We’ve shared with you five social media resolutions for this year, and now here are three follow-up questions every association executive should consider, whether your association is new to social media or you’re a Web 2.0 veteran:

1. How will you incorporate social media into association events?
Events provide associations a perfect opportunity to leverage the power and excitement of social media. There are so many ways an association can engage its members before, during and after an event with social media tools.

We recently received an award for the event work we did for our client the National Federation of Independent Business on their 2008 National Small Business Summit website. We used tools like Flickr, YouTube and Twitter to engage the Summit attendees and non-attendees through the creation of a dynamic site. We took unique advantage of social media and also provided a central place for all event-related content.

2. How will you measure the effectiveness of the association’s social media marketing efforts?
It’s great your association is experimenting with social media, but how will you know if your efforts are successful or what tweaks you need to make? Are members participating? Are there certain member groups that are more receptive to social media than others? Are you providing incentives? Are you connecting with potential member groups?

Just like your other marketing and communication campaign, an association’s social media efforts must be measureable. If you haven’t already established metrics, set some now. If you need help, contact us.

3. Should you partner with an outside media company to help meet your association’s social media goals for the year?

The economic environment we are in presents many associations with numerous challenges. Some of you are struggling with limited internal resources, tight budgets and employees without social media expertise. Meanwhile, your association has lofty communication and social media goals for the year. To solve these problems, many businesses and other associations are looking to partners like Hammock who can help you meet your goals for 2009.

Why outsourcing makes sense in today’s economy.

Reaching, connecting and communicating with your target audience in today’s environment is harder than ever. You’re probably facing lots of challenges — limited internal resources, a small staff, a lack of social media expertise and management, a reduced budget — but at the same time lots of expectations from within your association.

The Angerosa Research Foundation recently released its “Web 2.0: How Associations are Tapping Social Media” report, a follow-up to their “E-Publishing Trends and Metrics” study from 2007. The report focuses on how associations are increasingly using social media and Web 2.0 tools and technologies to meet their association goals. Here are 10 highlights from the report:

While many associations are beginning to see the value of how social networks and social media can help them, many still have reservations about Twitter. They might feel comfortable with writing for a blog or posting videos to YouTube, but they continue to question the purpose of a tweet. If associations will take a cue from the business world, they can harness the power of Twitter to meet some of their member communication goals.

Research from the 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study shows that almost 60 percent of Americans interact with companies on social media sites. The survey findings also revealed:

• 93 percent believe a company should have a presence in social media.
• 56 percent feel a stronger connection with and better served by companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment.
• 43 percent should use social media to solve problems.
• 41 percent want companies to solicit feedback on products and services.
• 37 feel companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand.

It’s clear that the majority of Americans have an expectation and a desire to interact with companies through social media online, which helps explain why Twitter is one of the fastest growing social networking sites on the web. In only the last year its traffic has skyrocketed from 533,000 to 2.4 million visitors. To respond to this demand for communication from their customers, Ann Smarty, in her Search Engine Journal Blog, shares examples of how high-profile businesses are using Twitter:

1. To provide deals and coupon codes (Dell and Starbucks)
2. To offer another customer support option for customers (JetBlue, Comcast, The Home Depot)
3. To solicit customer input and develop a closer relationship (Southwest Airlines, Whole Foods, HRBlock and Best Buy)
4. To respond to customer feedback (Popeye’s)
5. To post company news (Ford and Samsung)
6. To promote a blog (Kodak)

Earlier this year at Hammock, Twitter played a pivotal role in an event website we created for the National Federation of Independent Business for its National Small Business Summit. The social media site included video postings, photo sharing, blogging and knowledge-sharing powered by Twitter. Using Twitter allowed organizers and attendees to post the latest updates and news from the event.

Wonder how you can use the power of Twitter to create a new avenue for communication with your members? Contact us for social media strategies you can benefit from today.

Hammock creates innovative multimedia
post-event supplement with video

Every two years the National Federation of Independent Business holds its National Small Business Summit in Washington, D.C. The event brings together America’s most politically active entrepreneurs as well as key congressional and business leaders.

In 2008, NFIB turned to Hammock to help solve two of their post-Summit needs: 1) Provide members who did not attend the Summit highlights of the event beyond the traditional few pages of coverage in MyBusiness, NFIB’s member magazine, and 2.) Generate additional advertising revenue. To meet these goals, Hammock worked with NFIB to create and distribute a special, multimedia, digital edition supplement of MyBusiness covering the highlights of the Small Business Summit.

Whole Foods’ new website is a great example of how a company can take the passion its customers have for its products and services and create an online destination for this community to live, grow and thrive. The site connects Whole Foods fans from across the country, demonstrating that the company understands the power of community for their brand. Here are four tips that an association can learn from Whole Foods about how to create and manage a successful community online:

1. Create an organizational blog—and learn from the comments it generates.
   Whole Foods employees announce new products and company news, offer tips and send topical alerts through text, video and podcasts on the Whole Story blog. The blog accepts comments from customers, giving them an opportunity to share their opinions and respond to Whole Foods employees.

If your association doesn’t yet have a blog, start one now. You can set up an executive director-only blog, or you can create an organization-wide blog that allows different employees to contribute posts. Although it might be intimidating at first to accept comments, this function will create more transparency for your blog and will encourage member participation.

2. Foster interaction through compelling content.
   The Whole Foods site is packed with opportunities for visitors to share and learn from one another. Customers can rank and search for recipes, watch cooking demonstrations, listen to podcasts or chat on a forum. Whatever it is that makes customers passionate about Whole Foods, the site sets up an easy way for an individual to tap into that passion.

One of the first steps to building such a dynamic community online is for your association to have quality content on your site. The content needs to provide information and resources that offers a real value to your members, and it needs to be updated often. We also recommend using different media, including video, photos and podcasts, to share your content. By offering a range of forms, you tell your story more effectively and appeal to different audiences.

3. Be national and local.
   The Whole Foods site not only hosts a national site to connect customers across the country, but it also successfully taps into the unique local community. Each store has its own site with information about special events and ways customers can get involved.

If your association has state or regional chapters of groups, consider creating a section of your site for each of these communities. Following this strategy will allow local groups of members to gather and grow.

4. Be socially active.
   To connect with customers beyond its site, Whole Foods plays an active role on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.

   If your association is just beginning to explore social networking tools, it’s ok to start gradually. At first, try Facebook and LinkedIn. Once you feel comfortable with those two tools, you can expand the range of your social media to best accomplish the goals for your association community.

Recently I asked three of our printers why it is so important for us to deliver our files on schedule. And all three basically gave the same answer.

We’d already been toying around with the idea of writing a post on soliciting and handling content from your members, when SNAP beat us to it. So first, we recommend you check out Gregory Fine’s tips on handling volunteer content on the SNAP website.
I’ll add these thoughts, based on Hammock’s years of working with association publications. Consider these ideas as you manage your publication and your volunteers. Every association is different, so you’ll need to create a process that works for you.

We’ve found that organizations seek the help of a custom media partner like ours for lots of different reasons. Some have internal communications departments, but don’t have the editorial, design or production expertise to accomplish their goals. Others recognize the cost savings and predictability of working with a partner rather than keeping the resources necessary to produce media in-house; while others have expertise in one type of media, but look to us for help creating and integrating new media. Our relationships with our clients are all unique, but here are some of the more common reasons we have found for organizations to hire a custom media company:

Earlier this year, American Business Media launched a custom media microsite. We are members of ABM and Barbara Logan serves on the Custom Media Committee. The new microsite promotes the value of business-to-business custom media. Research, white papers and case studies are available to marketers interested in learning more about custom media and how it can benefit their organizations.
Check out the site today to see Hammock’s Custom Media Craft blog and our work with the Marines Corps League featured.