Posts filed under 'participation'
Shifting Social Media Business Strategy from “What” to “Why” and “How”
Last week I delivered a presentation in Chicago outlining the generalized steps for developing a social media business strategy to a wonderfully engaged audience of around 80. In connecting one-on-one with a number of those in attendance prior to the start of the session, my perspective is further reinforced that most organizations are generally trapped inside the rapid reaction phase of social media strategy, which often fails to take into consideration the true opportunity presented by the social web.
Many are treating the social web with a “gold rush” mentality which as I’ve written before very much feels reminiscent of the dot.com rush and bust of the late 90s. I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that true social web strategy in my estimation is not a “get-rich-quick” scheme, rather it is an investment of time and disciplined business planning like any new business strategy.
Want a shortcut to getting on the right track in the development and implementation of social media business strategy? My advice is to focus/refocus your thinking away from “what do we do?” mentality toward the better questions of “why” you are engaging in social media in the first place and “how” social media will help you advance the mission, vision and goals of our business.
While this sounds overly simplistic at first glance, the difference between the “what”-focused approach compared to the “why/how”-focused approach could be the difference between success and disaster. In other words, the question you must ask yourself is whether you are rushing a series of half-thought tactics into the marketplace full of uncertainty OR are you investing in a solid business planning process unique to your organization geared toward evolving and advancing your business mission in an effort to adapt to the opportunities and realities of this new business environment.
Remember, the true successful practice of eCommerce emerged as a disciplined long-term business strategy in the aftermath of the dot.com craze which produced countless business models which have succeeded for new and existing business enterprise. I predict the same will hold true for web 2.0 and social media in that once the smoke clears from the craze and “snake-oil” presently saturating the air, we will find that those who succeed in tapping into the social web did so through a deep understanding of the psychology behind social media participation as it relates to their business and the development/execution of a well-conceived creative business plan which is integrated within the overall business model of the organization.
Add comment December 21, 2009
What Social Media Means to Associations – Beyond Mere Facebook Pages and Twitter Accounts
I’ve recently had the wonderful opportunity to deliver presentations to a variety of individuals and organisations regarding how social media is already transforming the future of associations. Through these experiences, I’ve listened carefully to fears, perceptions and admirable admissions of a lack of functional understanding relating to what social media means to associations.
I also hear allot about Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, as if that is somehow enough to leverage the potential of the social web. The reality is social media is more than a communication channel, rather it is a one-to-one and one-to-many conversation and relationship-building tool. The same types of conversations and relationships we have been engaging in with current and prospective members for years. It’s also a business strategy, just like other vital aspects of organizational operations provided it is already acceptable for staff to answer the phone and handle attendee questions at conferences.
Simply put:
The social web is an opportunity to expand your association sphere by listening, connecting, engaging and building vital relationships which expands your association sphere.
Why is this important? Because conversations and relationships are what led to the creation of associations in the first place. Further, social cohesion is the glue which holds together and propels our organizations.
A member’s commitment to an association is measured by the extent to which they feel a connected part of the organization. The way members connect to an association is through some form of engagement or participation. Before the social web, it required a greater sacrifice and investment to participate (planes, trains and automobiles), but today the social web provides an inexhaustible opportunity to connect and participate.
As the saying goes, the more things change, the more they remain the same. The social web is simply a smarter tool with which we can adapt and greatly expand our mission. With the right organizational foundation, we can all be ready when Facebook inevitably becomes tomorrow’s MySpace. While the platforms will continue to change, the “rules” will always remain the same.
I designed the cluster symbol above to demonstrate the way in which a like-minded group of people bond together to form an association. Clusters form within associations to initiate new projects and components. Today, new clusters are forming outside the walls of your association, in almost every case not to replace you but to give rise to issues and concerns facing a trade or profession. As associations, our goal is to reach out and create new bonds with individuals and groups working in support of our interests. This symbol is also the official symbol of my new consulting practice, Social Frequency Media, which I started out of a deep desire to help associations transform their futures and leverage the potential of social media. I hope you will find the above information and other postings here at Association 2020 useful. SM
3 comments December 7, 2009
FTC Guides Suggest Social Media Policies and Procedures Might Reduce Liability Risks
At the onset of this post, I want to be very clear that I am not intending to send fear coursing through the veins of senior management nor should this be construed as a “let’s all find another reason to fear social media”.
Quite conversely, part of leveraging a strong social media business strategy is ensuring the appropriate operational controls are in place. Policies, standardized practices and process are a responsible part of any business strategy and the business strategy of social media should be no exception.
This week, potential liability regarding the use of social media hit home as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released new Guides concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising. Essentially, the new guides will work to ensure a higher level of honesty and transparency in the use of the social web for the purpose of marketing in terms of “pay to say” disclosure and factual representations.
Though I am not a lawyer (nor have I ever played one on TV) and always encourage consultation with legal counsel, I did read through the 81 page FTC document yesterday and came across an important consideration which I don’t believe has been adequately highlighted. That consideration is the liability an employer faces for the actions of employees engaging in social media activities either within or outside the scope of their work responsibilities. The FTC addresses this scenario in response to a question which appears to have arisen during an open comment period relating to employer liability. Below is a verbatim excerpt from the FTC’s response:
“…although the Commission has brought law enforcement actions against companies whose failure to establish or maintain appropriate internal procedures resulted in consumer injury, it is not aware of any instance in which an enforcement action was brought against a company for the actions of a single “rogue” employee who violated established company policy that adequately covered the conduct in question… The Commission does not believe, however, that it needs to spell out the procedures that companies should put in place to monitor compliance with the principles set forth in the Guides; these are appropriate subjects for advertisers to determine for themselves, because they have the best knowledge of their business practices, and thus of the processes that would best fulfill their responsibilities.” see page 48 of the complete FTC document for full text
What this means is it is time to create social media policies and practices within your organization which carefully balance innovative business uses of social media with clear lines drawn on unacceptable practices.
While it is my intention to use my Association 2020 blog to add value to our community rather than endlessly promote my consulting practice, Social Frequency Media Communications, this is one instance where I want everyone to know that social media internal policy and procedure development is a core part of my services. Click here to learn more about Social Frequency Media Communications or feel free to contact me directly at stuart@socialfrequency.net.
Add comment October 9, 2009
Quick Tip: Value vs. Motive in Social Media ROI Measurement
You can ultimately achieve social media motives and measurable ROI by keeping the focus on generating value… and, most importantly, valuing the vital role and contribution of participants.
As Susan Scott points out in her book, Fierce Conversations , the “conversation is the relationship.”
Social media is an opportunity to make meaningful connections and build vital relationships by providing something of value and genuinely valuing user-generated participation. Time and time again, I see all types of organizations make the mistake of simply using social media to sell themselves, which is the quickest way to get ignored.
Measuring value generation in it’s many forms is the first phase of your social media ROI equation.
Add comment July 30, 2009
How the Text-Obsessed “Distracted” Generation Will Become the Engaged Generation for Associations
We already know that ASAE’s 2006 Decision to Join study showed the younger generations value social networking at a higher level than previous generations. In addition, it appears the younger generations remain to see a strong need for associations.
Since I have two boys under age 10, let’s dive a little bit deeper into what one might be tempted to label as Generation D, the distracted generation.
The main source of distraction in the eyes of parents is kids texting endlessly. Just in the past month, here is my top 3 list of strangest places I’ve seen kids texting:
1) A girl texting while riding a bike down the street, one hand texting on the phone the other on the handle bar.
2) A girl texting will riding the hang glider ride spinning round-and-round up-and-down at a summer festival midway.
3) Two kids texting each other while sitting side-by-side.
While I can understand the temptation to label this new generation as distracted, I choose to label them differently… very socially focused. This is excellent news for associations, especially as we drive our social media strategy into more of a convergent pipeline and straight into the iPhones and smartphones of the future.
Social engagement is what creates the cohesive social investment which has kept our associations running throughout time and will continue to help us build even stronger futures. The only thing that has changed is the medium/s in which we operate. Smoke signals, the printed word, the telegraph, the telephone, the radio, the tv and now the social web sphere.
While the iPhone dominates the U.S. market right now, the other phone makers are frantically developing comparable platforms which will ultimately enable the development of applications for multiple platforms. In the meantime, the iPhone is the best bet for application experimentation. Why not get started today? SM
Ready to join your future already in progress, but not quite sure where to start? Visit www.socialfrequency.net
Add comment July 23, 2009
Quick Tips and Ideas – The Role of Market Research and Data Analysis in Recession-Proofing Your Association
Develop “X-Ray” Vision through Market Research and Data Analysis
Gather and maintain a 360 degree view of the direct and indirect opportunities and threats to your association by observing, measuring and monitoring trends and developments through market research and data analysis.
Here are some actionable ideas to consider:
- Get into your member’s environment and shadow them regularly to see the world through their eyes and observe the spoken and unspoken behavioral truths.
- Conduct regular quarterly omnibus surveys with members to identify/track trends and developments.
- Monitor and track the social web regularly to identify trends, influencers, perspectives and groundswell.
- Establish a “Membership Advisory Panel”.
- Conduct one-on-one interviews employing the same questions until you begin to see patterns in responses.
- Create an opportunity for meaningful participation through decision-based all member surveys… not forgetting to report the eventual data-driven action which is taken.
- Conferences are a great gathering point for all types of members and a great place to conduct focus groups at minimal cost.
- Conduct interviews with your conference exhibitors to explore additional insight into your member audiences.
Thoughts, questions or additions? Share your comment below or contact me directly at stuart@socialfrequency.net.
Add comment July 19, 2009
What Corporate Interactive Marketers and Agencies can Learn from Associations When it Comes to Building a Social Brand
I must confess that I love to monitor big corporate marketing and advertising agency blogs and eNewsletters. Why? First and foremost, because I learn allot. Second, as a curious spectator of the struggles they are facing in adapting to a social interactive world in which it is no longer possible to control the “massography” in the same way they once maintained a dominant control over the traditional uni-directional mass media world.
True behavioral marketing moves well beyond consumer action deeper into the social and emotional psychology which motivates and forms a relationship between consumer and product/brand. More about the ”cause” , less about the “effect”.
As it turns out, social media has shown that consumers are actually pretty smart and savy when it comes to sniffing out mass media plots and gimmicks of days gone by. Consumers want authenticity and human connections… they want to feel empowered, connected and heard… something that has been at the fabric of associations as long as like-minded people have found value in coming together to associate. As the Irish Proverb goes, “Two makes the road shorter”.
When it comes to social media, I ask the corporate marketers and ad executives a simple question:
“Have you hugged your association executive today?… we feel your pain and think our traditional member-centric models of engagement can help. Share in our proud tradition of relationship-based brand expertise. After all, “member-centric” means we are run by members, for members. A sense of investment and ownership is a powerful force when it comes to consumer loyalty. Associations aren’t simply a brand, we are truly a relationship-driven brand family”
To my fellow association executives out there, there are bigger and bolder blue skies ahead as we begin to set our sights and social media strategies on the evolutionary application of our user-centric business models. In doing so, we vastly expand our sphere of participation, information-exchange, networking and, ultimately, influence. Let’s also understand that control remains as much an illusion to us as it does to our for-profit counterparts.
Coming Soon… 5 Reasons Twitter Gives Associations Much to Tweet About
Add comment June 30, 2009
How Social Media Broadens the Association Sphere and Transforms the “Nature” of our Future
With the announcement of the Google Wave, the internet’s newest and next “big thing”, many associations still continue to ponder whether or not social media threatens the very fabric of their existence.
My answer would be an emphatic ”absolutely not”. As our associations move rapidly to join our future… already in progress… the opportunity presented by social media for associations is just the opposite of threat.
Whereas the traditional “social sphere” of associations has been nestled within the physical core of actively involved members who like to get on airplanes and fly thousands of miles a year to get connected, social media will continue to expand and broaden our “social sphere” if we chose to reach out, engage and replace our tall ivory walls with a more transparent and porous material.
In other words, the tide of social media shifts our social sphere in a good way because the challenge of connecting and creating cohesion within our association’s broader professional community is now shared. Our job is to shed our illusion of control, celebrate those who are connecting outside our walls, reach out, be present, listen carefully, connect, build relationships and cultivate the type of powerful social capital which will draw those in the broader social sphere into the “nucleus” of the association.
Always remember, people complain because they care and simply want to be heard. There is immense and transforming power when you listen, engage, establish the conversation and watch the relationship grow.
Think of chemistry and how an atom is formed by a strong nucleus (the association) with electrons (traditionally loyal members) that are bound to the nucleus by “electromagnetic force”. An atom can be positively charged (progressive) or negatively charged (change averse). The social web is sending new types of atoms into the larger sphere within which associations have traditionally operated creating the opportunity of atoms joining together to form new and powerful elements. Elements are the building blocks of “nature” itself.
Let’s be very clear, people connect with the social web not because they want to be isolated and enjoy hearing themselves speak, but rather they are attempting to fulfill the basic human need to connect to something larger.
It is essential that we transform and expand our thinking in knowing that social media strategy is a relationship-building and engagement strategy which should be driven by the mission and goals of the association. In addition to serving members we are now in the position to reach farther in connecting with and serving a larger sphere of participants and influencers… all of which are prospective electrons moving toward that electromagnetic force which will ultimately draw them toward the nucleus. Staff at all levels, with basic rules of engagement, have the opportunity to monitor, listen and make these connections.
Further, think of non-member social web participants and influencers in your space as “surrogates” who care and want to be heard. The bar is not as high as one might think in creating relationships that will move these individuals into the role of promoter and prospective member.
Remember, control is an illusion and the next time a discussion of social media turns to fear and threat, you can now tell the group to not worry because it’s positively “elemental”.
You may now be excused to connect with your former high school chemistry teacher on Facebook to thank them for making you suffer.
1 comment June 4, 2009
The Role of the Emotional Value Proposition in Cultivating Member Loyalty and Activism
If there was one thing an association marketing team must do is put the general principles of behavioral economics into practice at all levels of strategy, tactics and relationships.Satisfy a member’s intellectual need and they may hang on for a little longer. Cultivate a humanizing emotional connection between the member and your association and you might have them as a loyal member and promoter for life… or as long as they still like what they do for a living.
To me, great marketing is about making a human connection at a personal level which results in a sense of belonging. Doing so can be achieved through direct interactions or by indirect emotive multi-sensory storytelling. An example of the first would include traditional one-to-one networking or the considerable opportunities presented by online networking-based social media. An example of the second would be a powerful story told via a fusion of messaging, sight and/or sound, such as a documentary video.
At a primitive level, member loyalty is rooted in a two-way sense of caring, I care about the association because I perceive through my experiences that the association cares about me, not just as a professional but most importantly as a human being.
As human beings, when we care about something we also tend to become protective of its interest. For associations, this translates into voluntary activist behavior which serves to either promote the association or defend it against detractors. Keep thinking the value and potential of making personalized human connections via social media and suddenly Twitter will start to make allot of sense.
Don’t think any of this is true? Try the following questions during your next focus group or one-on-one interview, sit forward and listen carefully to the responses:
- How does it “feel” to be a member of this profession?
- How does it “feel” when you are practicing this profession on any given day?
- How does it “feel” to be a member of this association?
- How does it “feel” to be at this conference?
- When you interact with members, how does it make you “feel”?
- When you interact with association staff, how does it make you “feel”?
- When you interact with leaders of this association, how does it make you “feel”?
- How does it “feel”… you get the idea.
One additional bonus note, behavioral economics not only applies to the role of emotional psychology in the decision-making process of members but also the actions of board leaders, senior management, internal departments, colleagues, direct reports, indirect reports, external stakeholders, media, the general public, neighbors, relatives, husbands, wives, children and even the DMV. In other words, any member of the human race.
In closing, here are two of my favorite guiding quotes when it comes to the emotional complexity of human decision making as it relates to marketing or any endeavor:
“I don’t care how much you know until I know how much you care.” Unknown
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou
Add comment May 7, 2009
Social Media’s Impact on the Lifetime Value of Non-Members and Lapsed Members
For years, associations have been contemplating and calculating the lifetime value of a member. In other words, the measure of the tangible value of a member who maintains her membership over a period of time minus the cost of servicing that membership.
As we continue to move rapidly through the not-so-new frontier of the social web, we need to also look at another important lifetime value measure… that is the lifetime value of non-members and lapsed members. The truth is we should have been looking at this particular measure even before the arrival of the social web years ago.
Why you might ask? First, because word-of-mouth marketing has been around since the dawn of spoken language. An individual need not be a paying member, or customer, to create or detract value from your association.
If favorable impressions about your association resides within the hearts and minds of non-members and lapsed members alike, there is always a higher likelihood that they would have favorable perspectives to share with their friends and colleagues that may influence tangible behavior. Likewise, if unfavorable thoughts about your association occupy that expanse between the skull and the chest cavity of lapsed members and non-members, then there is an even higher likelihood that word-of-mouth communication will take place… the brand of communication that keeps association executives up at night.
Enter, stage right, the social web. Given the expansive reach of communication and interaction offered to virtually anyone with a computer and Internet connection, the sphere of influence impacting our association’s subject-matter has grown well beyond the walls of membership. As such, the traditional notions of value creation has moved well beyond the tangible contributions of loyal members into the intangible, yet influential sphere of the social web.
Members are no longer the only game in town when it comes to value creation and influence. While members are the cherished core of our associations, we must expand our perspective and reach and engage the many influencers and, yes, detractors that are out there talking either directly or indirectly about our associations. Remember, legitimate detractors most often complain because they care enough to participate and want to be heard. With that said, be careful to not confuse reasonable detractors with incoherent crazies.
There is also the layer of lurking participants who may not be out there creating content, but are certainly tuning in.
Your association’s social media strategy should factor in the tangible and intangible value of those lapsed members and non-members who are both visible and active out on the social web. Even more, if you make the right connection you stand to gain even more than the value-generating relationship, conversation and content… you might actually win them back or bring them on board for the very first time as members as well as their followers.
By now, I’m sure some of you have already asked the inevitable question… “Sounds great, but how do you measure the lifetime value of lapsed members and non-members?”. The answer depends on your association’s defined measures for success relating to social media strategy. It’s not always immediate dollars as social media is relationship and conversation-based marketing by its very nature. Put another way, it’s like planting seeds to fertile soil which you nurture and cultivate.
However, there are measures including:
- Web analytics, links, demographics, ratings, Technorati ranking of content sources, qualitative comment analysis, content timing and more..
COMPARED to:
- Membership growth, inbound web traffic, conference registration, product sales and much more.
Another way to measure offline value creation would be to develop benchmark snapshots of membership and customer geography (city, county, state, region, country) and track increasing/decreasing trends over time. While the social web is universal, we all have a geographic point of origin which is our physical social sphere.
Don’t forget that you can actively track re-captured members. Further, you can create “customer” records in your AMS for key social web influencers/participants and run periodic anlaysis to see who has joined.
There’s still the good old-fashioned means of asking new members and customers how they first learned about your association. Beyond the generic social media sources (such as Twitter, Facebook, etc) to specific blogs or other social communities run by key influencers.
The most important consideration is to be creative, experimental and open-minded as you fight off the temptation to become paralyzed by the illusion of perfection.
Add comment May 5, 2009
