You'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 networking service Twitter."
"Since the Athens chamber is embracing the leading edge of social media, I feel I need to join and be a part of it," Sams said.
A few months ago, I got this note from Jessica Hibbard of the Frederick County MD Chamber of Commerce in response to a post about how social media may not be effective for associations:"Since the Athens chamber is embracing the leading edge of social media, I feel I need to join and be a part of it," Sams said.
Social media is least effective? Hardly. This is a direct quote from an email from a small business that recently renewed their membership in our Chamber:
"Every year when I get my Chamber renewal form, I think long and hard as to whether I want to renew due to the expense. This year I don't have to think twice and am happy to make the investment. The reason is how you and the Chamber has embraced social media which gives some of us members another way to interact with each other and the Chamber itself."
If she emailed, then there are others who have thought the same thing and haven't taken the time to write to us. Even if engaging our members via social media only results in a few additional renewals a year, it's well worth the time and effort.
"Every year when I get my Chamber renewal form, I think long and hard as to whether I want to renew due to the expense. This year I don't have to think twice and am happy to make the investment. The reason is how you and the Chamber has embraced social media which gives some of us members another way to interact with each other and the Chamber itself."
If she emailed, then there are others who have thought the same thing and haven't taken the time to write to us. Even if engaging our members via social media only results in a few additional renewals a year, it's well worth the time and effort.
These are just a few examples of chambers of commerce connecting with new members via Twitter and social media. How about your chamber or business association?
Can you attribute an increase in new member sales or an improvement in retention to your use of social media? I'd love to hear your stories.
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Posted by: Frank Kenny on Friday, September 18, 2009
Curt, Thanks for the mention. We are over 400 members now. We use the Internet social networking we are doing in every sales call and that is one of the key reasons people are joining. And, they are joining from the entire region. The ISN breaks-down geographic barriers. Chambers need to be doing this and soon. If you haven't even started, you are so far behind that it is scary. Frank
Posted by: Jessica Hibbard on Saturday, September 19, 2009
Thanks for mentioning the Frederick Chamber! Since I emailed you about using social media as a retention tool, we've brought on several new members who first discovered us on Twitter. So we're starting to see that social media is useful for recruitment, too!