Author: deirdrereid

Deirdre is a content marketing writer/partner for companies serving the association market. After more than 20 years managing associations and restaurants, she's enjoying the good life now by helping companies inform, educate, and deepen relationships with the association community. Away from her laptop, you can find her walking in the woods, enjoying live music, reading hundreds of newsletters, watching hockey, cooking, hanging at the local brewery, or relaxing with a Kindle book.

Clues to Authenticity

I love it when conversations begin on Twitter about topics that leave you thinking long after you log out. The other day, Lynn Morton, Cynthia D’Amour and I had a brief exchange about authenticity and how to embed it in an association’s culture. The concept of authenticity is all over the web these days as it’s a required element for social media engagement. This topic especially interests me as I want to work for an organization whose culture breathes authenticity.

But how can I tell if an organization really walks the walk of authenticity? And what does that really mean? Bear with me as I wrestle with this concept.

To me, it means being your true self — communicating and behaving honestly. As the walls between my personal and professional lives have fallen down, it’s been a bit liberating. I don’t have a work personality and an at-home personality, they’re essentially the same – what you see is what you get. Luckily I don’t have any wacky personal foibles to hide. I also understand that many topics are not appropriate for the office — the old “no sex, politics and religion at the dinner table” principle. Does your organization have multiple personality disorder? Does it have different faces depending on the audience, or does it have an honest and consistent nature?

Authenticity often requires self-reflection and review. Am I being honest? Is this really what I think? What are my motives here? Am I sucking up? Am I being defensive? When we’re authentic we learn to listen to criticism and dissent and not overlook the uncomfortable. We face up to reality. This is not always easy, but the right thing to do usually isn’t.

Does your organization go through this process? Is it listening to all its constituent voices, including those that usually go unheard or those that challenge the party line? Has it examined its programs, products and services to determine their true value to members or customers, or is it doing what it’s always done because that’s what you do? Are you dealing with looming challenges and threats, or putting them off by focusing on immediate crises? Authenticity means understanding the real value of your membership for each prospect or member, not relying on the bullet points and marketing copy you’ve used forever.

How does authenticity work with public relations and advocacy? It’s often risky to show your true hand, the other side could take advantage. What about spin and messaging? Our political world is based on spin. How can an association not do that? Yet David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager, recently said nothing is more powerful than authenticity, and people have a very sensitive bullshit meter. Which side does your association come down on?

How do you tell an authentic association (or any type of organization) from one that isn’t? I’m still working on a complete answer but here are some ideas:

Do they have lots of member evangelists? Or membership testimonials that sound real, not like the brochure?
Do they have wide diverse support within their industry and with the public?
Are there real personalities with distinct voices speaking on behalf of the association? Is that really the CEO who’s writing the CEO Corner?
Do they listen and engage with their members and the public? Or is it only one-way communication?
Do they tolerate dissent? Are there negative comments on their blog or in their letters to the editor?
Can you tell if their staff is engaged and involved in guiding the association to success, not only the executives, but directors, managers and others?
Are meetings accessible to all or are there barriers (financial, technological, procedural) to participation?
Are meetings a rubber-stamp process or is there healthy discussion?
Does the leadership reflect the membership (or industry) in age, race, sex, etc.? Is leadership stagnant – the old boys club?

This is all very fuzzy, I admit. What do you think are signs of authenticity in an association?

Twitter’s First Association Chat

The first association Twitter chat (#assnchat) was held on Tuesday, May 12. Jeff De Cagna (@pinnovation) came up with the idea, spread the word and moderated the chat. I volunteered to go through the tweet twanscript (oh, sorry, couldn’t resist!) and post a synopsis. Although we did not solve all of today’s association problems, we did have a good conversation about some of the issues our industry is facing and how we can begin to tackle them. Here is an outline of the topics discussed — it’s a bit rough but will give you a sense of the conversation.

Online communities as a threat to associations

Information – members get news and information more quickly from online peers and sources and have access to experts online.
Networking – associations are not usually the conduit for members’ networking online.
Online as alternative to the status quo of associations
Some associations don’t think their members are using social media, but you need to survey members to determine if that perception is in fact true, you may be surprised at what you learn.
Even some participants are questioning their future membership in industry associations because of the benefits (professional development, networking, information, news) received freely online.

Solutions to the online threat

Do associations really know what members want? Or do we and/or our boards assume we do? Ask your members, “what could we do that would make you a member for life?”
Demonstrate value above and beyond what people can get elsewhere. What’s indispensable?
How does the association enhance/augment a member’s social networking activities with other value? Association as a starting place to meet peers or the glue that holds folks together — online or face-to-face can enhance those relationships, should have both channels, members can participate in ways that work for them.
Be in the social networking outposts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) while linking to a home base for members on your web site – one supports the other. Enable associations to become the conduit for people to find each other. But why should members pay for this when they can do it themselves online? Because associations are better at organizing face-to-face meetings and events?
Successful associations will focus on building community, being relationship brokers and serving as a conduit.

Content as a membership value

Associations as holders of content (experts), “legitimizers” of content (still true?), conduit/forum for members to deliver their own content/expertise
Who creates content?
- Members as knowledge/content creators – associations must encourage and facilitate that; enable members to become creators, but allow others to comment, etc. Association as curators.
- Some associations do not have the staff resources to create content, must rely on members/others.
- Social media can be used to co-create with contributors (not necessarily members) to build trusted markets of exchange.

Members-only content

Still viable? Some say no, not a useful construct.
How to determine what lives behind the member wall? Associations first need a social media strategy to determine that.
Don’t build a wall, create a fishtank – provides transparency with the membership and the profession, shows how members engage with association. Create a filter to “clean” the process as you go — new blood in staff and leadership, new initiatives, trying to break new ground. Pressure to make changes is greater outside the fishtank than inside.

Why aren’t associations changing?

Fear of change and the unknown, risk-averse, bureaucratic nature, slow moving, slow to critique or envision alternate futures
Lack of understanding drives decision makers to want more assurances, research and risk management
Members want safe networking with peers and safe experimentation with leading edge tools — safety as a form of deep support (AAA and AARP – their value propositions are built on safety)
Need to create a safe, trusted environment in which people can make sense of things, access advice and experiment
Education is necessary during periods of change

Membership dues revenue model – viable in future?

Are associations in danger of following in the footsteps of the newspaper industry? Yes, because we won’t give up what holds us back – closed membership.
Where then does revenue come from to support advocacy, operations and other member services?
If content is open to all, what are members paying dues for?
Social media as possible revenue source — advertisements, sponsored webinars/podcasts/videos, tie-in with events, user-generated content
Or, more likely, social media won’t be arevenue source but a way to build new capabilities that create revenue. Associations as a unique, personalized experience, as deep support for member.
Extract the value of the interaction between activated network and content.
Possible revenue source – product/content development
Perhaps a membership model that grants access to info/events based on participation level, those who give more, get more.

Tools for communication

Yammer for internal communications – have to have an email address from the same domain to use Yammer, otherwise you can’t login; great for cutting across departmental silos.
Cubetree
Tweetgroup – groups and attachments, wonderful application with desktop client
iPhone apps – American Bar Association has one for its magazine, American Booksellers Association

Questions for future chats

Does anyone see associations struggling to deal with the way different generations want to interact? Face to face vs online?
With high demand on staff in small associations, how do we get our members to support and feed content creation?

Participants

AddyKujawa, alisonharle, BeccaFlach, CharmsS, DeirdreReid, desabol, eventpublisher, j8nd, jcrosby4, Jeffhurt, jeremygriffin, jmoonah, joerominiecki, JoeStella, karenaltes, kevinpatrick, kristildonovan, maggielmcg, MissLynn13, pinnovation, rharris, rjohnston, sgiarde, unklbuck

The next #assnchat will be Tuesday, May 19 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern (11:00 a.m. Pacific). You can follow by going to Tweetchat or Tweetgrid and following #assnchat, or in Tweetdeck you can create a search column for #assnchat.

Everything I Know About Social Media, I Learned As A Restaurant Manager

Ok, not entirely true. I’ve learned a lot from books, blogs, Twitter, webinars and practice. But once during an Awareness Inc. webinar David Carter said, “Everything I learned about social media, I learned as a waiter.” I don’t think he expected anyone to put as much weight into that sentence as I did. It dawned on me that part of the reason I took so wholeheartedly to social media is that I’ve been operating with its principles for years. I’m going to examine some of these principles in restaurant terms, but they apply to any organization.

Word-of-mouth marketing

It’s the most effective (or potentially destructive) marketing tool for restaurants, as it is for all companies and organizations. Being the hot new place is great, but the buzz will fade unless we back it up with food and service that’s worth talking about, for years. We want to be the place that tourists mention to others traveling to our city, that friends talk about at parties, and that colleagues discuss at work. We are also aware of the lasting power of negative word-of-mouth.

Integrity at all costs

Never ever lie or mislead your staff or guests. Be honest and trustworthy. If your salmon is farmed, admit it, don’t pretend it’s wild. If you anticipate an hour wait for a table, disclose it, don’t fool them into thinking it will only be 30 minutes. Don’t date your cocktail waitresses. Have high standards. Do what’s right, always.

The customer is right, even when they’re not

We cringe at that old phrase, but the customer’s perception is their reality. You have to start from there. If someone has a bad experience and isn’t satisfied with our response, we have just created a walking nightmare. However, we can turn them into a raving evangelist if we figure out the right thing to do for them, and then do a little more. This is no time for egos. It’s about them, not us. How do we fix it?

It’s all about relationships

What does every restaurant want? Repeat guests. One visit is appreciated, but we can’t succeed for long if they only come once. We can make that easier if we create relationships. Be a personality not a brand.

Welcome your new guests. They’re taking a chance on you — make them feel appreciated and comfortable.
Nurture your regulars — your evangelists. They will do your marketing for you –- reward them for that. Stroke their egos in front of their friends. Give them special treatment.
Treat everyone the way you would like to be treated. Even better, the way you would like your grandmother to be treated – the golden rule.

Look and listen

Scan the room. Are your guests happy to be here? Look at their faces, their body language, their interactions, and their tables. Anticipate their needs –- that’s the key.
Listen to what people are saying about you and respond to it, the good and the bad. Accept criticism and learn from it. Put your pride and ego aside and make things right.

Your staff determines your success

Trust your gut when you hire staff. Do they want to learn? Do they really like people? Are they positive personalities? Do they care?
Educate your staff. Create a culture of knowledge that they will share with guests. Encourage and recognize those who demonstrate that knowledge. We had oyster-tasting contests, wine and beer seminars, and fish school. We made it fun and ended up with the smartest and most loyal wait staff in town.
Trust and empower your staff. Give them guidelines to follow so they can make customer service decisions on the spot. If you’ve done right by them up to now, they’ll do the right thing.

Pay it forward

Be a good citizen. Give back to the community that supports your business. Join your local chamber or business group. Find a cause that you and your staff feel passionate about and partner with that organization to raise funds and awareness. Show the world that you are more than just a brand or a storefront; you have a personality and a heart.

Were you thinking about your customers or members when you read this? If not, go back and translate these restaurant scenarios into your organization’s perspective. Before incorporating social media into your culture, make sure you are comfortable with these principles. They’ve been around forever, but in the new Web 2.0 world, you can’t succeed without them.

New Members and Twitter Rookies – Why Do They Leave Us?

Nielsen Online reports that more than 60% of the people who sign up for Twitter leave within a month. This finding provoked lots of conversation on blogs and listservs about whether Twitter is a fad or here to stay. Some used the study to validate their perception that Twitter isn’t worth their time.

I’m not surprised by the low retention rate. New users of Twitter leave for the same reasons new members leave associations, online communities, chambers and other groups — they never learned how to use Twitter or their membership effectively, therefore they don’t see or get the value.

They enter the “room” and can’t find anyone to talk to. They don’t know how to find the right people to follow.
They fall in with the “wrong crowd.” There are a growing number of spammers, multi-level marketers and idiots on Twitter. They follow everyone, hoping someone will follow them back. They’re only after numbers and provide nothing of quality. Many new users follow them or people who only broadcast, never interacting, like celebrities. The new user remains lonely in a crowded room and hears nothing of substance.
They don’t look to see how others use Twitter effectively. They don’t know what to say and, believing all the hype about Twitter, they talk only about what they’re eating for lunch. Nobody cares. Or they use Twitter as a therapist and whine about their life or crazy siblings. Nobody cares. Or worse, they become broadcasters themselves, talking only about their company or product. Nobody cares. Don’t answer the Twitter prompted question — what are you doing? Instead tell us what you’re thinking about, what you learned toda, or what you read that’s worth sharing. Aspire to be interesting — easy to say, hard to do.
They don’t know how to manage the barrage of tweets. They don’t have time to read it all. Besides, so much of it is crap. Yes, it is, if you follow the wrong people and don’t have tools, like Tweetdeck, to help you manage your updates.

These poor souls never learn how to use Twitter as a knowledge and networking tool. They don’t get any value from it and they leave. Who can blame them? I’ve written about this before — it’s the same challenge with new members. If we don’t teach them how to use their membership appropriately and effectively, they’re not going to get the resources they need or develop the relationships they desire. We won’t meet their membership expectations and we’ll lose them after one disappointing year.

There is a great opportunity here for organizations to be their members’ social media coach and teach them how to effectively use not only Twitter, but also RSS readers, Facebook and LinkedIn.

If you know of someone who’s struggling with Twitter, tell them about your experience – how you learned to use it and what you get out of it. The web is full of resources about Twitter. I think one of the best directions you can point them is Darren Rowse’s TwiTip blog. He and his guest bloggers focus on how to use Twitter effectively. Or, for a more amusing (but helpful) introduction, show them the Twitter Rule Book.

Twitter has turned out to be more educational and rewarding for me than I ever expected, and my passion (there, I said it) for Twitter reminds me of the same passion some of our members had for my old association. Once they figured out (or were taught) how to “work” their membership, their opportunities to learn and develop relationships were unending. Many of those members learned from others – they had unofficial mentors. Maybe it’s time for us early adopters to be Twitter mentors to others, to share how we use it and help them find the same rewards we have. Reach out and save a Twitter Qwitter!

Becoming a Leader – My Top Three

I’m picking up the “three leadership imperatives” meme from Jamie Notter and Jeff De Cagna. I didn’t think I’d be tempted to play along, but then I started thinking about what I’ve expected from myself and aspired to when I’ve been a leader, and what I’ve looked for in others. Thinking back to my years as a restaurant manager, when I was much younger and often challenged, I read and learned a lot about leading others. It was better training than I ever realized at the time and I still struggle to live up to those standards. Perhaps that accounts for my simple and terse directives.

Have a spine.

The right thing to do is not always the easy thing to do, but you must do it. Make tough decisions and set high standards. Stand by them.

Face up to uncomfortable situations and deal with it — don’t let things fester because you’re not willing to say what needs to be said, or do what needs to be done.

Be fair. Don’t play favorites. Make sure everyone follows the rules, including yourself.

Admit when you’re wrong. Swallow your pride. Lose the ego.

Be honest. Stick to your word. Have integrity. Make your mother proud.

Have a heart.

Truly care about others and don’t be afraid to let them know.

Don’t manage or lead by fear, that’s not leading. If this doesn’t come naturally to you, think about whether you’re in the right place. Don’t ruin other people’s days for your own ego, get a clue.

Treat others with respect. Live by the golden rule.

Be conscientious and sensitive to those around you. Pay attention.

Have open ears and eyes.

Really listen to what others are saying. Don’t just hear them, listen to them. Pay attention.

Look around you, scan the room, and see what’s really happening. Read people — their faces, their body language. Pay attention. Yes, I’m repeating myself, this is important.

Never stop learning. Be curious. Don’t get lazy, seek out ways to learn.

Don’t be shut in by preconceptions or prejudices. Be willing to see things from different perspectives. Be willing to change.

Don’t be handcuffed by the past or the present, imagine many different futures.

That’s my quick and dirty recipe for leadership. Who’s going to tackle this meme next?

The Seven Rules of the Rave

Marketing Profs held a one-day virtual conference in early April, and one of their keynote speakers was David Meerman Scott, author of the recently released World Wide Rave and The New Rules of Marketing & PR.

His seven Rules of the Rave apply to any business or organization that wants to create online buzz with their customers or members, and I wanted to share them with you.

1. Nobody cares about your products, except you.
Ouch, but this is true. Your members and customers care primarily about themselves. They care about your organization to the extent that you can solve their problems or meet their needs. So you need to be really clear about how you do that, using language they use, no gobbledygook or corporate-speak. Remember, it’s not about you, they don’t care how big you are or how many awards you’ve won. They do care about how you’re going to make their lives easier, so tell them that in their language.

2. No coercion required.
If it takes a hard or deceptive sell to get people to pay attention, are you really offering something of value? Are you speaking to the right audience? Scott used the example of a funny banner ad touting “parents against reprehensible metal music” that led to a Toyota matrix landing page. Huh? Don’t waste people’s time with gimmicks. Shoot straight.

3. Lose control.
Let your members and customers use word-of-mouth or word-of-mouse to spread your message. Find ways to empower them to be your evangelists. Scott talked about how the Grateful Dead lost control of their music by allowing their fans to record concerts and then trade tapes. This viral marketing led to the Dead becoming the most popular touring band in history. They made it easy for their fans to do the work for them. Put a useful resource on your site and make it easy to spread around – don’t put up any barriers to getting it, like requiring registration or email addresses.

4. Put down roots.
Be where your members and customers are. Fish where the fish are. Participate in communities and be a trusted source. Get friendly with bloggers — they are influencers.

5. Create triggers that encourage people to share.
Make it easy for your members and customers by giving them something they can share with others that will get your name out there. A restaurant can provide recipes and a shopping list based on what’s on sale that week at the local supermarket, or what’s in season at the farmers’ market. Find out who the influencers are and give them something to share, something to blog about or talk about.

6. Point the world to your virtual doorstep.
Sharing is great but you need to get them back to your doorstep where they can learn about you and might get interested in doing business with you. Make sure your URL is on everything. Create a special landing page to measure the effectiveness of your viral marketing. Give a special discount code to those who land there.

7. Stop making excuses.
Anyone can create a world wide rave. You don’t have to be a “social media expert” to come up with one, besides there are no social media experts. Think about the content or knowledge that lives in your organization and find a way to share it following these rules and your word-of-mouth and word-of mouse will spread.

Do Right By Your New Members, Teach

We all want to help new members avoid being “that guy” — the one who doesn’t know the unwritten rules and doesn’t understand what to do as a member, usually resulting in a bad experience or unmet expectations. Yesterday’s post recommended that the first step with any new member is to ask questions to learn about their needs and expectations — to listen.

The second step is to teach. Many of your members (vendor, supplier, associate, affiliate) joined in order to make new contacts that will lead to new sales. To help them avoid the “that guy” label, you must take the time to teach them how to successfully network and develop business in your organization.

What you teach will depend on your organization’s culture, but here are some general guidelines:

Focus on relationships, not pitching your product. People are much more likely to listen to or buy from someone they know and trust. Your membership opens the door a bit, but it doesn’t get you inside; you need to do some work to get there.

Find ways to get involved in the organization and to work side-by-side with fellow members on events, committees, special interest groups, community service projects, whatever. Take the time to get to know them as people, not prospects.

Think about giving, not getting. Show up at a meeting with the mindset of “how can I help you?” and see how you feel when you leave. The other members will feel better about you, that’s for sure.

Don’t ignore your fellow vendors. So often new members concentrate only on developing relationships with their prospects — big mistake. A fellow vendor can make introductions, be a good reference, and send business your way — cultivate those relationships as well.

Learn about the industry. Keep up on issues, news, and trends that occupy your prospects’ minds. Demonstrate by your knowledge and actions (and your checkbook doesn’t hurt either) that it’s your industry too; after all, your revenue does depend on it.

Manage your expectations. You (or your boss) want results but relationships take time. Building a reputation takes time. Building trust takes time. Yes, it might take more than a year, be ready for that. Your dues are a business development investment.

There are plenty of resources out there on the right ways to network, yet you’ll find that not everyone seems to apply theory to practice. You know your group’s culture and how a member can best get ahead, give them that insight.

There are several ways to teach them:

Schedule a “marketing” meeting with them, not an “orientation” meeting, the label matters. Discuss marketing opportunities that would fit their goals and product. Give them some pointers on networking and relationship-building. Share member success stories that illustrate those guidelines.

Assign new members to veteran members. Ask the veterans to call new members, share advice and experiences, and invite them to the next event where they can introduce them around.

Make sure all your new vendor members receive networking/business development guidelines by both mail and email. Give this advice to them in as many ways as possible — one of them is sure to stick.

A few times a year invite all new members to a panel featuring two regular and two vendor members. Incentivize attendance — if they come, they get a deep discount off their next event registration. The regular members explain how to earn their business. The vendor members share how they developed the relationships that led to new business.

Be the social media coach for your members — hold classes on how to use social networking and media tools to market their businesses effectively.

Dedicate a section of your web site to the special needs of your vendor members. Feature interviews about the success stories of vendor members. Keep the content fresh — find new resources about networking and post or link to them. Publicize all your marketing opportunities and include testimonials lauding the value.

What else can we do? How are you helping your vendor members do business with other members? What are you teaching them?

Do Right By Your New Members – Listen

Cynthia D’Amour wrote today about barbequing members, not literally. Take a moment to read it. Did you cringe too because it sounded familiar? Cynthia says “the rules were not explained.” That’s a fairly common occurrence on listservs. Sure, there were listserv guidelines that told members to refrain from commercial posts, but how many people really read them, especially if you’re a new member and are still procrastinating about reading the gigantic manila envelope of orientation material you received last month. Plus the rules are usually written in that “policies and procedures” language that causes us to skim quickly, not really digest anything, delete and move on.

Another barbequing happens when a new member goes to their first event or meeting. Armed with business cards, he approaches a small group, introduces himself and starts his elevator speech while pushing his card into everyone’s hands. What’s your usual reaction when this happens to you? Ugh, another pushy salesman. Not the best first impression, is it? If you see “that guy” again at a meeting, you quickly avert your eyes and head in a different direction.

But “that guy” doesn’t know any better. Most members don’t. They join the organization to make some contacts and get new business. He was nervous, he did his best. Then nothing happens — he’s not feeling the love at meetings, his calls aren’t returned, soon he stops going, and when it’s renewal time, he thinks, well, that didn’t pan out, don’t think I’ll be signing up again.

What can we do to help our members succeed? Their goal is to get new business — how can we help them with that? We should have a plan in place for each new member that includes educating them on how to market within our organization, and this doesn’t mean just mailing them a list of advertising and sponsorship opportunities.

First, survey all your new members when they join. You have their full attention when they’re completing the membership application so add some questions to it. Even better, interview new members. Some associations have member ambassadors make these calls or visits — a great way for the new member to make at least one new friend.

Learn about your members so you know how to help them meet their membership goals, and how they can help the organization.

What are their membership expectations? What does their boss expect?
What are they selling?
Who is their target market? What type of companies or people do they need to meet? What type of job position?
How do they normally market their product/service?
Will there be others from their company willing to get involved in the organization and attend meetings and events?
When can they attend meetings/events — breakfast, lunch, dinner, weekend?
Do they (or someone else in the company) have expertise they’re willing to share? Can they write content for your publications or web site, present a class or webinar, or provide podcasts or videos?
What other organizations do they belong to? How are they involved there?

These additional questions will give you insight on how to better serve and engage your members.

What methods of communication do they use and which do they prefer?
What types of social networking/media are they or their company involved in?
What are their most pressing business challenges? What keeps them up at night?
What kind of classes do they need for their professional development? What do they need to know to help their business prosper?
How do they spend their free time? What are some of their personal hobbies and skills?

Now that you have listened and learned about their membership goals, you can suggest a marketing strategy for them based on their probable involvement and other visibility enhancing opportunities — advertising, sponsorship, exhibiting, and content marketing (webinars/classes, podcasts, videos). You can also suggest other ways they can get involved based on what you’ve learned about them and their business.

But that’s just step one, step two is critical. To help them avoid the “that guy” scenario, you must teach them how to network and develop business at your organization the right way. And that’s the topic for my next blog post.

So what have I forgotten? Are there other questions that you ask your new members?

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