Social Marketing for Associations

It is going to be alright.

Social Marketing for Associations.

Well I did one for hotels so why not one for Associations too.

I had the pleasure of sitting next to an Association Meetings Director at a PCMA event last week and of course as everything does these days the meeting turned to social marketing/ networking and Twitter.
So, I leaned over and asked what their plan was for social media and was told they were just now looking into that very thing and did I know anything about it.

We ended up talking for over an hour but here are the 5 take aways that the Executiver Director said she came away with.

1/ Just do it.
Go into your office and ask the under 25’s in your org if you can see their Facebook page and twitter feed. If they have over 300 friends on facebook , 1,000 followers on Twitter they are a very good place to start. They already work for you so know your org inside and out, they “get it” and they are cheap.

2/ If you do not have a social media presence your members will be very forgiving as you start out. In fact your social media frenzied members will appreciate it more if they have a platform they are very comfortable with to talk to you about your association and will give you great insights,,, and more free help.

3/ By following #2 you are making your members feel as if they are an integral part of growing their association. There are a lot of articles out there on how to make the younger generation loyal employees/members. The main one is ask them to help improve a system by doing something they love to do and are good at and you will be a massive hit. You won’t believe how good they are at this kind of stuff and how fast they will get you up and running.

4/ Follow your gut. You know your association better than anyone else out there and know what your end goal is. Be wary of so called Social Media experts or companies that tout their Social Media Mastery. Everyone out there is calling themselves experts and very few are. Your members are very sharp and will spot a phony from a mile away and you will end up worse off than when you started.

5/ Go to your Twitter page and type in the following “I need advice on developing my associations social marketing strategy #eventprofs” If you don’t have a Twitter account go to the under 25 crowd again and have them set you up. It will take them 5 minutes and you will make their day.

Eventprofs are meeting professionals and have been following social media since it started. They will give you some phenomenal pointers.

Good luck and have fun with it.

Calum.