Happy Friday and Welcome to the Weekly Wrap Up brought to you by the team at YourMembership.com! The weekly wrap-ups are a great resource to find industry provoking articles, blog posts, upcoming events, fun facts, and provide up-to-date news and tips found throughout the association and workforce space each week. Please feel free to leave a comment, ask a question or just enjoy the week’s top ten picks!
Top Ten Picks of the Week:
1) Great Employees are Not Replaceable by Amy Rees Anderson
One of the most important lessons I learned during my years as a CEO was that great employees are not replaceable. It isn’t the technology or the product that make a company great, it’s the people. And companies who see their good employees as “replaceable” are wrong. Good employees are not replaceable. Let me clarify what I mean by “replaceable.”
2) Are You Using Your Headlines Effectively to Guide Your Future Meetings? by Jeff Hurt
When you drive on a road at night, you depend upon your headlights to help you see.
Without those headlights, you would depend upon the light of the moon or street lights to guide you. Frequently, neither of those is available and without headlights you would crash.
With low beams, you can see a little ahead of you and move forward without having an accident. As you increase the speed of your car, you need to see further ahead to anticipate any obstacles, curves and changes. That’s when you start using your high beams.
High beams illuminate the road by a few seconds. But those few seconds make a huge difference.
3) Diversifying Your Association’s Membership: Know the Answers Before you Begin by Megan Rockett
These days, many associations are looking to diversify their membership in order to survive. Diversification into additional markets outside your association’s original industry may provide some advantages—increased revenue from membership dues, additional outreach into other communities, increased sponsorship or exhibitor revenue opportunities—but also bring about the “cons.”
Before taking the leap into a more diversified membership, association executives need to take a step back and think strategically before proceeding. Are your current staffing levels able to handle the potential influx of new members? Will you be able to target offerings and member benefits to those outside your niche industry?
4) Understanding and Using Member Value to Drive Engagement by Andrea Pellegrino
When it comes to engagement, members are in the driver’s seat. The fact is, members have always engaged with an association on their own terms, based on how the members define value, not how the association thinks they should.
Until recently, associations have been able to ignore this fact, and still succeed. Associations work hard to craft value propositions and engagement strategies based on the (erroneous) idea that “engagement” equals “service to the association,” and “value” is defined by the association and then given to the member.
5) For Association Members, How Fast is Fast Enough? by Steve Drake
The title of Andrew Hill’s book Be Quick but Don’t Hurry represents one of the axiom’s of legendary coach John Wooden.
Wooden’s message applies to today’s associations … essentially, if you aren’t quick (fast) in today’s world, you’re done. If you hurry, things are poorly done or not done at all.
So, when it comes to your association’s members, how fast is fast enough?
I thought about this last week after learning my business credit card was compromised.
6) Rethinking Membership as a Global Engagement Model by Peter Turner
No longer can associations continue with their traditional “one size fits all” approach to membership
For decades now, associations have maintained a very traditional approach towards “membership” and membership dues. However, the time has come for organizations to catch up with the realities of today’s consumer habits and reconsider how and why people around the world engage with organizations. Segmentation, customization and differentiation are key.
7) You Change – Should Your Blog Change With You? by Maggie McGary
Last week I read Danny Brown’s post “1,000 Blog Posts Later–An Introspective” and it resonated with me on several levels–particularly the part about being fluid, and the part about it being ok to be wrong. When I started blogging about eight years ago, it was back when blogging was just a fun thing I liked to do and I did it with no self-consciousness at all because nobody read it. I wrote about whatever I felt like, only when I felt like it; I cussed and wrote about personal stuff and just had fun. I didn’t worry about offending anyone, or what potential employers would think about me if they read it, or really anything at all–I just wrote because I enjoyed writing.
8 ) Open, Generous and Connected by Seth Goden
Open, generous and connected
Isn’t that what we seek from a co-worker, boss, friend or even a fellow conference attendee?
Open to new ideas, leaning forward, exploring the edges, impatient with the status quo… In a hurry to make something worth making.
Generous when given the opportunity (or restless to find the opportunity when not). Focused on giving people dignity, respect and the chance to speak up. Aware that the single most effective way to move forward is to help others move forward as well.
and connected. Part of the community, not apart from it. Hooked into the realities and dreams of the tribe. Able and interested in not only cheering people on, but shining a light on how they can accomplish their goals.
9) 6 Tricks to Maximize the Impact of Your Tweets by Ally Greer
Did you know that there’s a place where many of your customers live and actually want to talk to and hear from you in real time? It’s a magical land, it’s real, and it’s called Twitter.
Twitter is one of the most efficient tools out there to connect with your audience, to share engaging information and content, and even to provide personal customer service. If you do it right, it’s a gold mine; if you don’t, it could result in disaster.
10) Social Media Marketing – Is Your Audience Where You Think It Is? by Sarah Arrow
Social media is becoming increasingly ingrained in our everyday lives. Social media tools and platforms have created changes in marketing and the way businesses interact with their customers. It’s never been easier to research and locate your ideal customers online, so there really is no excuse for not marketing correctly to your ideal customers.
That’s it for this week’s weekly wrap-up! Have a great weekend everyone! – Holly
