Social Media For Member Organizations – Chamber Week 2012

Paul and I went to the W.A.C.E. (Western Academy of Chamber Executives) recently and came back with some really great information. These conferences are important because they expose you to a wide range of best practices in the industry. The key is to take manageable, actionable items and integrate them into your core deliverables.
Breakout sessions could be roughly categorized into “Economic Development“, “Member Retention“, “New Members“, and “Social Media” and we definitely came away with some key takeways in each of these areas. In the coming weeks we will be implementing some of these into our own strategies so stay tuned.

One of the break-out sessions I attended was called Networking in the Age of Social Media: Defying the Myth that Social Media is Detracting From Personal Networking and Relationship Building. Speakers Lisa Farquharson, (Pendleton (OR) Chamber and Jennifer Wells, Camarillo (CA) Chamber both have a robust Facebook social media presence. So what is the key to their success? This is what I learned.

They have both figured out what platform really works for them and they focus their communication efforts in that area.

They are both extremely active in that space and use their personal warmth and voice to communicate to members and their community.

Top of mind always is  ” How can I communicate this out to our members?”

General rule of thumb for posting:

• Develop a plan
• Share your stories
• Build Relationships –  Build Community
• Inform and Educate

How does this translate into action?

• “Like” member pages
• Welcome new members
• Support business with “shout outs”
• “Check” into businesses (Facebook, Foursquare, Yelp if you’re using those social media tools)
• Comment on member posts
• Share event invites
• Share important news
• Focus on members

So what platforms work for you and what strategies do you use to build community and drive value for your members? I would love to hear from you!