations, can’t reinforce this message enough:

“What separates brands that fall to digital evolution from those that excel is the ability to recognize the need for change and the vision to blaze a path toward renewed relevance among a new generation of consumers.”

It’s no different for associations. As Solis says, #adaptordie.

associations adapt or die

Photo by Matt McNier

 

March 1, 2012

How to Get People to Share Your Content

Posted by deirdrereid under Writing & Blogging | Tags: , , , , |
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Close your eyes and imagine a perfect world. Your audience never misses a post because your content is so interesting and entertaining. They can hardly wait to share it. Your reputation as the industry’s premier resource spreads. Your Google ranking and retention rate improve as more traffic and members come your way.

David Carr at the New York Times knows that perfect world:

“Hit the right note, and your readers become like bees, stopping by your site to grab links and heading back out on the Web to pollinate other platforms.”

Your content will create that type of buzz if you pay attention to a few key steps.

Understand your audience’s culture.

Associations are made up of many communities based on demographics and professional interests. The online community is likely very different than the volunteer leadership culture you’re used to. Take some time to get to know them – the online community citizens, influencers, connectors, creators and conversationalists. Get a sense of their hot buttons and accepted truths. Find out what they read and share, and what fascinates and irritates them.

Listen and learn about their needs and interests. Participate in conversations. Ask questions. Become a trusted member of the community. Without that trust there’s no chance of success.

Please read the rest of this post at the Avectra blog

how to get people to share your content associations

Photo by David Lofink/Flickr

 

February 23, 2012

Privacy: It’s Personal, or Is It?

Posted by deirdrereid under Web and Social Media | Tags: , |
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Google’s new privacy policy takes effect on March 1. It allows them to collect and consolidate user data from all its web properties — Search, Gmail, YouTube, Picasa, Maps and about 50 other Google services. You can’t opt out.

Google has always collected this data at its individual sites. Now it will combine them to get a fuller profile of each of us. Why? It’s all about the green. The more Google knows about you, the more money it makes with targeted ads. Or, in Googletalk, it can provide “a simpler, more intuitive Google experience.”

What’s privacy worth?

This year’s Art Basel Miami Beach included an installation that prompted attendees to weigh the cost of privacy. Branger Brize set up a charging station, but you could use it only if you agreed to the Terms of Use giving them license to download and use the photos stored on your phone in a digital art projection at the exhibition. Hmm, dead phone or public embarrassment?

Forrester Research says people are more informed about privacy, distinguishing between extremely sensitive information and other data. 44% of consumers surveyed said they hadn’t completed an online transaction because of something they read in a privacy policy. And it is generational, young people are more open and willing to give up their information in exchange for discounts. Naivety or savvy consumerism?

This is our new reality: weighing how much privacy we’ll give up to use a service or make a purchase. We tolerate Facebook’s exploitation of our data because we give it up in exchange for using their platform. We value the return on our data: access to social networks, customization, recommendations, and ultimately, better products and services.

Please read the rest of this post at the Avectra blog.

privacy personal professional data associations

Photo by Alan Cleaver (Flickr)

 

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