Communications 2-for-1: Digital Strategy & Best Reads

MSAE's Communications Networking Group had a 2-for-1 meeting where we discussed Digital Strategy and Best Reads for communication professionals. Here are some highlights from our meeting.

Part 1: Digital Strategy
What is your digital strategy? How do you create one? 

Creating a digital strategy for non-profits is a four-step process:
1. Identify & Goal Set
2. Planning & Creation
3. Implement & Execute
4. Measure & Analysis

Here is a helpful document on creating a digital strategy for non-profits -
 http://mb.cision.com/Public/3847/9287562/b2d76349a4c04c81.pdf 

Components of digital strategy are: online ads, web, social media, mobile, email, sear and a possible seven and eight are online communities and mapping. Each item will hold a different weight in your organization. Its up to you to decided what is most important.

Part 2: Best Reads for Communication Professionals
Everyone has their favorite books, magazines, feeds and newsletters they subscribe to. Here is a list of some top resources:

1. inc.com
2. prdaily.com
3. Business Insider
4. Fast Co.
5. Twin Cities Business
6. Mashable
7. Yahoo
8. Google
9. Business Journal Daily
10. Other industry resources

Books to keep in mind:

1. The World is Flat
2. The Myth of Multi-Tasking

What resources do you use?  Do tell.

Association BarCamp

MSAE hosted our 3rd Annual Association BarCamp on 9/27, topics were selected that day so they were relevant to the attendee needs, here are the takeaways from each discussion:

Trade Shows

• Focus on education and the exhibitors will come (similar to Ladies Night at the bar)
• Invite exhibitor feedback - form an advisory board and/or gather exhibitors after the meeting to get their input, give them a comment card
• Add a "reverse trade show" component to facilitate further in-depth conversations between buyers and vendors

Finding Time for Follow Up

• Time management - know what time of day works best for you
• Manage your time each day to handle email traffic, come up with a plan for a time each day to respond that is scheduled (beware of others expectations)
• Schedule time each day for follow up

Future of Membership Associations

• What's the future? Adopting a retail mindset - "what do you need today?"
• Being where our members are; mobile devices, learn where they are by tracking their preferences via your website
• Associations will stay as long as they remain relevant; what is the "priceless" value you give to your members?

Collaborating with Other Associations

• Before entering into any collaborative effort, having all parties sign off on a "memo of understanding" that outlines expectations, responsibilities and a time life of milestones
• "Adapt or Die" in terms of staying relevant; collaboration may be necessary to stay relevant
• Communication transparency is key; politics may not be avoidable - know this

Webinars

• Hire a "good" company - reliable, trustworthy, reputable
• Be aware of sales tax issue - new MN legislation regarding "digital products"
• Be cautious of "webinar fatigue" - the word 'webinar' = boring; title your webinars "web conference" instead

Sponsorships

• Engage the sponsors - customize for them
• Unique locations - think outside the box (Extreme Sandbox, Drive a Tank, car dealership, WhirlyBall, Horse & Hunt Club, etc.)
• Sell every space - window clings, foot prints, escalator runners, etc.

Future of Meetings

• Face-to-face meetings vs. webinars - face-to-face meetings are back, format is even changing
• Meetings are more creative, interactive; focus on group participation over speaker, lecture format
• Content of the meeting is key as you need to grab members attention to get them there; getting feedback afterward is key

Apps for Meeting Planners

• Evernote
• Super Planner
• Giant Timer
• Corbin Ball & Jim Spellos' website - tech for meeting/trade show industry

Social Media

• Have a strategy and specific goals
• Find out what target audience is following and tailor content towards it
• Timing - before workday, before lunch, at end of work? Tuesday - Thursday?

Event Marketing

• Use catchy language in subject lines
• Provide incentives for those that respond
• Use creative videos or animated videos in marketing and emails

Online Communities

• Member generated content - discussing together, don't be afraid to ask members to post
• Utilizing as a research tool to prospect new members
• Boost brand value and integrity by strong presence

See photos from Association BarCamp online at Flickr.

New Technology for Meetings

New technologies and opportunities to engage members are all around us - from apps, social media, mobile technology, webinars, e-marketing and more.  The Meeting Management & Education Council talked about what's working in their associations and ideas for the future at the November 7 meeting.  Here are the top takeaways:

• With the increase in members utilizing smartphones and technology at meetings and events, it is up to the speaker/presenter to set the expectation for using mobile devices during each session.  
• Twitter is a good resource at large conferences and events to get out information quickly and promote exhibitor drawings and prizes - consider using a big screen outside the exhibitor entrance to engage attendees.
• Is your website mobile friendly?  Mobile websites need to be coded to be mobile friendly (.mobi sites).  Don't have a mobile website?  Consider a responsive website design that adapts to fit the viewing device.  Example: http://elliotjaystocks.com/ - view this website on full screen, then drag to make smaller (you should see that the copy changes to fit the screen).  

MSAE members are creating conference apps (some providers include Amaratech-MSAE, Quickmobile-MNLA, in-house-Aging Services of MN) and seeing a change to offer more mobile options (print is still important though).  MSAE hosted trivia at the most recent Fall Conference and it was well received - http://cosgrovepresents.com/.

Association BarCamp

Over 50 members came out for MSAE's Association BarCamp on 9/14 - topics were selected that day, here are takeaways from each discussion:

Next Generation Retention and Recruitment

• Don't use structured English in communication. Don't use "join" - instead use "engage" or "participate." Be fast, quick, to-the-point. If you don't, you will lose their attention.
• They need to feel their contribution/opinion is valued.
• Identify groups by mindset rather than age.

Online Learning

• Offer a subscription service for purchasing online learning.
• 3 Association / Group Resources - ASTD, Digital Learning Forum, PACT.
• Online is great but continue with face-to-face.
• Ways to build online self-directed resources - software to use: Articulate.

Effective Communication in the Workplace

• Intentionally establish your communication culture (e.g. it's okay to be blunt).
• Stop emailing - go down the hall and talk to someone.
• Pay attention to your speaking tone. People read your written messages in the voice in which you speak to them.

New Membership Dues Structures

• Let members choose how they want to pay (monthly, quarterly, annually - but commit to entire year).
• Give option for members to pay for membership, events, education - "all inclusive" and give them a monthly fee. "Save time, save money."
• Don't ask them to "join," ask them to "engage" or "participate."

The Modern Meeting

• Read the book: "Read this before our next meeting" by Al Pittampalli.
• Instead of a meeting, have a work session.
• No more meetings to give information, write a memo instead. Only meet to provide dissent or coordinate effort.

More vs. Less

• Narrowing your message - keep it simple and target your segments - "FOCUS."
• "Vote with your dollars" to learn member needs - have members use fake money to put against programs - allocate their dues.
• Learn needs - focus - execute - and stay on plan.

Cold Calling - Get exposure for your association or company

• Try a sales system like Sandler.
• Cold calling isn't dead, it's different. Includes email, social media and calling.
• Find a unique connection to warm-up the initial conversation.

Apps for Associations

• Don't force members to login to access an event app. Maybe use an event code onsite to access?
• Sponsorship opportunity to cover cost of app development.
• Most useful apps for associations seem to be related to events. Hard to see value-add of an app just for membership.

Brand Management

• A logo is important and truly can communicate a lot about you. Fonts can show a definite feel. How will it look in print and online?
• Use an online logo creation crowdsource to get your new logo - LogoDesignGuru.com or DesignCrowd.com are examples.
• You need to know who your organization is before you adopt a new logo. And not just who you are, but also who you want to become, and who you are to outsiders?

Using Member Data for Planning

• Developing the right questions.
• Be consistent with questions and measures.
• How do you develop a system to track member activity?
• Incentivise!

Maximizing Trade Shows

• Interaction - Increase traffic? Tying your booth message into why you are presenting? Tie message to product.
• Money - price paid for booth does not equate to greater traffic.
• Failure - research why your message is not working. Revise your approach.

Email / Constant Contact

• Be as succinct as possible. Make emails "scanner-friendly." Shorten story titles and end with "..."
• Measure the effect your email is having. Are they truly reading? Are they finding it truly valuable?
• Experiment with different messages for different segments.

See photos from Association BarCamp online at Flickr. Download Free Tools handout.

New & Innovative Marketing Ideas for Meetings

At MSAE's September 12th Meeting Management Education Council, the group discussed new and innovative marketing ideas for meetings/conference.  Here are the top takeaways:

• Instead of printing handouts, direct attendees to handouts via QR codes.  
• Consider a conference app - launch 3-4 weeks in advance of conference, do your research, find ways to save money (sponsors) and remember the iPhone app approval process can take up to 6-8 weeks.
• Use video!  Film clips of members (testimonials) and consider getting a backdrop, lights, red carpet, photographer, etc. - one member created a paparazzi wall and it was really popular with members!  Also consider showcasing members (promote them).  Just try it - all you need is a camera and some creativity.  Click here to see some of MSAE's videos on YouTube.
• Print is not dead - try new paper textures, etc.  

The group will meet next on November 7 to discuss Creating a Conference App, Incorporating Social Meda and More!.  To register, visit www.msae.com/calendar.  

Managing Your Professional Brand

Can a person be a brand? Is a personal brand an extension of your company brand? What things can you do to make sure you are putting your best self out there?  MSAE's Young Professionals group discussed this very topic and came up with our top takeaways:

1. Create a custom URL on LinkedIn for your profile, include this link in your email signature.
2. Contribute to industry blog - get noticed.
3. Write articles for newsletters, journals, magazines, etc.  Get published and develop a following.
4. Don't use your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts for personal or professional marketing. You will get blocked and no one wants to be solicited to.
5. Your personal brand needs to be consistent, honest and trustworthy.
6. Everyone needs to create a brand for themselves so people learn to know and respect it.
7. Learn your companies brand and define what your personal brand is within that organization. 
8. Make your personal brand an enhancement your professional brand.

Resources:

• http://www.inc.com/guides/2011/01/new-rules-of-branding-your-business-online.html 
• http://mashable.com/2009/07/27/linkedin-personal-brand/ 
• Making an Impression e-Book

How to Use Google Tools for Member Engagement

With Google you can search, send documents, email, have a business account, find places and many others.  Did you know all of these tools can help engage your members?  MSAE's Membership Networking Group met to discuss how Google can help your membership efforts, here are some top takeaways:

1. You need to direct your messages to one single person.  Each message should be unique to that members needs.
2. When you use social media tools, 60% of the time you should be tweeting, posting, talking about or sharing news about your members.
3. All members are different, its up to you to decide which tools will help create enthusiasm within your membership.
4. Ask yourself, is there a better way I should be communicating with my members?

Helpful Resources:

www.google.com
jackrabbit.com

MSAE's Membership Networking Group will meet on November 14 to discuss member surveys.  Join us - www.msae.com/calendar.

Improve Your LinkedIn Profile

The MSAE Communications Networking Group was lucky to have Tara Loftus from adapta INTERACTIVE share her expertise and wisdom about all things online....

20 Ways to Use LinkedIn Productivity
http://bit.ly/AhF8DD

Intra-Office Communication Revisited: Could You Be Doing Things Better?

A fun, new way to shake up internal communication is through the program Skype. Many of us have heard of Skype for video chatting, but this program has many other features including a messaging function that many could benefit from with a large or small office.

Skype allows each staff person to maintain communication at their desk without the in-person interruptions, "quick-questions", favors or awkward conversation that sometimes take place before you get what would be a 2 second response in Skype chat.

Want an answer from 2 of your colleagues? Bullet your thoughts and have them respond with the corresponding number. Everyone in agreement or conversation over? Give a simple emoticon - thumbs up and presto!

Some benefits of Skype are:

• Easily send documents to any contact
• Conversation history is stored up to a year
• Encourages you to compose a quick, concise and to the point thought
• Remove messages once sent if you didn't want to say something or made an error
• Emoticon help shorten and add animation to a conversation
• Group chats available for 2-100
• Ability to share your working status: online, away, unavailable, do not disturb, offline

This new intra-office communication technique may take a bit to get used to it, but once you start you will not want to look back. Keep your email open to clients, customers and members. Free up your in-box and still chat with your co-workers.

Resources:

1. Using Skype In Your Office
2. Sample Skype Office Standards
3. Can You Delete a Skype Account?

Light a member on fire

Light a member on fire to take action through a creative social media campaign. Idea list generated at ASAE meeting in St. Louis. http://bit.ly/lkAWRK

http://bit.ly/oApPbu

Take a better facebook photo

Dr Jeffrey Spiegel, facial plastic surgeon at Boston University School of Medicine shared these tips in Parade.com:

1.     Stand at an angle to the camera. This will give you a slimmer profile and add interest to the photo.  Try slightly lowering your front shoulder to elongate your neck.
2.     Women: Looking up slightly will automatically raise your eyebrows, making your eyes appear larger. Men: Stick you chin out a bit to create a stronger face and eliminate a double chin.

3.     Smack your lips together (though not to hard) a couple of times just before the photo is taken.  This will send blood to them and make them appear redder and fuller.  Similarly, pinch your cheeks to get a rosy glow.
4.     To avoid closed eyes, try this trick.  Ask the person snapping the photo to count to three, then blink on two.  Your eyes will be at their brightest and most open.

Using Social Media to Attract and Retain Members

Takeaways from the Membership Networking Group on June 15:

Social Media is a must to keep your members informed. You want to be where your members are!

1. What should you put on each form of media? Here are a few suggestions:

• Facebook: Social, Events -- link back to your website. Keep accessible to all (not just members) so others not in your association get information on your upcoming events -- use to create buzz about your association/membership.

• LinkedIn: Connect with members only. If non member wants to join, send prospect information. Professional, create chat conversations on association topics, current news events (need to monitor member connections with dues renewals).


• Twitter: Learn from others, promote your association and events, recruit new members. Schedule tweets by using hootsuite.com

• Blog: Represent your organization's events, post comments on current events, recap meetings, etc... ; control your PR and manage posts.

2. Which social media is better to use? You should be on all of them. Utilize social media monitoring tools to help you monitor success, listen, learn and engage your members -- like Hootsuite, TweetDeck, or Tweetizen. Set a specific time each day to monitor/respond to comments.

3. Social Media Policy: Every organization that has numerous people posting items on their social media sights should have a social media policy that all employees sign off on. If you don't currently have a policy check out socialmediagovernance.com

4. Put your social media links on all marketing materials.

5. Don't represent your company on your personal sites -- keep business discussions on the organizational site.

6. QRcode -- Use on marketing materials so members can scan and visit your website/event page. Tag under your QRcode "Visit us at (your web address) or Scan" so all can access the information.

more social media

It takes a while to stay current with everything, maybe everyone else already knew this - but you can schedule tweets via hootsuite - and it's simple.  Learned this via an MSAE Membership Networking group from Eric @ Corporate Compliance.  Our members are so smart!

Privacy

Is privacy becoming a thing of the past?  Maybe, maybe not.  The Federal Trade Commission has just taken steps to force Google to protect the privacy of its users. Plus, the company has agreed to submit to independent audits for the next 20 years - to ensure they are following the rules. This ruling will limit the data mining of social media companies. Personally, I agree and hope that there are ongoing efforts to protect my information and my privacy.

Marketing

Market Your Meeting - Ideas and Tips from the Meeting Management Education Council - 10.10

1. Customize your marketing to target members, i.e. change title in emails to entice attendees, highlight specific needs or breakout sessions for attendees, target whenever possible, etc.
2. Message your event by answering “why?” or "so what?" - write headlines and subheads that are benefit-focused and creative.
   
3. Use technology - video, interactive marketing, google analytics, social media and the web to promote.

Other Resources:

10 Web Marketing Trends for 2010
Make Your Message Count
Viral Marketing: Spread Your Word

Cyber Wars

Who could have imagined the likes of this WikiLeaks fiasco? I guess it's true - we don't know what we don't know. Scary business. For what it's worth - try to make sure your firewalls, virus protections, and various security measures are up to date and as good as they can be. 

To help or not to help?

11/18/10 Popular TV personality Bill Nye left USC under his own power after he collapsed onstage Tuesday night in front of hundreds of audience members during a presentation at USC.  I have heard it reported that not one audience member jumped to his aid.  What did they do instead? Tweet. 

I just have to wonder what this says about our world today?

Social Media - Engaging Members

Having trouble getting members to buy into the social media buzz? Try these tips:
Give them an emotionally compelling reason to participate.
Tell them what it is. Tell them why it's important.
Invite them. Tell them why they should come, what they should 'wear.'  Make it personal. Once there - Greet them. Help them feel comfortable. Help them connect and talk to each other.  Make them want to come back. Tell stories.

Think about it all as if you were inviting someone to your house.  What would they need to know? What should they bring?  Who else will be there? What is the reason for the invite?

Tech Tools for Meeting Planners and Attendees

Create unique and engaging experiences for meeting attendees by Jessica Levin
http://bit.ly/cXplg7

Cognitive Surplus

Last year, I had the opportunity to see Clay Shirky live at the DigitalNow Conference in Florida. Shirky is the author of “Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations”, the recently released “Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age”, and a teacher of New Media at New York University. His insights into the new media were both scary and exciting for associations. We knew that things were changing.

A couple weeks ago, I was sent a video (from June of this year) about his idea of “Cognitive Surplus”, which is the shared, online work we do when we’re not doing our jobs. I was struck that there is a connection between the idea of cognitive surplus, and our ability to engage members and get them active in associations. I’m sure that there is an entire white paper that can be written on this, but given the beautiful summer weather outside and the fact that it is Friday, you’re only going to get some bullet points from me.

• There is a plethora of volunteer time available. In the United States, more than 100 million hours this weekend will be spent watching the ads between television programs.

• Technology has created endless options for people to get involved online. You know “that” guy in his basement being an on-line wizard or dungeon master – he’s contributing. How great would it be to get that sort of dedication to your organization?

• No matter what level the participation, be it posting funny pictures in a chat room or working with a group of physicists to create a proof – it is still participation.

There are one trillion hours per year of participatory value up for grabs, and we’re in the midst of an entire generation that, when given the opportunity, are willing to produce something online and share it. It’s up to us as associations to tap into that cognitive surplus.

Here is a link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu7ZpWecIS8