Forum - September 2008

Statehouse and almost 400 members forwarded the information to a colleague.

Conferences and Events

When an association is hosting a conference or event, the first thing to do is publicize it to the member community on social networks. But there is still more you can do after the event. Make some conference materials available to all, not just attendees. Create a YouTube channel so you can share video from the event. Encourage members to upload their photos to Flickr and tag them with the name of your event. Post Power-Point presentations and audio to Slideshare.net.

If your association has a blog, get someone to live blog from the event so people can follow from their office or from home the next day. Go a step further and invite bloggers so they can live blog on their site and you can reach a wider audience.

Five Top Tips

1. Create a working group: Reaching out online won’t happen on its own. First, hold a Web 2.0 leadership seminar to get your leadership on the same page, using the same language. Then find the people most enthusiastic about social media and bring them together to form an internal working group. Reaching out online affects the whole organization, so make sure all departments are represented.

2. Monitor your issues online: Being online requires a lot of participation. Go deep and find out where your members

are active online. Map the community and be reactive when people are talking about you or your issues. Be relevant by participating in the conversations that already exist.

3. Define ‘success’ for your organization: Success won’t be the same for every association. Think backward and define what your goals are and what you want your members to be doing online. Do you want to recruit 100 new members? Do you want to raise your retention rate? Do you want to establish a pool of resources online?

4. Old metrics don’t tell the story: Part of defining success is defining how you’ll measure success. Beyond numbers, look at the level of engagement and gauge how much you’re connecting with your constituents.

5. Get Started! You can start by dipping your toe in the water, but it should be sooner rather than later. Experiment and see what’s working most for your organization.

Michael Hoffman is CEO of See 3 Communications, a Chicago-based company that creates online video and Internet marketing initiatives for nonprofit organization. He may be reached at michael@see3.net or through www.see3.net.