Forum - April 2011

WEBSITE ENHANCEMENT AND INTEGRATION

Are You Part of the
Conversation?

Listen… your members are speaking. And blogging, editing, farming, following, friending, liking, linking, posting, sharing, statusing, tagging, texting, tracking, tweeting, updating, uploading, and wikiing. Are you part of the conversation?

If your answer is “no,” then download some ideas about how to get there from http://bit.ly/AMCsocial. If your answer is “yes,” then consider this follow-up question: How do you engage your members with social media? Share your answers and ideas at Association Management Center’s Facebook Fan Page www.facebook.com/connect2amc.

Here’s a look at what AMC is doing with its members:

1. We campaign differently. In the past, marketing campaigns were built around questions we asked ourselves. For example, we’d ask: “If someone went to two annual conferences and isn’t a member, how can we get them to join?” In today’s campaigns we also ask our members to be involved, such as: “Thanks for registering for the annual conference. Will you tell your colleagues?” Icons encourage a tweet, share or post.

2. We re-purpose, re-package and
re-tell. When staff touches good
content, they ask, “Can this be
shared?” With creativity and editing,
most information is quickly ready for
social media distribution. We dis-
tribute general content to wide audi-
ences, and we tailor specific content
to select demographics from our
customer database.

Contact: RONALD M. MOEN Director, Technology and Outsourced Services Association Management Center rmoen@connect2amc.com

Get Mobile

While 2010 was the year of social media, 2011 is all about mobile. In a recent report, eMarketer Inc. predicted by 2013 there will be 126 million smartphone users in the United States, which is up 147 percent from 2008.

Given this, it’s difficult for associations to ignore the importance of a mobile presence. Below are steps to take when planning to enter the world of mobile:

1. Survey. Use surveys and communicate with members to determine the types of devices and operating systems being used. This information may help you learn which mobile devices, if any, your members embrace most. This information is invaluable when you begin strategizing a mobile identity.

2. Strategize. After gathering data from
your members, create a staff com-
mittee to determine if your associa-
tion would benefit from creating a
mobile application, a mobile website,
or both. Here are some distinctions
between the two:
• Mobile applications are down-
loaded and installed onto phones.
Apps tend to have a concrete pur-
pose such as granting users access
to news articles or event/confer-
ence information. It’s important
to understand that apps need to
be developed differently for each
mobile platform.

• A mobile website is an extension of your regular website and requires no extra download or installation by users. The key when developing a mobile website is to keep it simple. It’s best to highlight the most important sections and to keep the navigation to around five sections.

3. Execute. Once you have a better understanding of what your association would most benefit from, allow for a three-to-six-month timeline for development. If outsourcing the project, make sure you select a developer that has experience building mobile solutions. After launching, continue to reevaluate and make improvements.