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Throw Me Some Beads Mr.! Lessons from Mardi Gras

February 21st, 2012 | Posted in Membership Software, Social Media

Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras has traditionally been a huge celebration before getting down to the sacrificing and fasting season of Lent. But even if you don’t celebrate and/or observe either tradition, there is something to be said for getting the crazies out of your system right before rolling up your sleeves and getting to business. Mardi Gras isn’t just about debauchery. Member-based organizations can apply some of the same drivers that keep people coming back year after year.

1. Celebrate the difference. When it comes to your members, let them be who they are. Yes, for risk’s sake you probably can’t advocate paint-only clad revelers at your next conference taking to the streets in celebration in honor of your group but if that’s appealing to your members, you may want to consider the possibilities. Read the rest of this entry »

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Reach Out – Friday Fix

February 17th, 2012 | Posted in Friday Fix, Membership Software, Social Media, Social Networking Software

Access your member database. Do a search on someone who has not attended an event in a while. If you have a touch-log system, find someone who has not been in touch with you or interacted with your organization over the past six months. Take a look at his/her social networking profile(s). Check for a blog. Reach out to them by commenting on something that they have done recently or tweet a blog post of theirs that you’ve enjoyed. Or if you’re feeling really zany – call the member. Think back to when this person was an active member of your organization. What did he/she do? What groups did he or she belong to? Tell him or her that the work he/she did is missed and ask why you haven’t seen him/her recently. Be direct and listen. Do not use guilt. Use compassion. Remind the member (through your attention) of why he/she originally joined the group.

Repeat this action whenever you can.

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Finished or Perfect: which do you prefer?

February 16th, 2012 | Posted in Membership Software, Social Media, Technology

A writer friend of mine tweeted “I’ll take finished over perfect any day.” I hovered over “retweet” as I weighed the message. What does that say about me if I retweet it? Does it say I’m lazy or efficient? From a writing standpoint – there’s no point in editing something down to perfection if it’s not complete, better to finish and have a product to work with than battle over the choice of “an” or “the” in the first sentence.

From a membership management software standpoint, will you ever find perfection? Will you ever find the product that fits your business processes to a tee, no alterations required? You might, if you build it yourself around your own processes and absorb all of that expense and time within your organization. Even if you hire an outside group to customize it for you, there will be endless meetings, planning sessions and project management required. And what is the cost of the downtime to your organization; the time that you could’ve had your software in place, a new website, a community for private use? If you complete the project six months or a year from now, did you lose anything in that time? Potential members? Conversations? Cost-savings and time-savings behind having to manually run your events or dues processing? Read the rest of this entry »

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Advice for Implementing Social Media from Star Wars

February 14th, 2012 | Posted in Corporate Social Networking, Membership Software, Social Media, Social Networking Software

This weekend I took the boys to see Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace. I’ve seen it many times but for the boys, this was the first time they watched it on the big screen. Because I had seen it before, I wasn’t “submerged” in the plot like they were. My mind began to wander to blog posts. I wondered what Yoda and the crew would suggest for those of us trying to implement social in our organizations. They had lots of sage advice for member-based organizations embracing social and a more human side of business:

1. “This turn of events is unfortunate. We must accelerate our plans.” Change for change’s sake is rarely the right move. If you’ve tried and failed, moving more quickly to plan B is not a solution. Take some time to review why the failure occurred and what you can learn from it. Read the rest of this entry »

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Turning a Good-bye into a Good Buy: Friday Fix

February 10th, 2012 | Posted in Friday Fix

I “borrowed” this idea from Jay Baer of Convince & Convert from a talk he gave at SocialFresh East 2012 this past week.

When someone wants to unsubscribe from your mailing list (or for member-based organizations - doesn’t renew their membership), do not allow them to say good-bye without offering a different way to stay connected. They are already leaving. You have nothing to lose. They may no longer be interested in your group emails but may want to stay connected through Twitter, for instance.

Don’t make communicating with them an all or nothing. Give them the option to connect in a way they will find more satisfying. The worst they can say is “no” and they are already doing that.

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