The YourMembership.com Blog

Advice for Implementing Social Media from Star Wars

February 14th, 2012 | Posted in Social Media and Business Trends

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 »

Online Communities: A Popular Misconception

February 1st, 2012 | Posted in Membership Management
A community needs care and maintenance just as surely as a car does

The most popular misconception people have about creating a private online community is the work and upkeep behind it. You simply can’t dump content and run. Implementing a private online community with a robust feature set doesn’t mean your entire member base will flock to it immediately. (Even though it was free and there was no commitment involved, I turned down three Facebook requests to join when it first came out because I didn’t understand the value, at the time, in that sort of connecting.) It takes content, fun features and care/maintenance of someone in a community manager role.

Even the most well-constructed car’s color will fade, exterior will rust and its mechanics will cease to work when left unattended for years. Care and maintenance is required. You have to drive it (or at least start it) on occasion.

Content is important to your community but so are connections. Give your members a place to connect and something to do there. Something they want to do, not something you think they should be doing. If you are not thinking about what your members want and how they want it, your community will fail.

Membership Management Software + Social Networking

December 6th, 2011 | Posted in Social Media and Business Trends

What’s the point of social networking for member-centric organizations? Isn’t it all just fluff and a waste of time?

In this social membership podcast David Sieg, vice president of strategic marketing for YourMembership.com, explains why having an integrated solution is essential to the success of your member organization and what role public online communities like Facebook play in your marketing strategy.

Download mp3 | Social Membership

Put Your Reader To Work

November 29th, 2011 | Posted in Social Media and Business Trends
blog reader

When You Need a Light Bulb Don't Head for the Matches

I spend a lot time reading. With social media there’s never a shortage of content. I’ll read one article or post and look around at the suggested posts or click on the links and in the amount of time it took for Alice to fall down the rabbit hole, I’m lost (in a good way) in a world of learning. When time does not allow me this kind of serendipitous discovery, I lean on my trusted sites in my Google reader.

With so many good sites out there, reader organization is key. Most reader services allow you to create folders. I used to name my folders by broad topics such as Social Media, Association People and Foodies. But it only confused my streams with 20+ blogs in each folder. It became overwhelming when I opened a folder for a “quick” overview of what was going on in a particular area or industry. Read the rest of this entry »

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