While perusing the U.S. News and World Report’s website today I came across a few lists of “Bests” -- America’s Best Places to Find a Job, 10 Best Places to Grow Up, etc. And yet, when I went to some of those city’s websites, there was no mention of these honors -- a missed opportunity for the chambers of commerce, the visitor’s convention bureaus and any other city website really.

Maybe my college liked to brag too much, but whenever something like this was announced and we were on the list, it became a top story on the homepage. Does your chamber of commerce or business association ever put links to third party reports on your website, or does your news section only contain content written by chamber/association staff? If it’s the latter, there are still ways for you to promote the great news from other sources yourself – by writing a press release, writing a response to the report, etc. Finding ways to boast about your organization on your website is a great way to capture potential new residents and potential new chamber members or association members.

You might be wondering what I mean by potential residents. Well, when I was looking for a job right out of college, my biggest concern was location. I figured that after I found a city I wanted to be in, the job search would follow suit.  (A sort of ‘If you build it, he will come’ mentality :) ) And I’m not alone. My experience with a lot of my friends has been that young professionals want to live in certain cities -- not we want to move to a place because of a job (although sometimes that is what ends up happening).

Picture this. A college student/recent graduate has found your website thanks to your high SEO when he or she types your area into an internet search. This person sees the pictures of your area on your homepage and likes it so far. Then, on the homepage there is a blurb that says “One of America’s Best Places to Find a Job!” You better believe that young professional is more likely to consider relocating to your city with that kind of news! (BTW - Is Your Website Attracting Young Professionals?) 

But, even if that person ends up somewhere else, they become a prospect for local tourism. Sometimes things don’t work in our favor to allow us to live in the cities we want, but that’s what vacations are for, right?

So don’t hold back. Make sure visitors to your website know not only the value of your chamber of commerce or business association, but also the value of your community!

A while back I posted about Five ways your chamber can use Twitter. With the recent increase in chambers of commerce using Twitter, I've seen some great examples of how chambers can use Twitter.  I thought I'd share some of them with you.

Promote your members

Several chambers of commerce use Twitter to announce when local businesses join.  Below is an example from the Stillwater OK Chamber. In this example, they are also providing the member's address and a link to their website.   You might also consider linking to a Google Map of their location or to that member's listing on your own website.  (You can use URL shortening services to fit within the 140 character limit)


Another way to promote your members is to announce when they receive local press coverage or awards.  The Clovis CA Chamber recently posted the item below to congratulate a member on being featured in a local publication, with a link to the article. 

Connect your local businesses on Twitter
By using some of the tools I mentioned in this post, you can quickly find people and businesses in your area that are using Twitter.  Once you've found them, why not let your followers know, too?  The Asheville NC Chamber shared two local businesses and asked for others as well.  This can be a great way to develop your community of Twitter followers.



Promote Ribbon Cuttings
Holding ribbon cuttings is still a big part of business for many communities.  If your chamber does them, why not use Twitter to promote them?  The Greenville SC Chamber does this.  One thing I might recommend is to include a Google Map link to the location of the ribbon cutting.


Note:  Try to use your chamber's name when ever possible.  Using "Stillwater Chamber" or "Asheville Chamber" will help your tweets be found in search.   You do use Twitter Search, don't you?  As you might imagine, a search for "chamber" returns many more results than one for "Greenville Chamber." (Including some for chamber orchestras, gun chambers, etc.)

And Twitter is tweaking the SEO value of their pages, so using your name may help your chamber be found in more Google searches.  Note that the Clovis Chamber used their Twitter name in the post above, "@ClovisChamber," which is another way of including your organization's name in the tweet.

How are you using Twitter to promote your members and your community?  Please share your ideas in the comments below and include links to your tweets if you can.

Our clients and prospects continue to ask about blogging.  Should we blog? How do we blog? What would we blog about?  How will it benefit us and our members?    I’ll get into more detail below, but first let me say “YES,” chambers should blog. 

1.    Communication that engages your members.   Just a few years ago, we were saying “every chamber needs a website.”  Now it’s “every chamber needs blog.”   Your current members are becoming more tech savvy every day.  And, the young professionals you hope to attract as members are already using new methods of communicating.  To stay relevant to your audience and to expand your influence moving forward, you need to engage them with media in which they can also participate.  Instead of “talking at them,” make them a part of the conversation with blogs and other social media.  Yes, that does mean you lose a bit of control, but in the long run you have more meaningful conversations and engage your audience. 

2.    Positioning you as an expert.   You shouldn’t just be following the business trends; you should be helping to create them.  By blogging about relevant business issues, you can strengthen your position as an expert and the voice of business for your community.  By “breaking” news on your blog or by providing frequent updates, your chamber can be viewed as an insider, a news generator and an organization that has influence.  Businesses will recognize that your chamber is an organization they should be aligned with (and hopefully a member of) if they want to stay connected to local business community.

3.     More immediate delivery.  Blogs make it very easy for you to publish content in an instant.  Your print and even email newsletters have such a lead time that information may be outdated before it reaches your members.   You can blog from the city council meeting, state legislature, your own events or anywhere to create a sense of urgency to your communications.   Your blog can become the portal to your chamber, make your chamber easier to find and provide a reason to visit your site more often. (Or even subscribe to your feed).   

4.    Your members are blogging, you should too.   Many of your members already have blogs for their businesses or they are commenting on other business blogs in your community.   You need to join the conversation and tell your story!  And, you can become a good case study for your small business members who aren’t yet blogging. It can be a powerful demonstration when you’ve actually used the tools you suggest to your members.

5.    Focus on member benefits.  Yes, all of your communications should do this, but blogging keeps your chamber focused on what is important to your members (and prospects). It forces you talk to their benefit instead of talking about your chamber.  Blogs allow you to easily create lots of content, giving you many chances to demonstrate the benefits of your organization.  Talk about your government affairs efforts, specific benefit programs, events, economic development items, etc., but always demonstrate how these items can benefit (or protect) your members.  Weave in posts about exclusive benefits, too, so that non-members learn why they should join your chamber.

Several of our clients are blogging with good results, including the Boston Chamber of Commerce,  Eugene Chamber of Commerce and the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, who I’ve mentioned before.

Check out these chamber blogs and see how they are using blogging technology to engage their members, help to improve retention and even generate new member sales.  I’ll have more posts soon about specific blog post topics for chamber, too.