There's no shortage of buzz about what associations should be doing with regard to social media. Workshops. Webinars. Blogs. Tons of sources of information for crafting social media policies, setting up a Facebook page, using social media in conjunction with events.
Somehow one association seems to have missed all these helpful resources, or else just ignored them. Because surely, had this association partaken of any of the above advice, they would never have dreamed of setting up a Twitter account, locking it, then offering to sell access to journalists for $10 each. Yet, that's exactly what they did.
If it were earlier in the day and/or I was feeling more creative I could probably write a sonnet--or at the very least a dissertation--on the reasons this was wrong, wrong, wrong. But then again, maybe it's a good thing I'm not in that frame of mind because maybe I'm the one who's all wrong. Anyone want to give me a reality check? Because I'm really trying not to be judgemental about this...and failing.
Showing posts with label associations social media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label associations social media. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Report Finds Most DC-based Associations Still Cautious Towards Social Media
I just read about a new report called "Social Media and Advocacy Analysis 2009: Social media and advocacy tools employed by America's leading trade associations, pressure groups and cause organizations," prepared by Marc Ross, Christine Stineman, and Chris Lisi of 2ndSix, Tribe Effect and Chris Lisi Communications. The report is a little confusing to me; basically they looked at what seem to be a totally random selection of 102 of "America's leading trade associations, issue advocacy groups and cause organizations" to rate each on the extent to which they were each using 14 different social media or online communication tools, and then ranked them according to the mere adoption of the tools, not how they were using them or anything.
I was thinking their data collection seemed a little haphazard, then I read some other posts and realized I'm not the only one thinking it. Not only are people finding the methodology of basing results solely on whether or not the organizations had accounts on each of the 14 platforms, but one of the organizations cited in the report--American Petroleum Institute--points out that they actually are using a number of the tools. Seems like maybe the data collection methods were a little lacking?
One question posed in the report stuck out to me:
Yes--I can take a stab at it with two words: staff champion. I would be willing to bet that National Electrical Contractors Association has on staff a person who is in his/her personal life an avid social media user. Apparently the others, not so much. Although I personally think CEA does a great job with social media--witness their upcoming "Mommmy Tech Summit and Exhibition" at CES in January. (ok, technically I don't know if this qualifies as totally a CEA initiative, but I think it's cool anyway).
It's no mystery that most associations are still grappling with how to staff social media efforts. This is also not the first time they've been called out for not embracing social media; remember Seth Godin's rant about nonprofits? It's interesting to note that both Seth Godin and the authors of this report make the same mistake, however: putting all the emphasis on the mere act of having accounts on social sites or a certain number of followers, rather than on how organizations are actually using the tools.
I was thinking their data collection seemed a little haphazard, then I read some other posts and realized I'm not the only one thinking it. Not only are people finding the methodology of basing results solely on whether or not the organizations had accounts on each of the 14 platforms, but one of the organizations cited in the report--American Petroleum Institute--points out that they actually are using a number of the tools. Seems like maybe the data collection methods were a little lacking?
One question posed in the report stuck out to me:
"And can someone explain what's up with the National Electrical Contractors Association, and why it's more web savvy than the National Rifle Association, the Consumer Electronics Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Communications Workers (to pick randomly from the rest of the list)?"
Yes--I can take a stab at it with two words: staff champion. I would be willing to bet that National Electrical Contractors Association has on staff a person who is in his/her personal life an avid social media user. Apparently the others, not so much. Although I personally think CEA does a great job with social media--witness their upcoming "Mommmy Tech Summit and Exhibition" at CES in January. (ok, technically I don't know if this qualifies as totally a CEA initiative, but I think it's cool anyway).
It's no mystery that most associations are still grappling with how to staff social media efforts. This is also not the first time they've been called out for not embracing social media; remember Seth Godin's rant about nonprofits? It's interesting to note that both Seth Godin and the authors of this report make the same mistake, however: putting all the emphasis on the mere act of having accounts on social sites or a certain number of followers, rather than on how organizations are actually using the tools.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Stranded Evangelists Shouldn't Stay Stranded
I am breathing a sigh of relief today because Harvard Business has a name for what I am--"Stranded Evangelist." Sounds so much nicer than "Bitter," which is how I sometimes feel.
Jamie Notter blogged about this post and added his own tip to the 5 offered in the Harvard blog. I also propose adding another, or maybe it's just an elaboration on point #4: Get Un-stranded. While you may be the only one in your organization who "gets" social media or who is getting paid to be mired in it, there are--for better or for worse--others in your same shoes. Connect with those people. As in, directly--not just by commenting on their blog posts or re-tweeting their stuff. It makes all the difference in the world to have a group of like-minded people who you can both commiserate with and gain strength and knowledge from.
I recently did this--I bit the bullet and joined The Community Roundtable. Rachel Happe--one of the leaders--just wrote an awesome post that connects the whole Stranded Evangelist thing and the notion of "free"--a great read for both association people and community/social media managers.
Jamie Notter blogged about this post and added his own tip to the 5 offered in the Harvard blog. I also propose adding another, or maybe it's just an elaboration on point #4: Get Un-stranded. While you may be the only one in your organization who "gets" social media or who is getting paid to be mired in it, there are--for better or for worse--others in your same shoes. Connect with those people. As in, directly--not just by commenting on their blog posts or re-tweeting their stuff. It makes all the difference in the world to have a group of like-minded people who you can both commiserate with and gain strength and knowledge from.
I recently did this--I bit the bullet and joined The Community Roundtable. Rachel Happe--one of the leaders--just wrote an awesome post that connects the whole Stranded Evangelist thing and the notion of "free"--a great read for both association people and community/social media managers.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Reflections on Virtual Attendance And New Revenue Streams
(Thanks to Jeff De Cagna of Principled Innovation for the ribbon)
Anyone who reads this blog knows I'm obsessed with social media--I blog about it, use it constantly, even get paid to do it for a living. So of course I'm using it to stay on top of what's going on at ASAE's annual meeting in Toronto this weekend. Thankfully Twitter has been cooperating and has not sustained anymore denial-of-service attacks because I've been living vicariously through the tweets of ASAE's annual convention attendees.
ASAE did a great job with their online Hub--providing links to blogs, videos and attendee tweets. But equally responsible for enabling me to experience the event are the attendees--both those on-site and those also attending virtually. Weird to be able to get great takeaways from people who aren't even there? Maybe--but in this case the reality is that ASAE has some really smart, connected members who are adding a lot to the value of the official meeting content. Two great examples are Michael McCurry's great wrap up of Gary Hamel's keynote presentation and Dave Sabol's suggestions on how ASAE might make their engagement offerings even more robust.
I second Dave's suggestion that ASAE consider making more actual content available to virtual attendees. It's great that I'll be able to catch Jeff De Cagna's session "Associations Next: Serious Questions for 2010 And Beyond" via UStream...but that's courtesy of Jeff, not ASAE. Hopefully the fact that virtual attendees are actively participating in this event will pave the way for ASAE to explore new revenue models for future events via additional offerings for virtual attendees. A few ideas:
- A virtual attendee rate that lets virtual attendees receive CEs.
- The ability to make virtual appointments with exhibitors via the Hub's Online Connection Center. Surely exhibitors would pay more to be able to connect not only with physical attendees but untold numbers of virtual attendees interested in their products and services.
- Some kind of affiliate program like SocialFish did with Buzz2009 where sponsors could pay ASAE extra in exchange for having ASAE tweet about those featured sponsors and/or have virtual attendees host ads on their blogs.
Ok, I'll stop now....but please feel free to add any of your own suggestions in the comments. In October I'm going to be facilitating a brown bag on new revenue streams so it's something I'm going to be doing a lot of thinking about.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Blog-cation
I was going to try to be crafty and set up a bunch of posts to auto-post while I'm on vacation for a week...then I realized I need to get over myself because blogging is my HOBBY not my JOB and I don't need to stress about it that much. So instead, I'm just going to say I'm taking a blog-cation and I'll see you when I get back.
In case you're thinking of robbing my house while I'm gone (Patrick's mortal fear about me blogging that we're out of town), the neighbors are cat-sitting so you might want to think twice before breaking in. They have three tiny girls, all of whom talk A LOT and at the same time, and you will undoubtedly wish you had stayed home if you choose to try to break in and find yourself faced with these girls. I'm not just saying that, either. Seriously. (Actually, these girls are adorable but I swear they do talk a LOT. They are training for getting their own cat so our litter boxes will be cleaner than they ever have been when we get back.)
If you just miss me so much you can't take it, feel free to go hang out on my other blog...the one I write about stuff other than social media in. But not if the "F" word offends you. Just kidding. Ok, actually, not kidding.
If that's not how you roll and you're all about associations and/or social media, you would do well to check out these blogs:
Ok, I could come up with tons of others but need to get packing so I'll leave it at those--please feel free to chime in in the comment section with other suggestions.
Can you tell I'm not good at vacations?
In case you're thinking of robbing my house while I'm gone (Patrick's mortal fear about me blogging that we're out of town), the neighbors are cat-sitting so you might want to think twice before breaking in. They have three tiny girls, all of whom talk A LOT and at the same time, and you will undoubtedly wish you had stayed home if you choose to try to break in and find yourself faced with these girls. I'm not just saying that, either. Seriously. (Actually, these girls are adorable but I swear they do talk a LOT. They are training for getting their own cat so our litter boxes will be cleaner than they ever have been when we get back.)
If you just miss me so much you can't take it, feel free to go hang out on my other blog...the one I write about stuff other than social media in. But not if the "F" word offends you. Just kidding. Ok, actually, not kidding.
If that's not how you roll and you're all about associations and/or social media, you would do well to check out these blogs:
- Reid All About It
- Conor McNulty's still-to-be named blog. While you're there vote on the name! I like Named This Blog #Fail.
- Maddie Grant's Socialfishing She has an amazing post up now about aligning social media strategy with your association focus.
Ok, I could come up with tons of others but need to get packing so I'll leave it at those--please feel free to chime in in the comment section with other suggestions.
Can you tell I'm not good at vacations?
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Forrester Says Advertising Is Changing Forever. What Are Associations Doing to Keep Up?
I was in a meeting this morning about how the reason non-dues revenue is down is because members are posting jobs on Linkedin and Facebook. The answer, naturally, is forbidding "free" advertising on Facebook and Linkedin. If they can't post it for free then they will pay us to post it. Right?
Don't we all wish.
The reality is that the world as associations have always known it has changed and is not going to change back. Job boards and print ads in publications used to be a slam-dunk; now they're not. End of story. Instead of spending time spinning wheels talking about what we can forbid people from doing for free, we need to be spending time thinking of the next generation of things companies will pay for.
Forrester Research just published their five-year interactive marketing forecast and their findings echo my sentiments:
Highlights of the report include:
The upshot? In Josh Bernoff's own words:
And if that's the way the world is going, it's also the way your corporate partners, recruiters and sponsors are going. What is your association doing to prepare?
Don't we all wish.
The reality is that the world as associations have always known it has changed and is not going to change back. Job boards and print ads in publications used to be a slam-dunk; now they're not. End of story. Instead of spending time spinning wheels talking about what we can forbid people from doing for free, we need to be spending time thinking of the next generation of things companies will pay for.
Forrester Research just published their five-year interactive marketing forecast and their findings echo my sentiments:
"...media is in trouble, or at least in the middle of a transformation."
Highlights of the report include:
- Digital marketing, which will be about 12% of overall advertising spend in 2009, is likely to grow to about 21% in five years
- Social "media," which will account for $716 million this year between social network campaigns and agency fees, will generate $3 billion in five years.
- Of all the parts of digital marketing, social network marketing one is poised for the most explosive growth.
The upshot? In Josh Bernoff's own words:
"If you're in advertising, you'd better learn to speak digital, because that's the way the world is going."
And if that's the way the world is going, it's also the way your corporate partners, recruiters and sponsors are going. What is your association doing to prepare?
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
State of the Association Social Media Job-o-sphere
There was a great post on cnbc.com the other day about social media jobs--how they are cropping up, but slowly. The article reveals that Forrester Research recently estimated social media marketing budgets will increase by more than 30 percent each year for the next five years, putting spending on pace to reach $3 billion by 2014. Right now, apparently most money is being spent on "administrative and consulting costs" rather than on new hires, and that existing employees are being asked to add social media to their regular job duties.
However, it seems that a handful of associations are beginning to show signs of biting the bullet, despite the recession, and seeking to hire dedicated social media staffers. In just the past week I've seen three new association social media job openings: the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute is hiring a Social Media Specialist; the The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants is seeking someone for that same role; and the American Diabetes Association is hiring an Associate Director--Communications & Social Media.
And those are just the new jobs devoted specifically to social media; as of tonight there are a total of 16 jobs on associationjobs.org that include some form of social media either in the job duties or the qualificiations for the position. These are positions ranging from Grassroots Coordinator to Vice President, Industry Relations to Web Technology and Content Coordinator.
Additionally, also during this past week, I was sent links to not one, not two, but THREE separate surveys seeking information about how various associations are handling social media staffing. Which means that there are at least three more who are in the process of seriously examining how to staff their social media activities.
Bottom line? If you're looking for a job in social media, associations are definitely worth keeping an eye on. And even if you're not looking for a social media job, you'd be smart to realize how many different types of jobs are being touched by social media and making sure you aren't making yourself obsolete by keeping your head in the sand. Is it BS that some companies are now making number of followers on Twitter a qualifier for certain positions? Of course. But the fact remains that they are doing it anyway, so if you're not already on Twitter, you may want to re-think that decision.
However, it seems that a handful of associations are beginning to show signs of biting the bullet, despite the recession, and seeking to hire dedicated social media staffers. In just the past week I've seen three new association social media job openings: the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute is hiring a Social Media Specialist; the The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants is seeking someone for that same role; and the American Diabetes Association is hiring an Associate Director--Communications & Social Media.
And those are just the new jobs devoted specifically to social media; as of tonight there are a total of 16 jobs on associationjobs.org that include some form of social media either in the job duties or the qualificiations for the position. These are positions ranging from Grassroots Coordinator to Vice President, Industry Relations to Web Technology and Content Coordinator.
Additionally, also during this past week, I was sent links to not one, not two, but THREE separate surveys seeking information about how various associations are handling social media staffing. Which means that there are at least three more who are in the process of seriously examining how to staff their social media activities.
Bottom line? If you're looking for a job in social media, associations are definitely worth keeping an eye on. And even if you're not looking for a social media job, you'd be smart to realize how many different types of jobs are being touched by social media and making sure you aren't making yourself obsolete by keeping your head in the sand. Is it BS that some companies are now making number of followers on Twitter a qualifier for certain positions? Of course. But the fact remains that they are doing it anyway, so if you're not already on Twitter, you may want to re-think that decision.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Eff it Off Friday Post
You thought I forgot, didn't you?
Ok, I did...but it's still Friday so here some links for you in lieu of a real post.
Ok, I did...but it's still Friday so here some links for you in lieu of a real post.
- More data about how Facebook is officially becoming an oldsters club--over a third of users are 35+ and the 55+ age group is the fastest-growing group.
- Great, thorough notes from yesterday's awesome Buzz2009 Association Social Media conferfence by Lynn Morton.
- Great example of engagmement on an association Facebook page--ASHA's. This evening I posted a link to a press release on ASHA's website and within an hour 30 people had "liked" it and 16 people had commented. I love it that out members are so passionate about the issues surrounding their professions, and how eager they are to share their thoughts. Would they be hanging around the ASHA website on a Friday night, though? Maybe not...which just proves the addage that associations need to meet their members where they are--even if that means Facebook.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Association Chat Fail--or Thing #4 I Hate About Twitter
Ironic that yesterday's association chat (#assnchat; takes place every Tuesday at 2 pm thanks to Jeff De Cagna) was supposed to be about virtual attendee experience...but because the world felt compelled to live-tweet Michael Jackson's funeral, Twitter was so slow that we had to postpone #assnchat.
I know I'm not supposed to admit this, but when stuff like this happens--the free tools some of us are staking our careers on fail miserably--it makes me wonder if it's wise to even try to incorporate tools like Twitter into an organization's social media strategy. All I know is that if instead of #assnchat, what I'd been trying to do was show the BOD how great Twitter was and how useful it could be for our members, I'd have been looking mighty stupid.
Last week I wrote a post about 3 things I hate about Twitter; now I'm adding a 4th:
4)Reliability--almost a year ago I blogged about an article in Business Week that questioned Twitter's long-term financial viability. Since that time, Twitter's growth has exploded...yet, it still appears to be without a business model. Will it be e-commerce? Search, carriers and content? Aggregating tweets by topic? I don't care what it is--can they please just settle on something so they can get some more servers or whatever so the whole thing doesn't feel like it's built on a house of freakin' cards all the time?
I know I'm not supposed to admit this, but when stuff like this happens--the free tools some of us are staking our careers on fail miserably--it makes me wonder if it's wise to even try to incorporate tools like Twitter into an organization's social media strategy. All I know is that if instead of #assnchat, what I'd been trying to do was show the BOD how great Twitter was and how useful it could be for our members, I'd have been looking mighty stupid.
Last week I wrote a post about 3 things I hate about Twitter; now I'm adding a 4th:
4)Reliability--almost a year ago I blogged about an article in Business Week that questioned Twitter's long-term financial viability. Since that time, Twitter's growth has exploded...yet, it still appears to be without a business model. Will it be e-commerce? Search, carriers and content? Aggregating tweets by topic? I don't care what it is--can they please just settle on something so they can get some more servers or whatever so the whole thing doesn't feel like it's built on a house of freakin' cards all the time?
Does Forrester's "Hub and Spoke" Model Work For Association Social Media?
Forrester Research recently released a report on how companies should organize for social media. In the report, they detail three basic organizational models:
Forrester suggests that the most effective organizational model is #3, the "Hub and Spoke" model. Makes sense, right?
Enter silos.
A while ago I read an outstanding post by Beth Kanter about silos and social media, and it's stuck with me ever since. I think the impact of silo culture on social media has yet to really be brought to the forefront, mainly because most associations have yet to formalize their social media strategies and therefore have yet to deal with staffing those initiatives.
Here's the thing: close your eyes and think "hub and spoke" and what comes to mind? Probably a picture of a bike wheel, or something like that. Now think "silos"--and what comes to mind? Probably something like this. Now try to do an overlay of the hub and spoke visual over the silo one. Doesn't really work, does it?
As Geoff Livingston says in his post The Cultural Challenge to Integration "Publishing a Twitter feed, a blog, a Facebook group, a “viral” video is not the answer. Instead change the way relational communications are approached throughout the organization."
I suspect that, as time-consuming and challenging as it is to convince some association execs that engaging in social media is not only worthwhile but necessary, the real battle will lie with convincing them they'll need to totally overhaul the organization's structure first.
- The Tire (Distributed): Where each business unit or group may create its own social media programs without a centralized approach. Forrester calls this approach the “tire,” as it originates at the edges of the company.
- The Tower (Centralized): A standalone group within a company that’s responsible for social media programs. Forrester points out that the "tower" is often located in corporate marketing or communications departments.
- The Hub and Spoke (Cross Functional): Forrester likens this model to the hub on a bicycle wheel: a cross-functional group representing multiple stakeholders across the company assembled in the middle of an organization. The hub facilitates resource sharing and cross-functional communications (via the “spokes” in the wheel) to those at the edge of the organization (or the “tire”)
Forrester suggests that the most effective organizational model is #3, the "Hub and Spoke" model. Makes sense, right?
Enter silos.
A while ago I read an outstanding post by Beth Kanter about silos and social media, and it's stuck with me ever since. I think the impact of silo culture on social media has yet to really be brought to the forefront, mainly because most associations have yet to formalize their social media strategies and therefore have yet to deal with staffing those initiatives.
Here's the thing: close your eyes and think "hub and spoke" and what comes to mind? Probably a picture of a bike wheel, or something like that. Now think "silos"--and what comes to mind? Probably something like this. Now try to do an overlay of the hub and spoke visual over the silo one. Doesn't really work, does it?
As Geoff Livingston says in his post The Cultural Challenge to Integration "Publishing a Twitter feed, a blog, a Facebook group, a “viral” video is not the answer. Instead change the way relational communications are approached throughout the organization."
I suspect that, as time-consuming and challenging as it is to convince some association execs that engaging in social media is not only worthwhile but necessary, the real battle will lie with convincing them they'll need to totally overhaul the organization's structure first.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Buzz2009 Social Media For Associations--Why I Wish I Was Going
Right now I should be battling traffic on my way to BlogPotomac but, because I don't want to go down in the bad mom hall of fame as being the mom who chose a blogger conference over her son's grade-school graduation, I'm not going. I did slog through traffic hell to go to the happy hour last night, but since I didn't know anyone there, I totally forgot the names and faces of the people I'd vowed to go say hi to and beat a pretty hasty retreat. Such is life. I did meet a few nice people, though, so all wasn't lost.
The heartbreak of my summer, though, will be if I don't get to attend Buzz2009 Social Media for Associations. I've already blogged about the reasons I'm so obsessed with going: a) it's being put on, in part, by my friends Maddie Grant and Lindy Dreyer and b) Guy Kawasaki--who recently shared a Navy ship with my ultimate blog crush The Bloggess--will be there. Unfortunately, though, like every other association out there, my association's professional development budget is on hold so unless I start scouring my house for stuff to sell on eBay, I won't be able to go.
But aside from socializing, the reason the conference will be so awesome is that the focus will be on association social media. How many other conferences can you say that about? I believe that would be none. What's the difference, you say, between regular social media and association social media? Either way you slice it it's just a bunch of nerds talking about Facebook and Twitter, right? Hey--wrong!
Even though there's always tons of talk about social media in an association context--ASAE conferences, blogs, listservs, etc--the bulk of those conversations revolve around the theme of convincing fellow association people that they should be using social media. Case studies about what associations are doing, lots of slides and stats and reports--all of it essentially a sales pitch for why your association should be using social media. Here's the thing: I'm in. I don't need convincing or 101 sessions on what is Twitter and how should you be using it, etc. I need help.
That's right--help. Because the fact of the matter is, association social media is tricky. It's like the classic wedding/marriage analogy. You make the big announcement 'We're getting married!" or, in this case "My association has agreed that we need to start using social media!" The wedding day comes and goes, as do the drafting of social media guidelines and strategies, of unveling your association's page on Facebook or Twitter account. And there you are. Now what? How do you keep the momentum going? How do you navigate the silos? How do you measure success? Or failure, for that matter?
These are the kinds of things I want to hear about and talk about, in the company of people who are dealing with the same challenges.
The heartbreak of my summer, though, will be if I don't get to attend Buzz2009 Social Media for Associations. I've already blogged about the reasons I'm so obsessed with going: a) it's being put on, in part, by my friends Maddie Grant and Lindy Dreyer and b) Guy Kawasaki--who recently shared a Navy ship with my ultimate blog crush The Bloggess--will be there. Unfortunately, though, like every other association out there, my association's professional development budget is on hold so unless I start scouring my house for stuff to sell on eBay, I won't be able to go.
But aside from socializing, the reason the conference will be so awesome is that the focus will be on association social media. How many other conferences can you say that about? I believe that would be none. What's the difference, you say, between regular social media and association social media? Either way you slice it it's just a bunch of nerds talking about Facebook and Twitter, right? Hey--wrong!
Even though there's always tons of talk about social media in an association context--ASAE conferences, blogs, listservs, etc--the bulk of those conversations revolve around the theme of convincing fellow association people that they should be using social media. Case studies about what associations are doing, lots of slides and stats and reports--all of it essentially a sales pitch for why your association should be using social media. Here's the thing: I'm in. I don't need convincing or 101 sessions on what is Twitter and how should you be using it, etc. I need help.
That's right--help. Because the fact of the matter is, association social media is tricky. It's like the classic wedding/marriage analogy. You make the big announcement 'We're getting married!" or, in this case "My association has agreed that we need to start using social media!" The wedding day comes and goes, as do the drafting of social media guidelines and strategies, of unveling your association's page on Facebook or Twitter account. And there you are. Now what? How do you keep the momentum going? How do you navigate the silos? How do you measure success? Or failure, for that matter?
These are the kinds of things I want to hear about and talk about, in the company of people who are dealing with the same challenges.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Death Knell for Associations?
Back at ASAE's Great Ideas conference in February, there was a lot of talk about social media--and a lot of talk about how social media could eventually spell the death of associations. Since I work for an association and don't relish the idea of being out of a job, I didn't give it much thought at the time.
Fast forward about a month. I get an email telling me that radRounds is following me on Twitter. Never having heard of radRounds, I clicked the link to their website. And there it was--what could well be the future of associations.
I preface this by saying that I could absolutely be wrong about radRounds--it could very well be a product of one or more of the many radiology associations out there. But as far as I can tell, it appears that the radRounds is not affiliated with an association; this is from the "About Us" section of the site:
Networking, learning and collaborating? That's pretty much what associations are for, right? Think about it. Compare your association's website to radRounds: Industry news? Check. Forums? Check. Career center? Check. CME course listings? Check. Groups, case reviews, file sharing, podcasts? Check, check, check...you get the point.
RadRounds seems to offer a LOT of what traditional associations offer. Granted, a lot of what they offer--guidelines, for example--may be created by associations--but really, is an association truly a necessary middleman for stuff like guidelines? With social networks like RadRounds, where professionals can connect and collaborate--what's to stop them from eventually creating their own guidelines?
Again, I am NOT an association executive and I know there are MANY aspects of associations that, conceivably, at least, independent groups couldn't easily re-create on their own. That said, exactly how many functions is that? Enough so that associations have nothing to fear? Or few enough that a dedicated bunch of members could pretty much replicate most functions of an association, thereby eliminating the need to pay dues and support staff and overhead?
Fast forward about a month. I get an email telling me that radRounds is following me on Twitter. Never having heard of radRounds, I clicked the link to their website. And there it was--what could well be the future of associations.
I preface this by saying that I could absolutely be wrong about radRounds--it could very well be a product of one or more of the many radiology associations out there. But as far as I can tell, it appears that the radRounds is not affiliated with an association; this is from the "About Us" section of the site:
radRounds was founded on the eve of January 2008 by a group of radiologists who saw the need for a collaborative, open, and easy-to-use web tool for networking, learning, and collaborating. We are completely managed and created by both informatics experts and physicians who specialize in the wonderful field of radiology and medical imaging.
Networking, learning and collaborating? That's pretty much what associations are for, right? Think about it. Compare your association's website to radRounds: Industry news? Check. Forums? Check. Career center? Check. CME course listings? Check. Groups, case reviews, file sharing, podcasts? Check, check, check...you get the point.
RadRounds seems to offer a LOT of what traditional associations offer. Granted, a lot of what they offer--guidelines, for example--may be created by associations--but really, is an association truly a necessary middleman for stuff like guidelines? With social networks like RadRounds, where professionals can connect and collaborate--what's to stop them from eventually creating their own guidelines?
Again, I am NOT an association executive and I know there are MANY aspects of associations that, conceivably, at least, independent groups couldn't easily re-create on their own. That said, exactly how many functions is that? Enough so that associations have nothing to fear? Or few enough that a dedicated bunch of members could pretty much replicate most functions of an association, thereby eliminating the need to pay dues and support staff and overhead?
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
My Social Media Prediction for 2009--Assocations Will Get it Wrong
'Tis the season for closing the door on the old year and looking forward to the new one. Rather than trying to cleverly and accurately sum up the state of social media in 2008, I'll just paraphrase CNET news' 2008 wrap-up post:
Now go read the whole post for a very comprehensive year-end review of social media.
Now on to 2009. Peter Kim, a former Forrester Research analyst,asked 14 social media heavy-hitters to blog about their thoughts of what 2009 might have in store with regard to social media.
The one that resonated with me the most?
Why did that one grab my attention? Because I totally agree with him...and I fear that many associations won't get it and it will prevent their social networking initiatives from succeeding.
Let me back it up to say that my prediction for 2009 is that associations will finally decide that yes, it is time to get on the social media bandwagon, if they haven't already. The buzz has been building all year--I won't even attempt to add up all the sessions, webinars, blog posts, articles, tweets about the importance of social media--and I'm pretty sure that by now, the majority of association folks who have resisted will decide that, yes, it's time to do this. So they'll either hire social media professionals or have existing staff absorb those responsibilities. Either way, I predict that many of them will get it all wrong.
Why? Because being social media savvy is largely about personal brand--and associations aren't about personal brand. They're about hierarchy--um, I mean teams--and doing things the way they've always been done. A qualified social media professional pretty much needs to eat, breathe and sleep the part. They need to blog, tweet, read blogs and generally be immersed in the online community--actually, many of them. There are plenty of people out there doing this; however, the thing with social media professionals is that, to a large extent, you need to be one to recognize one. And the association folks who will be in charge of selecting the right candidates aren't, in all likelihood, social media professionals themselves.
Here's what will happen. Being invested in ROI and traditional metrics as they are, associations will want to hire sure things: people with resumes boasting great credentials in communications or marketing or web. The guy or gal whose main claim to fame is being a social media rockstar? Not so much. So the hiring managers will select people with traditional communications or marketing backgrounds who can throw around a bunch of social media buzzwords but who have no real experience with social media.
The result? Well now, you'll have to wait for my 2010 predictions for that.
"...it was a terrific year for social networks. Mostly."
Now go read the whole post for a very comprehensive year-end review of social media.
Now on to 2009. Peter Kim, a former Forrester Research analyst,asked 14 social media heavy-hitters to blog about their thoughts of what 2009 might have in store with regard to social media.
The one that resonated with me the most?
"Although it is now cheaper to launch an initiative leveraging Web 2.0 technology - it requires qualified and passionate people to make them successful." - David Armano
Why did that one grab my attention? Because I totally agree with him...and I fear that many associations won't get it and it will prevent their social networking initiatives from succeeding.
Let me back it up to say that my prediction for 2009 is that associations will finally decide that yes, it is time to get on the social media bandwagon, if they haven't already. The buzz has been building all year--I won't even attempt to add up all the sessions, webinars, blog posts, articles, tweets about the importance of social media--and I'm pretty sure that by now, the majority of association folks who have resisted will decide that, yes, it's time to do this. So they'll either hire social media professionals or have existing staff absorb those responsibilities. Either way, I predict that many of them will get it all wrong.
Why? Because being social media savvy is largely about personal brand--and associations aren't about personal brand. They're about hierarchy--um, I mean teams--and doing things the way they've always been done. A qualified social media professional pretty much needs to eat, breathe and sleep the part. They need to blog, tweet, read blogs and generally be immersed in the online community--actually, many of them. There are plenty of people out there doing this; however, the thing with social media professionals is that, to a large extent, you need to be one to recognize one. And the association folks who will be in charge of selecting the right candidates aren't, in all likelihood, social media professionals themselves.
Here's what will happen. Being invested in ROI and traditional metrics as they are, associations will want to hire sure things: people with resumes boasting great credentials in communications or marketing or web. The guy or gal whose main claim to fame is being a social media rockstar? Not so much. So the hiring managers will select people with traditional communications or marketing backgrounds who can throw around a bunch of social media buzzwords but who have no real experience with social media.
The result? Well now, you'll have to wait for my 2010 predictions for that.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Association Social Media Roadshow Reflections Part 2: Facebook
*Disclaimer: I work for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); however, this is my personal blog in which I express my own thoughts and opinions.*
A few weeks ago I blogged about my experience of being among 12,500 members at my association's annual convention, and their reactions to our budding social media activities.
I work in ASHA's web department, and we had a booth in the exhibit hall with a sign that said "Facebook isn't just for teenagers--learn what ASHA's social networks can do for you."
As I said in my previous post about Twitter, the vast majority of our (130,000) members are in the 34-55 year-old category. That said, we are closely affiliated with a student association--the members of which will ultimately become members of ASHA. When we first started toying with the idea of incorporating social media into our communications strategy, we figured there would be plenty of interest from the students but weren't sure how many of the older members would want to participate.
I am the first to admit that I originally dismissed the idea of a Facebook page--I didn't think there would be any value to members. Turns out I couldn't have been more wrong, as evidenced by the almost 5,500 fans we've attracted in about 2 months.
We built a very basic page on Facebook--just information about the association, links to our Twitter stream, our YouTube channel and our online store. Our tweets feed into the status updates for the page, and that's about as much content we add to the page on a regular basis--at this point it's basically there for members to use as they wish.
At any rate, back to the convention. It gave us a great opportunity to explain--in person--what social networking is and how it can enhance the value of their membership. There was a lot of interest and excitement from members, from students to a man who's been a member for 34 years. As a matter of fact, of all the people we met there, he was the most enthusiastic about social media--he'd even incorporated it into his presentation about academic leadership.
As for Facebook, here are some examples of how it's working for us:
I could go on but I won't bore you. The bottom line is that there is no question that the level of interest in our page on Facebook has helped turn "someday" into "now" in terms of getting buy-in about the need for a social media strategy.
A few weeks ago I blogged about my experience of being among 12,500 members at my association's annual convention, and their reactions to our budding social media activities.
I work in ASHA's web department, and we had a booth in the exhibit hall with a sign that said "Facebook isn't just for teenagers--learn what ASHA's social networks can do for you."
As I said in my previous post about Twitter, the vast majority of our (130,000) members are in the 34-55 year-old category. That said, we are closely affiliated with a student association--the members of which will ultimately become members of ASHA. When we first started toying with the idea of incorporating social media into our communications strategy, we figured there would be plenty of interest from the students but weren't sure how many of the older members would want to participate.
I am the first to admit that I originally dismissed the idea of a Facebook page--I didn't think there would be any value to members. Turns out I couldn't have been more wrong, as evidenced by the almost 5,500 fans we've attracted in about 2 months.
We built a very basic page on Facebook--just information about the association, links to our Twitter stream, our YouTube channel and our online store. Our tweets feed into the status updates for the page, and that's about as much content we add to the page on a regular basis--at this point it's basically there for members to use as they wish.
At any rate, back to the convention. It gave us a great opportunity to explain--in person--what social networking is and how it can enhance the value of their membership. There was a lot of interest and excitement from members, from students to a man who's been a member for 34 years. As a matter of fact, of all the people we met there, he was the most enthusiastic about social media--he'd even incorporated it into his presentation about academic leadership.
As for Facebook, here are some examples of how it's working for us:
- Proves that our members are, in fact, receptive to social media. Even before we'd added any information about Facebook to our website we attracted several thousand fans. The day we posted the link to the Facebook page on the homepage of our website, 1451 people visited the Facebook page; 413 of those became fans.
- Provides tangible metrics. While there is a lot to be said for new metrics like return on engagement, the fact remains that, to the people who are skeptical about the value of social media, nebulous terms like "engagement" aren't that persuasive. They want proof that social media is worth it. Facebook Insights provides that kind of data: page views (both overall and unique), fan demographics by age and gender, new fans per day, etc. You can view the data graphically, or export it to Excel.
- Lets us observe how members are using the page.
"I am in private practice and would love to meet other SLPs that are private practice owners, as well."
"I am interested in the topic on the outcome of late talkers who display no other disability......any pointers? "
"I am also glad to be able to connect with other SLP's on here. What a great idea!"
"Hello everyone! It is great to connect with all of you. I look forward to being a part of this like-minded community."
I could go on but I won't bore you. The bottom line is that there is no question that the level of interest in our page on Facebook has helped turn "someday" into "now" in terms of getting buy-in about the need for a social media strategy.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Association Social Media Roadshow Reflections Part 1: Twitter
*Disclaimer: I work for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); however, this is my personal blog in which I express my own thoughts and opinions.*
*When I sat down to write this post I intended it to be a wrap up of all my thoughts about our social media explorations at ASHA's Annual Convention. Once I started I realized that there is so much to tell about I'll have to break it up into more than one post; stay tuned for the next installment about Facebook*
Last week was ASHA's Annual Convention--my first. It was great to be able to meet some of the members--12,500 of whom were there--and to see their enthusiasm for their professions in action.
I work in ASHA's web department, and we had a booth at Convention, as did most of the other departments. We used the experience of being among so many members as an opportunity to get some feedback about their level of interest in social media.
Prior to Convention we announced in several places (newsletters, tweets, convention information page on website) that we'd be using Twitter at convention, and encouraged members to sign up so they could follow our updates. For the most part, our members aren't really there yet as far as Twitter, but we do have a handful of dedicated followers. Using Twitter this time around was more of an experiment than anything; we didn't have any real expectation that many would follow.
Prior to convention we tracked a fair number of tweets about it, both from exhibitors who were using Twitter to promote their booths and from members enthusiastic about the upcoming event. Some examples of tweets were:
Plus plenty more. Not too bad for an association whose members are predominantly in the 35-55 year group.
That said, this was a surprising tweet:
This from a member of 34 years doing a session on academic leadership! I DMd him asking about his presentation and he later came looking for me and we had a great conversation about social media. He spent about 15 minutes telling me his thoughts about using social media to engage students and showed me his slides and even his MySpace page. He was very cool!
Twitter turned out to be a great tool for interacting with members and exhibitors in several ways:
All in all, Twitter turned out to be much more of a success than we'd anticipated.
Stay tuned for part 2: Facebook.
*When I sat down to write this post I intended it to be a wrap up of all my thoughts about our social media explorations at ASHA's Annual Convention. Once I started I realized that there is so much to tell about I'll have to break it up into more than one post; stay tuned for the next installment about Facebook*
Last week was ASHA's Annual Convention--my first. It was great to be able to meet some of the members--12,500 of whom were there--and to see their enthusiasm for their professions in action.
I work in ASHA's web department, and we had a booth at Convention, as did most of the other departments. We used the experience of being among so many members as an opportunity to get some feedback about their level of interest in social media.
Prior to Convention we announced in several places (newsletters, tweets, convention information page on website) that we'd be using Twitter at convention, and encouraged members to sign up so they could follow our updates. For the most part, our members aren't really there yet as far as Twitter, but we do have a handful of dedicated followers. Using Twitter this time around was more of an experiment than anything; we didn't have any real expectation that many would follow.
Prior to convention we tracked a fair number of tweets about it, both from exhibitors who were using Twitter to promote their booths and from members enthusiastic about the upcoming event. Some examples of tweets were:
- "If you're in Chicago for the ASHA conference, please stop by our booth - #1906"
- "First session attended at #ASHA08 was presented by my grad school advisor, great to see her again! Fun start to ASHA Convention 2008."
- "Getting ready for 2 more days solo at the hospital. Becoming very sad that I don't get to go to ASHA convention. I want to go!"
- "2008 ASHA convention in Boston hosted 13,000 speech-language pathologists & audiologists..what is your prediction for attendance in Chicago"
- "Have you signed up for a job interview at the ASHA convention?"
Plus plenty more. Not too bad for an association whose members are predominantly in the 35-55 year group.
That said, this was a surprising tweet:
"Refining my ASHA presentation for Saturday 8-10 session 2501. I will talk about twitter and the future"
This from a member of 34 years doing a session on academic leadership! I DMd him asking about his presentation and he later came looking for me and we had a great conversation about social media. He spent about 15 minutes telling me his thoughts about using social media to engage students and showed me his slides and even his MySpace page. He was very cool!
Twitter turned out to be a great tool for interacting with members and exhibitors in several ways:
- A member tweeted asking if anyone had tickets to a sold-out function; I tweeted her back that I was able to find some for her. It was a great opportunity to offer one-on-one customer service to a member--something she undoubtedly would not have otherwise been able to get at such a large meeting
- When exhibitors tweeted about convention, I DMd them telling them to stop by and say hi. They did, and several expressed interest in ASHA's social networks--this generated one solid lead for our advertising department, as well as a few others who said they wanted to explore future opportunities with us. One major exhibitor even videotaped an interview with me and my web coworker for their blog!
- I was able to make a few announcements that otherwise wouldn't have been possible, since we didn't have a message center and the convention daily had been pre-printed
- A member DMd ASHA saying she'd lost her wallet and asking if we could help find it. Again, it was nice that she thought of using Twitter to connect with ASHA staff.
All in all, Twitter turned out to be much more of a success than we'd anticipated.
Stay tuned for part 2: Facebook.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Social Media Perfect Storm: A Cautionary Tale
Ok, I've kept my mouth shut long enough--I was not going to blog about this because it would probably mean I'd never see my free cloud computer, but at this rate it doesn't look like that's going to happen anyway. I'm sacrificing my potential blogging mother lode--free computer in exchange for promoting it via social media--to prove a point about the power of social media.
Beware: this is going to be a long post because I've kept this pent up for so long and think it's kind of fascinating.
Back in June I happened on a post on Craigslist looking for "Brand Angels" to promote a new "green" computer. They were looking for people who knew how to generate buzz in the blogosphere and were well-versed in social media. I loved the concept--and wanted not only the free computer but a chance to get in on the ground floor should this product turn out to be the next big thing. I sent them an email telling them why I'd be a great Brand Angel and, to my surprise, they apparently agreed and accepted me.
They were great about generating excitement and buy-in. There was a lead "Brand Manager" who was excellent about keeping everyone informed every step of the way: applications were coming in in droves, they were reviewing the applications, they were getting ready to announce the lucky "Brand Angels"--the whole thing was very exciting and I was all fired up to start blasting the blogosphere, Twittersphere and everything in between with tales of cloud computing. And it wasn't just me--the other 100 Brand Angels were also super excited about being chosen and couldn't wait to get started evangelizing their new "green" computer. This was in mid-July; we were told the computers were due to ship "in a few weeks."
The Brand Manger set up a group on Ning and the atmosphere there was akin to a locker room before the Superbowl--people were PSYCHED and eager as hell to get their hands on their computers and start spreading the word (and their product codes; we were to had made $10 for each sale we referred). People set up really upscale, professional blogs, complete with links to the company's website, resources about cloud computing, etc. It really seemed like a brilliant concept: get this pack of smart, well-connected people to spread the word about their product--for free. It was great for them and also great for us as bloggers--not only is it rare to reap any kind of tangible reward for blogging (e.g. free computer) but it also held the promise of tons of new traffic and connections.
So they hand-picked a bunch of buzz-experts, set up a social network for them so they could easily communicate with each other....then vanished. Well, didn't exactly vanish at first--the Brand Manager continued to provide frequent updates about the product--there had been some kind of glitch resulting in a delay in shipping, but no worries--we'd have the computers by the middle of August. Ok, actually, the end of August. End of August came and went and not only no computer but suddenly no Brand Manager either--she went from being in close touch with all of us to--poof!--gone and never to be heard from again. We were all hanging out on Ning, waiting for the next crumb of information to be fed to us, and there was nothing.
And I mean nothing--I'm talking crickets chirping. Nobody wanted to complain and come off as ungrateful because we all wanted our cool, free cloud computers. Inevitably the discussions started popping up, though: "Anyone heard anything from [company name omitted because I don't want to get sued or knifed in an alley]?" First it was like a bunch of polite school kids "Oh, I'm sure they're going to tell us something soon" and "I'm just excited to get mine!" Discussions about how we intended to spread the buzz--what we were going to write about, what social networking tools we were going to be using, how we were going to try to generate as many sales as possible so we'd all end up rich. All the while, absolutely no word from anyone at the company--the Brand Manager had never been heard from again and there had never been any kind of announcement about her leaving, anyone taking her place--nothing.
September came and went. At some point a very formal-sounding rep from the company logged on and posted on the discussion forum that there had been some delays but that they'd been cleared up and that the computers were going to ship soon. No actual date but soon. People started asking questions and she posted what sounded like a press release from the CEO, informing us that there had been delays...blah, blah, blah...totally different attitude and communication style than we'd been started off with. Then, of course, the silence again.
Mid-October we got an email from the company "Urgent [company]Brand Angel Update"--turns out that their major source of funding had pulled out and left them high and dry but that they had found a new investor and NOW they were PROMISING that the computers would ship on November 4. Oh, and by the way, if we knew anyone interested in investing, by all means have them contact the CEO.
We were like kids starved for affection and attention--just this one email seemed to renew everyone's excitement and enthusiasm--once again the boards were buzzing with positive comments. A little apprehension as November 4 approached with no further updates, but since they had PROMISED--actually "guaranteed" was the word they used--that the computers would be shipping on November 4, no ifs, ands or buts.
Shocker--November 4 came and went and not only no computers but no word whatsoever from the company. People have repeatedly posted comments on the discussion boards "Can anyone give us an update?" and even called, emailed and written the company--all to no avail. I was wondering how long it was going to take until the group turned from warm and fuzzy to cold and prickly--and finally it's happened. The past few days there had been several "What's going on?" posts, all with a decidedly negative tone--then someone came out with what I'd been thinking about all along: essentially, the company had taken great care to pick us for our ability to spread buzz--now they are basically leaving us no other option other than to start the buzz...about a company with deplorable customer relations, a problem-ridden product, and in search of investors. After all, who would want to buy a cloud computer and have all their information and files "processed and stored on the web in a highly secure environment"--hosted, of course, by this here today/gone tomorrow company?
Like I said, I'm not going to name any names now, but I can assure you that it's only a matter of time until the word starts leaking out about a company claiming to be all about fairness and community offering this cutting-edge eco-wonder of a computer, then leaving its "Angels" high and dry. If this is how they treat and communicate with the people who are essentially their advertisers and sales reps, how are they going to treat customers?
Moral of the story: Social networks are not something to be taken lightly. The social media world is just like the real world--people form real relationships, have real clout with investors and customers, and have bought into the idea of community and open communication. If you're a company thinking about using social media to generate buzz about your product or service, rest assured that it will work. Just make sure you're prepared to follow through and keep up your end of the bargain. I'm not talking jump through hoops and constantly coddle your evangelists; I'm talking about simple courtesy--returning emails, maintaining a presence on your social networks, making it known that you recognize and appreciate their following.
A group of loyal followers can just as easily become a swarm of angry individuals bent on spreading the word about their discontent with your company or product.
Beware: this is going to be a long post because I've kept this pent up for so long and think it's kind of fascinating.
Back in June I happened on a post on Craigslist looking for "Brand Angels" to promote a new "green" computer. They were looking for people who knew how to generate buzz in the blogosphere and were well-versed in social media. I loved the concept--and wanted not only the free computer but a chance to get in on the ground floor should this product turn out to be the next big thing. I sent them an email telling them why I'd be a great Brand Angel and, to my surprise, they apparently agreed and accepted me.
They were great about generating excitement and buy-in. There was a lead "Brand Manager" who was excellent about keeping everyone informed every step of the way: applications were coming in in droves, they were reviewing the applications, they were getting ready to announce the lucky "Brand Angels"--the whole thing was very exciting and I was all fired up to start blasting the blogosphere, Twittersphere and everything in between with tales of cloud computing. And it wasn't just me--the other 100 Brand Angels were also super excited about being chosen and couldn't wait to get started evangelizing their new "green" computer. This was in mid-July; we were told the computers were due to ship "in a few weeks."
The Brand Manger set up a group on Ning and the atmosphere there was akin to a locker room before the Superbowl--people were PSYCHED and eager as hell to get their hands on their computers and start spreading the word (and their product codes; we were to had made $10 for each sale we referred). People set up really upscale, professional blogs, complete with links to the company's website, resources about cloud computing, etc. It really seemed like a brilliant concept: get this pack of smart, well-connected people to spread the word about their product--for free. It was great for them and also great for us as bloggers--not only is it rare to reap any kind of tangible reward for blogging (e.g. free computer) but it also held the promise of tons of new traffic and connections.
So they hand-picked a bunch of buzz-experts, set up a social network for them so they could easily communicate with each other....then vanished. Well, didn't exactly vanish at first--the Brand Manager continued to provide frequent updates about the product--there had been some kind of glitch resulting in a delay in shipping, but no worries--we'd have the computers by the middle of August. Ok, actually, the end of August. End of August came and went and not only no computer but suddenly no Brand Manager either--she went from being in close touch with all of us to--poof!--gone and never to be heard from again. We were all hanging out on Ning, waiting for the next crumb of information to be fed to us, and there was nothing.
And I mean nothing--I'm talking crickets chirping. Nobody wanted to complain and come off as ungrateful because we all wanted our cool, free cloud computers. Inevitably the discussions started popping up, though: "Anyone heard anything from [company name omitted because I don't want to get sued or knifed in an alley]?" First it was like a bunch of polite school kids "Oh, I'm sure they're going to tell us something soon" and "I'm just excited to get mine!" Discussions about how we intended to spread the buzz--what we were going to write about, what social networking tools we were going to be using, how we were going to try to generate as many sales as possible so we'd all end up rich. All the while, absolutely no word from anyone at the company--the Brand Manager had never been heard from again and there had never been any kind of announcement about her leaving, anyone taking her place--nothing.
September came and went. At some point a very formal-sounding rep from the company logged on and posted on the discussion forum that there had been some delays but that they'd been cleared up and that the computers were going to ship soon. No actual date but soon. People started asking questions and she posted what sounded like a press release from the CEO, informing us that there had been delays...blah, blah, blah...totally different attitude and communication style than we'd been started off with. Then, of course, the silence again.
Mid-October we got an email from the company "Urgent [company]Brand Angel Update"--turns out that their major source of funding had pulled out and left them high and dry but that they had found a new investor and NOW they were PROMISING that the computers would ship on November 4. Oh, and by the way, if we knew anyone interested in investing, by all means have them contact the CEO.
We were like kids starved for affection and attention--just this one email seemed to renew everyone's excitement and enthusiasm--once again the boards were buzzing with positive comments. A little apprehension as November 4 approached with no further updates, but since they had PROMISED--actually "guaranteed" was the word they used--that the computers would be shipping on November 4, no ifs, ands or buts.
Shocker--November 4 came and went and not only no computers but no word whatsoever from the company. People have repeatedly posted comments on the discussion boards "Can anyone give us an update?" and even called, emailed and written the company--all to no avail. I was wondering how long it was going to take until the group turned from warm and fuzzy to cold and prickly--and finally it's happened. The past few days there had been several "What's going on?" posts, all with a decidedly negative tone--then someone came out with what I'd been thinking about all along: essentially, the company had taken great care to pick us for our ability to spread buzz--now they are basically leaving us no other option other than to start the buzz...about a company with deplorable customer relations, a problem-ridden product, and in search of investors. After all, who would want to buy a cloud computer and have all their information and files "processed and stored on the web in a highly secure environment"--hosted, of course, by this here today/gone tomorrow company?
Like I said, I'm not going to name any names now, but I can assure you that it's only a matter of time until the word starts leaking out about a company claiming to be all about fairness and community offering this cutting-edge eco-wonder of a computer, then leaving its "Angels" high and dry. If this is how they treat and communicate with the people who are essentially their advertisers and sales reps, how are they going to treat customers?
Moral of the story: Social networks are not something to be taken lightly. The social media world is just like the real world--people form real relationships, have real clout with investors and customers, and have bought into the idea of community and open communication. If you're a company thinking about using social media to generate buzz about your product or service, rest assured that it will work. Just make sure you're prepared to follow through and keep up your end of the bargain. I'm not talking jump through hoops and constantly coddle your evangelists; I'm talking about simple courtesy--returning emails, maintaining a presence on your social networks, making it known that you recognize and appreciate their following.
A group of loyal followers can just as easily become a swarm of angry individuals bent on spreading the word about their discontent with your company or product.
Monday, October 27, 2008
We Built it. They Came. Now What?
Facebook for business--you're kidding, right? Everyone knows Facebook is for teenagers sharing drunken or suggestive photos of themselves--what possible use could it possibly have with regard to business? The answer: plenty.
But I work for a non-profit--do these "business solutions" still apply? Definitely.
Not sure if Facebook is a good fit for your business or non-profit? The best way to find out may be to just jump in, set up a page (as opposed to a group) and see where it takes you.
That's just what we did at the association I work for. We created a page--if for no other reason than out of curiosity and with no particular agenda. Within a few days we had 50 fans, then 100, then 500...and so on. As of today, the page has been up for about three and a half weeks and we have 1,191 fans (and counting). I don't think any of us imagined we'd get this kind of response.
I guess this is what you might call a happy accident. We did what you're not supposed to do: start randomly using social media without pre-defined goals and a set strategy. However, there's definitely something to be said for being able to use the figure "over 1,100 fans in three weeks" to convince skeptics that yes, it is time to start solidifying a social media strategy.
Of course I realize that Facebook is one of many social media tools; I'm just using it a an example. And, yes, I know--jumping in without a set strategy=bad. The thing is--with social media, maybe taking more of a ready, fire, aim approach isn't the worst idea in the world.
But I work for a non-profit--do these "business solutions" still apply? Definitely.
Not sure if Facebook is a good fit for your business or non-profit? The best way to find out may be to just jump in, set up a page (as opposed to a group) and see where it takes you.
That's just what we did at the association I work for. We created a page--if for no other reason than out of curiosity and with no particular agenda. Within a few days we had 50 fans, then 100, then 500...and so on. As of today, the page has been up for about three and a half weeks and we have 1,191 fans (and counting). I don't think any of us imagined we'd get this kind of response.
I guess this is what you might call a happy accident. We did what you're not supposed to do: start randomly using social media without pre-defined goals and a set strategy. However, there's definitely something to be said for being able to use the figure "over 1,100 fans in three weeks" to convince skeptics that yes, it is time to start solidifying a social media strategy.
Of course I realize that Facebook is one of many social media tools; I'm just using it a an example. And, yes, I know--jumping in without a set strategy=bad. The thing is--with social media, maybe taking more of a ready, fire, aim approach isn't the worst idea in the world.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Social Media Manager: What's It Worth To Your Association?
Lately there's been a big buzz about a newly-created Manager, Social Media position at the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Judging by the number of people blogging, tweeting or otherwise talking about it, I can only imagine how many resumes are flying into NAR.
Anyone who knows me knows I'm nosy, particularly about people's salaries. What can I say--I like to know how much money people make. And, in particular, I like to know how much money there is to be made in any given job.
Naturally, the only mention of salary in the NAR social media manager position is "competitive salary." My question is: competitive with what? How are associations going to benchmark these newly-created positions? Would they be on par with a communications/pr specialist? Or will associations consider the person managing social media to be part of IT or web? Are they envisioning hiring recent college grads who are, presumably, most familiar with social media concepts and tools, or are they going to want seasoned communications (or marketing or web or membership) professionals who have a passion for social media?
While I don't know the answers to these questions, I do know that there is a fair amount of information out there about what private industry is paying social media or community managers. As of the time I'm writing this post, Salary.com says the median expected salary for a typical Community Relations Manager is $80,218. Connie Bensen, community strategist at Network Solutions, blogged about the results of a survey of community manager salaries. The upshot? The average salary was $81,000 with a median of $72,500.
Many (most?) companies, however, haven't gotten to the point where they're hiring community or social media managers. Good news for social media consultants, who, according to Marshall Kirkpatrick on ReadWriteWeb, command rates starting at $150 an hour and going as high as $2,000-$4,000 per engagement (engagement, he describes, translates to 20-40 hours per month).
How will these numbers translate as associations benchmark their new social media manager/specialist/strategist/coordinator positions? Will the position be on par with a Communications/PR/Public Affairs Specialist: $72,000 (according to ASAE's 2006 salary report)? Or will it be classified as a lower-level position, with a lower salary?
In the long run, of course, only time will tell how important social media becomes to associations and, therefore, how much the people who fill those roles are worth. If it turns out that social media efforts meet or exceed predictions in terms of increased member engagement, retention rates and revenue, then obviously the position will be more highly valued. If it turns out (God forbid!) that the haters were actually right and social media is a mere flash in the pan that will ultimately not yeild any tangible results, the position will either be eliminated entirely or relegated to the lower ranks, staff-wise.
But where does that leave the association that's sitting at the table today, trying to budget for this new position in 2009?
Anyone who knows me knows I'm nosy, particularly about people's salaries. What can I say--I like to know how much money people make. And, in particular, I like to know how much money there is to be made in any given job.
Naturally, the only mention of salary in the NAR social media manager position is "competitive salary." My question is: competitive with what? How are associations going to benchmark these newly-created positions? Would they be on par with a communications/pr specialist? Or will associations consider the person managing social media to be part of IT or web? Are they envisioning hiring recent college grads who are, presumably, most familiar with social media concepts and tools, or are they going to want seasoned communications (or marketing or web or membership) professionals who have a passion for social media?
While I don't know the answers to these questions, I do know that there is a fair amount of information out there about what private industry is paying social media or community managers. As of the time I'm writing this post, Salary.com says the median expected salary for a typical Community Relations Manager is $80,218. Connie Bensen, community strategist at Network Solutions, blogged about the results of a survey of community manager salaries. The upshot? The average salary was $81,000 with a median of $72,500.
Many (most?) companies, however, haven't gotten to the point where they're hiring community or social media managers. Good news for social media consultants, who, according to Marshall Kirkpatrick on ReadWriteWeb, command rates starting at $150 an hour and going as high as $2,000-$4,000 per engagement (engagement, he describes, translates to 20-40 hours per month).
How will these numbers translate as associations benchmark their new social media manager/specialist/strategist/coordinator positions? Will the position be on par with a Communications/PR/Public Affairs Specialist: $72,000 (according to ASAE's 2006 salary report)? Or will it be classified as a lower-level position, with a lower salary?
In the long run, of course, only time will tell how important social media becomes to associations and, therefore, how much the people who fill those roles are worth. If it turns out that social media efforts meet or exceed predictions in terms of increased member engagement, retention rates and revenue, then obviously the position will be more highly valued. If it turns out (God forbid!) that the haters were actually right and social media is a mere flash in the pan that will ultimately not yeild any tangible results, the position will either be eliminated entirely or relegated to the lower ranks, staff-wise.
But where does that leave the association that's sitting at the table today, trying to budget for this new position in 2009?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)