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 » »
Posted Monday, November 2, 2009 by
Natalie Ciambrone
Today I came across this article that gives a glimpse into the
spending habits of consumers. It’s obvious that discounts motivate
buyers, but did you know it takes less to motivate young
professionals?YP’s said discounts as low as 10% would make them willing to spend. Comparatively, it would take a discount of nearly 30% to get the affluent to “open their wallets”.
So, why should you care? Members join associations and chambers of commerce primarily to grow their business. And allowing...Read More » »
Posted Wednesday, October 7, 2009 by
Curt Moss
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 » »
Posted Wednesday, October 7, 2009 by
Curt Moss
A
few months ago, I wrote about the Pitfalls of Social
Media for chambers of commerce and associations. Since then
I've had some great conversations with staff from chambers and
association about how to avoid these pitfalls and use social media
to strengthen their brands and engage their members.Recently, I found this post by B.L. Ochman about Three Top Ways to Damage Your Brand With Social Media. She makes some good points about ways you could negatively impact your organization with the...Read More » »
Posted Monday, October 5, 2009 by
Curt Moss
Since
WebLink International works exclusively with chambers
of commerce, business associations and membership organizations, I
get to see and use chamber websites every day. And, since I
managed the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce website for eight years,
I remember all the challenges of keeping a chamber website up to
date and relevant.Recently, I was asked what things most chambers of commerce could do to improve their sites. I thought this topic would make a great "top 10" list for the WebLink...Read More » »
Posted Friday, October 2, 2009 by
Natalie Ciambrone
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...
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 » »
Posted Monday, September 14, 2009 by
Natalie Ciambrone
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 » »
Posted Tuesday, September 8, 2009 by
Natalie Ciambrone
I keep hearing that when individuals search for businesses within a
community, the first place they go is to the chamber of commerce
website. But what if that individual doesn’t know what a
chamber of commerce is? While this may seem absurd to
some, I’ll admit my ignorance – before working for WebLink, I did
not know much about chambers of commerce, let alone that
chambers are a trusted business search engine. And
the sad reality is that most of my generation is missing out on the
valuable...Read More » »
Posted Tuesday, September 1, 2009 by
Natalie Ciambrone
Recently I sat in a conference call with the Greater Miami Chamber of
Commerce. As WebLink’s Benji Craig was explaining the
importance of SEO to their chamber, it hit me – this really is
important.
Before I joined the WebLink team, I knew nothing about chambers
of commerce,
convention and visitors bureaus or business associations. It was
almost embarrassing learning about these organizations and
realizing what a great resource I had been missing out on. Whenever
my friends or I would plan a trip...Read More » »
Before I joined the WebLink team, I knew nothing about chambers
of commerce,
convention and visitors bureaus or business associations. It was
almost embarrassing learning about these organizations and
realizing what a great resource I had been missing out on. Whenever
my friends or I would plan a trip...Read More » »
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 » »
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 » »
Posted Friday, July 24, 2009 by
Curt Moss
On
Wednesday, I posted about having a
TweetUp just for chamber of commerce Twitter users during the
ACCE Convention in Raleigh, NC. (If you're going to the
convention, please join us!) Since then, I've had a few
people ask me, "What is a TweetUp?"In chamber of commerce terms, a TweetUp is a mixer. Twitter users get together to "meetup" and network, just like your members would at a "traditional" mixer. Nothing special has to happen at the event to make it a TweetUp....just get together...Read More » »
Posted Monday, July 20, 2009 by
Curt Moss
WebLink
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 » »
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 » »
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 » »
Posted Wednesday, July 15, 2009 by
Curt Moss
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 » »
Posted Monday, July 6, 2009 by
Curt Moss
Chambers
of commerce have long held a physical presence in their
communities. Their offices have been a central meeting point
for business leaders, small business owners and elected officials
to network and discuss local business issues. And, the
chamber office is usually a resource to visitors in town looking
for maps, guides or other local information.But, does the chamber of commerce need a building or physical offices to provide benefits to their members and their community?
The Goleta...Read More » »
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 » »
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 » »
Posted Wednesday, June 3, 2009 by
Curt Moss
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 » »
Posted Wednesday, May 27, 2009 by
Curt Moss
Last
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 » »
Posted Friday, May 8, 2009 by
Curt Moss
A 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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