Membership Dues

Is Your Association Unknowingly Hampering Member Success?

Pam Sefrino, National Sales Manager, WebLink InternationalBy Pam Sefrino, National Sales Manager

We all know that one of the primary reasons that companies join business associations and chambers of commerce is to network, have access to resources and grow their own business.

One very simple (but often overlooked) thing that business associations do unknowingly to hamper members’ opportunities for business growth is unintentionally hide their member directory – which is essentially a business directory – on their web site. More on this in a minute.

Some...Read More » »

Are You “Selling” the Benefits of Membership?

Pam SefrinoBy Pam Sefrino, National Sales Manager

Your members want more. That’s the bottom line. The biggest question they are asking themselves when they actually take a minute during the craziness of their day to consider your association is, “what’s in it for me?” or “how am I really benefitting from this?”

Every day, association professionals face the challenge of not only providing increased value to their members, but figuring out exactly what an individual member finds valuable, providing...Read More » »

Who is competing with your Chamber?

Who is competing with your ChamberWe know that one of the main reasons companies join chambers of commerce is to increase their business.  And the exposure your members gain via your website is the single largest way you can promote them and drive traffic to their business.

The value that members receive from exposure on - and traffic from - your chamber’s website often justifies their membership renewal each year.  And, that value can be used to acquire new members, plus generate non-dues revenue through website advertising.

With...Read More » »

Using technology to promote your members and your community

How can you use technology to promote your members and your community?The Zionsville IN Chamber of Commerce (just northwest of Indianapolis) recently announced a new marketing initiative using technology to promote their community.   However, several of the community's business owners are not exactly enamored with the plan.   Read the full article here.

The Chamber has purchased advertising on electronic billboards at the baggage claim area of Indianapolis International Airport.  While this is a technology used by many companies to reach their target audience, I...Read More » »

What does accountability mean for chambers of commerce?

I read a story today about how the Mesquite NV Chamber of Commerce has worked through a rather tumultuous year.  

In addition to the economy forcing the Chamber’s members to rethink their investment of membership dues, the Chamber lost a grant of $25,000 from the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority (LVCVA) – money that had already been budgeted.  (Note: The Chamber did nothing wrong; the LVCVA stopped grant monies to all chambers of commerce.)  

Read the full article here. 

As with many...Read More » »

The Shift to Online Advertising; Are you keeping up?

Within the past two years, we’ve seen well-established newspapers fold as readership numbers plummet. The culprit? The internet, of course. As this CNN article points out, newspapers are “losing their relevance in the lives of a majority of Americans, particularly younger readers.

And this trend isn’t isolated to just newspapers – it affects chambers of commerce and business associations. Today, the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce (a WebLink International client) announced they will cease...Read More » »

10 Things Chambers of Commerce Can Do To Improve Their Websites (Part 2)

How can your chamber of commerce improve your website?Earlier this week I posted Part 1 of 10 Things Chambers of Commerce Can Do To Improve Their Websites.   Today, I continue with Part 2.

5. Cross promote your social media activities – You’ve probably got a Twitter account, a blog, a Facebook page and a LinkedIn profile.  You might even have a Flickr account or a YouTube channel.  How will your site visitors know about these unless you tell them? Include social media icons on your home page (every page would be better) and link them to your...Read More » »

Young Professionals could use a Mentor, too

Many young professionals give back to their communities by mentoring area children and students, but rarely are they are on the receiving end such a relationship – until recently!

In an effort to get more young professionals involved in their young professionals groups, chambers of commerce are beginning to offer mentoring programs.

The types of programming for such mentoring programs vary, but two of the most popular I’ve come across include:
  • One-on-one programs that pair young professionals...
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Tweet your way to new members

Tweet your way to new membersYou've probably been using social media such as blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter for a while now.  Have you seen your efforts pay off with new members?  Some chambers of commerce have.

Read this article about how the Athens GA Area Chamber of Commerce appealed to a local businessman with their adoption of social media. From the article:

"Athens businessman Alex Sams plans to join the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce because of a tweet - a short message - he read through the online social...
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Is Your Website Too Modest?

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,...Read More » »

Social Media Strategy for Chambers of Commerce

Social media strategy for chambers of commerceOver the past few weeks, I've spent quite a bit of time talking face to face with chamber of commerce executives, both at the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) Convention and the Western Association of Chamber Executives (W.A.C.E.) Academy.  We've talked about improving retention, increasing new members sales, generating non-dues revenue and more. But by far the hottest topic has been social media.

I find it puzzling that so many chambers of commerce are still "holding off" on using...Read More » »

Congratulations to the Chamber winners from ACCE!

WebLink is proud to announce the winners of our big contest conducted at the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) Convention in Raleigh, NC.   Please read on to see if any of your peers were winners.

iPod touch
Dolores Simon – Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce
 
Garmin Nuvi GPS system
Rebecca Trujillo – Albuquerque Economic Development, Inc.

Flip Digital Video Camera
Kelley Schiesl – Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce
Steward Sandstrom – Kalamazoo Regional Chamber of Commerce
Dick Rush – The...
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Segment your members for better relevance in your communications

Last week at the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) Convention in Raleigh, I sat in on Rahaf Harfoush's presentation on how the Obama campaign used social media, websites and email to connect to and engage voters during the 2008 Presedential Election.

She explained several ways that the campaign created online connections to facilitate offline actions by voters.  These included extensive use of technology and social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, a dedicated social...Read More » »

Going to the ACCE Convention? Win great prizes from WebLink!

ACCE Convention, July 29 - August 1 - Raleigh, NCWebLink will be exhibiting at the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) Convention in Raleigh, NC July 30 and 31.  If you’re attending this conference, please stop by the booth (#224) to say hello.   We’ll have at least 8 staff members there:  meMike Bryan, DJ Muller, Misty Stennett, Pam Sefrino, Aaron Cox, Chris Painchaud and Nathan Marquardt.

We’d like to hear about the challenges your chamber of commerce is facing during these uncertain economic times and how you are working to...Read More » »

The Pitfalls of Social Media

What are the pitfalls of using social media?Last week, I did a webinar for the Illinois Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (IACCE) on social media for chambers of commerce.  One of the questions at the end of the webinar was "What are the pitfalls of using social media."   I wanted to share my answer and expand on it here.

There are many benefits of using social media for sure, but there are also some dangers.  As long as you're aware of them, you can work to avoid these pitfalls and use them to your advantage.

Loss of Control
In...Read More » »

For the encore: YouTube

YouTubeA couple of weeks ago, I posted about The Social Media Quartet, the four social media tools used most often by marketers - Twitter, Blogs, LinkedIn and Facebook.  Now that you've mastered the Quartet, are you ready for the encore? ;-)

In that post, I mentioned the Social Media Marketing Industry Report.  After the social media quartet, YouTube was the next most frequently used media. 

At YouTube, several chambers of commerce have created their own "channel" where they can add new videos, share...Read More » »

What is the Future of Chambers of Commerce?

What's the future for chambers of commerce?I came across two posts yesterday that were very similar in nature and I wanted to share them here and get your input.

What Happened to the Original Social Network? by Joe Abraham

Is Your Local Chamber of Commerce Obsolete? by Jack Deal

Read these two posts, then continue below.

I've seen these posts mentioned on other sites and they bother me a little bit, too.  Maybe it's because I worked for a chamber for 8 years and know how hard the staff works to serve the members. I've seen the staff...Read More » »

Web 2.0 Marketing Metrics for Your Chamber

Next week, I'll be doing a webinar for the ACCE titled, "Web 2.0 Marketing Metrics for Your Chamber."  It will be on Tuesday, April 28 at 1:00 PM Eastern time.

I've been doing research on how to monitor and measure your website traffic and your use of social media in the "web 2.0" world.  As you would expect, there is a huge amount of information out there.  This could easily be a 3-4 hour session. 

So, to keep it to one hour I'll be focusing on:
  • New ways of looking at your website traffic
  • Paid...
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How is the recession affecting Chambers of Commerce?

How is the recession affecting chambers of commerceToday, I found this blog post that discusses how chambers of commerce and business associations are being affected by the recession. Rick Cohen, the post's author, cites a number of sources, including the 2009 Economic Impact On Associations Report by McKinley Marketing.

There are certainly many examples of the economy affecting chamber membership numbers and sponsorship revenue. However, with each obstacle there are opportunities. :-)

I thought this was an interesting nugget from the blog...Read More » »

Chambers using technology to create and communicate value

On Monday, the Wall Street Journal published a story about how chambers of commerce are helping small businesses stay abreast of the latest technologies.  The article demonstrates how some chambers of commerce are using technology to engage their members and strengthen their business community.

We're very pleased that two of our clients, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Salem (OR) Chamber of Commerce were highlighted in the article.   A few months ago, we had our PR firm...Read More » »