Tweet your way to new members
Posted Thursday, September 17, 2009 by Curt Moss
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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A funny thing happened on the way to improving retention
Posted Thursday, September 17, 2009 by Curt Moss
Retention. It's a key indicator for most chambers of commerce and business associations.  The factors that drive retention also drive just about everything else about the financial health and growth of your member-based organization.  Revenue. Sponsorships.  Event attendance. New member sales. 

Higher retention means more satisfied members, more connected members and more word of mouth advertising for your organization.  

And more fans.

Fans.  Not just Facebook fans, but someone who actually...Read More » »
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Social Media Strategy for Chambers of Commerce
Posted Friday, August 28, 2009 by Curt Moss
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 » »
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Segment your members for better relevance in your communications
Posted Thursday, August 6, 2009 by Curt Moss
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 » »
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An example of Chamber Twitter-worthiness
Posted Tuesday, July 28, 2009 by Curt Moss
Recently, I posted about chambers of commerce being "Twitter-worthy." Since then, I've had some good discussions with chambers of commerce on how they are working to be remarkable for their members. 

In some cases, chambers are leading the way in their community by being on Twitter and other social media and showing their members how to use it.  In others, the chamber is just learning how to use social media to connect to and engage their members to improve member satisfaction, increase...Read More » »
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Going to the ACCE Convention? Win great prizes from WebLink!
Posted Monday, July 20, 2009 by Curt Moss
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:  me, Mike 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 » »
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Is your chamber or association "Twitter-worthy"?
Posted Thursday, July 16, 2009 by Curt Moss
Chambers of commerce, assocations and member-based organizations use a variety of tools to determine their members' satisifaction with their organization's services and benefits. Member surveys, Net Promoter Score, retention rate, event attendance, referrals, new member sales and many other tools are often used.

How about a new measure of your members' engagement with your organization?...

Is your organization "Twitter-worthy"?

Whole Foods recently launched a billboard campaign promoting how their...Read More » »
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Want to be more social? Add a comment to a blog post.
Posted Wednesday, July 15, 2009 by Curt Moss
Want to be more social? Add a comment to a blog post!If you're wondering how you can start using social media more, here's an easy one - add a comment to a blog post!

I spend about an hour a day reading various blog posts from chambers of commerce, business associations, marketing organizations and social media experts.  I'm amazed at the time, energy and passion that writers put into their posts.  And their insight and ideas help me be a better communicator.  But, I don't tell them often enough.

And, of course, I try to compile and create useful...Read More » »
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Webinar - Top 5 Reasons to Use Member Segmentation to Drive Your Marketing Strategy
Posted Monday, June 8, 2009 by Curt Moss
WebLink International will host a webinar on July 22 titled "Top 5 Reasons to Use Member Segmentation to Drive Your Marketing Strategy."  Cathi Hight of Hight Performance Group and Mike Bryan, WebLink's vice president of marketing will demonstrate ways you can use technology to learn more about your members.

This webinar will show you ways to use your membership management software plus your website and survey data to analyze and define your ideal target market for members. You'll learn how...Read More » »
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The Pitfalls of Social Media
Posted Wednesday, June 3, 2009 by Curt Moss
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 » »
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What businesses receive the most value by joining their local Chamber of Commerce?
Posted Wednesday, May 27, 2009 by Curt Moss
Solving the value puzzleLast night, I participated in a Small Business Buzz Twitter Chat (Hashtag #sbbuzz) with staff from chambers of commerce and small businesses around the country.  The discussions centered on how chambers of commerce and small business can use social media to benefit their community and each other and how members can gain benefits from being members of their local chambers.

The question of “What businesses will receive the most value by joining their local Chamber?” sparked some very...Read More » »
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For the encore: YouTube
Posted Friday, May 8, 2009 by Curt Moss
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 » »
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How is the recession affecting Chambers of Commerce?
Posted Wednesday, April 15, 2009 by Curt Moss
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 » »
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Twitter tips for Chambers
Posted Wednesday, March 11, 2009 by Curt Moss
Twitter tips for chambersI've found a bunch of good Twitter posts recently and wanted to tie them into one post. 

First, "How to Twitter like a Pro."   There are some great tips here on how to get your feet wet in Twitter.
  • Use a Twitter client - This is a piece of software that you download and install on your computer.  When you set it up with your Twitter account, it will connect to Twitter's API, instead of you needing to go to Twitter's website to see/post tweets.  Some popular apps are Tweetdeck (allows you to...
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Chambers using technology to create and communicate value
Posted Wednesday, February 25, 2009 by Curt Moss
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 » »
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Learning from the businesses that DON’T join your chamber
Posted Monday, February 9, 2009 by Curt Moss
If your chamber is like most, you go through a certain process to sell memberships to local businesses.  At some point in this process, the business will decide to join or not to join.   If the business joins, you can be well on your way towards gaining member intelligence for your chamber.     But what if they don’t join?  What can you learn from these businesses?  Plenty!

Let’s start with this, “Why not?”  Ask them why they didn’t join.  AND, record that information in your database!  You’ll...Read More » »
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Measure Your Members’ Engagement by Tracking Emails
Posted Tuesday, December 23, 2008 by Curt Moss

Note: this is part one of a two- part post.

Tracking emailWhy track email?  You’ve already got enough to do running your chamber.  Why would you want to spend additional time and resources worrying about who’s reading your email? 

Let’s first consider some other methods of one-way communication.  When using direct mail, print advertising, television or radio to promote your programs and events, you have no real way of knowing how many of your target audience actually received the message.  You may get a...

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Retain more members by competing with yourself
Posted Thursday, December 18, 2008 by Curt Moss

Retain more members by competing with yourself“What,” you say? “We’re already understaffed and we can’t add any more programs that compete for our members’ attention!”   Hold on a second and read. ;)

In his book, Purple Cow, Seth Godin discusses transforming your business by being remarkable. One of his questions was, “If you had to create a product or service to compete with yours, how would you do it?”

We know that chambers of commerce are facing competition from industry associations, networking groups, online communities and sometimes...

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Five ways your chamber can use Twitter
Posted Tuesday, December 16, 2008 by Curt Moss

Some chambers of commerce are already using Twitter as a way to extend their conversations with members and prospects using social media.  Twitter is sort of a cross between instant messaging and micro-blogging and it is becoming very popular.   Watch “Twitter in Plain English” for more info. 

First, set up a Twitter account for your chamber and upload an image for your photo.  Complete your profile with a link back to your site or your blog.   Now you’re ready to:

1.     Start “listening” – Use search.tw...

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Is your chamber “listening” to the internet?
Posted Thursday, December 11, 2008 by Curt Moss

Are you listening to the internet?This post will briefly explain how chambers of commerce and business associations (anyone, really) can “listen” to what’s being said about them on the web. 

The first service is Google Alerts.  Google will monitor the web, news sites, etc., for your keyword(s) and send you email alerts when those keywords are matched with a link to the original page.  You can choose to search blogs, web pages, news, video, groups or comprehensive and you can choose to have the emails sent as it happens, once a day...

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