Association Puzzle

Thoughts on Social Media: Shared at the 2008 WIW Conference

Social media is any form of communication that connects people with each other and with ideas or news. For example, the ancient marketplace was a form of social media; that is where everyone went to find out what was going on and to see what was happening with others.

 

The concept of “cafe society,” the idea of seeing and being seen, most popularized by the Parisians is another example of social media.

 

The telephone was an advance in social media; for the first time, people across town or across the world, could be connected. I remember my mother and her friends talking on the phone for hours – it was how they stayed connected when they couldn’t see each other.

 

Now, we have the internet and electronic communication. Email, instant messaging, cell phones – which removed the requirement of being near the phone – online services like LinkedIn, Facebook, and MySpace, connect not only our voices but our photos and our writings.

 

Age is not a barrier to social media, but we do have to adjust to the new ways of staying connected. It is called “evolution,” and I would pose the theory people ages 35 to 50 are the most adaptable generation. We weren’t raised with computers or technology, but we not only adopted these changes, we embraced them.

 

Associations are organizations that connect people; in many ways, they are the original “social media” as far as being a tool to stay connected as opposed to individuals doing it informally.

 

However, associations seem to be having a tough time adjusting to the newer social media tools. Rather than seeing their usefulness, many are being distracted by their “technology-ness” as opposed to seeing them as an evolution in tools, just like the telephone replaced the marketplace, or neighbors talking over the back fence.

 

Like any tool, social media needs to be chosen for the task at hand and the audience to be reached.

Admit You Were Wrong

Oprah Winfrey has received a lot of press lately about admitting she was wrong for defending the pseudo-memoir "A Million Little Pieces."  Originally, she had defended the book and its author because she felt it was an important story of redemption.

After she heard what everyone else had to say about promoting a piece of fiction as a memoir, she realized that she was wrong and admitted it.  It takes a lot of guts, strength, chutzpah, strong self-esteem -- whatever you like to call it -- to stand up and say "I made a mistake." 

Of course, we don't all get patted on the back by members of the media and millions of fans when we stand up and take personal responsibility, but it sure makes you feel better to say it.  That in itself is a reward. 

In the reverse, we also don't make our mistakes in front of members of the media and millions of fans, so for most of us, our "Mistake Embarrassment Factor" (MEF) is pretty low. 

However, when you make a mistake in front of your most important audience -- members -- you can feel that your MEF is right up there with Oprah.  And the closest thing to a nationally syndicated talk show you have to look forward to is your annual meeting, where you will feel like everyone is looking at you -- but not because you are on stage grilling the guy who got you in this situation in the first place.   

Admitting to your members, especially volunteer leadership, that you made a mistake is difficult, to say the least.  You are the staff person, the one they depend on to look out for the interests of their organization, and they expect you to do it as if it were your own.  Your members also do not expect to see you make mistakes of any kind.  They do not want to see you tripping over your tongue, not knowing the answer to a question, or brushing away their concerns as if they are so many gnats. 

Just because you are the staff person does not mean you are always right.  The best way to handle it when you make a mistake is to admit it.  Apologize, make amends, explain why at first you thought you were right and then realized you were wrong, then offer a solution to completely resolve whatever may have risen from the mistake. 

Suggested language for admitting you made a mistake:
I'm sorry.  I made a mistake.  Here's how I will fix it. 

Your members will thank you.  But even better, they will trust you and depend on you even more. 

Access

I just noted it's been almost two weeks since my last post!  Things have been busy here in the DC area with last week's inaugural events, some of which I got to participate in on Jan. 20.

My husband and I were invited to two events: a parade watching party in the afternoon, and a ball that evening.  We were really looking forward to the parade watching party as we were the guests of PCMA, who have a suite with a balcony overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue -- definitely primo seats. 

However, what is usually a 30 minutes long commute to 6th and Pennsylvania turned into a two hour odyssey, complete with riots, arrests and pat downs in the security tent.  After we actually made it through security, we then had to squeeze through a human cattle chute, and run a gauntlet of nasty protestors before finally arriving at our destination. 

One of the reasons that it was so difficult to get to Pennsylvania Avenue last Thursday was the LACK OF ACCESS.  The entire street was blocked off with large, black gates, and many police officers turning people away.  There were only THREE ways to get to Pennsylvania: 3rd Street, 7th Street, and 14th Street.  Many people with parade tickets turned back and went home because it was too difficult to reach their objective.

This morning, I started thinking it can be a lot like member relations: how many times have your members given up and turned back because they couldn't find their way around inside the association?  We try our best to provide excellent member service, but I think we sometimes forget that although things may look easy from the inside, they can be quite intimidating from the outside -- especially if you have a large association with many services and many staff people. 

How does a member get their foot in the door??

Each organization is unique, but there are some general things we can do to help our members find their way around.  For example:

1) Keep an updated staff contact list on your website

2) Include a staff contact list in your new member kit; also a good item for retention materials

3) Organize contact lists by topic and/or service in addition to name

4) Train your first contact person (also commonly know as the receptionist) so they understand the best way to route phone calls; this minimizes the time that members spend on hold or getting transferred

5) At leadership training sessions, make sure to include information on organization structure and provide tips on the best way to find the information members seek

These are just a few ideas of ways to provide easy access to your organization for your members.  Ask your members how easy things look to them from the outside, and adjust accordingly.  You may be surprised to find that to you, it looks easy, but to them it's like trying to get to the inaugural parade route in the age of terrorism: dead ends, misdirections, and lots of bad feelings. 

CAN-SPAM Act of 2003

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 has been a hot topic in the association community of late.  Many association staffers were biting their fingernails as they waited for the rules to be written and finalized.  Nightmarish visions of skyrocketing printing and mailing costs, bringing down already embattled budgets, kept many a staffer awake as they developed responses to what many feared would be stringent rules preventing any sort of electronic communication. 

Electronic communications are a lifesaver when it comes to stretching the financial resources of already cash-strapped organizations, and thanks to the sane requirements of CAN-SPAM, it still is. 

Although there are rules governing the information in the emails, un-subscribe lists, and some questions about the definition of "transactional" and "relational" emails, the handy tool of electronic communication is still available to those in the non-profit area. 

This commentator believes that CAN-SPAM will merely bring some courtesy back into electronic messages.  For example, CAN-SPAM requires that if a message is an advertisement, IT SAY SO.  What a novel concept -- knowing that someone is trying to sell you something!

CAN-SPAM also requires that the communication not contain a misleading subject title, and it must include a contact name and physical mailing address within the message so the recipient knows who is contacting them.  Another novel concept: identifying yourself!

With the emphasis on professionalism and member service in the association community, I don't think many of us will have a problem with providing information to our members.  It's what we do, and overall, we do it well. 

I've heard several people discuss the uneasiness they feel about the "do not email" lists because so many of their members are not up to speed on how to use their email software's spam blocker and virus blocker options.  They fear that members will just add themselves to the "do not email" list to guard against unwanted emails, even from their own association.

Where some see a problem, I see an opportunity for a new member service.

Rather than worry about your members' technological savvy, why not teach them about the many advantages of getting to know their own email software?  This is a perfect idea for a newsletter article or even a breakout session at your annual meeting. 

This is the "Information Age" so show your members how best to take advantage of it.  Your members will have learned something and your email list will likely have very few "do not contact" names on it.  Training your members to participate without fear in the era of electronic communications will build good will and member loyalty. 

This is one "can spam" we should all be happy to open.

Appearances

I had an interesting experience a few days ago. 

My husband and I have decided to replace the gutters on our townhome, so I started the process of getting three bids for the job (another way our work lives inform our personal lives).  The first company that I contacted set a meeting with me for an estimate.  I waited.  And waited.  Forty minutes after the appointed time, I called the sales manager to see what was going on with my appointment. 

His response was that the sales rep obviously ditched me (I found it surprising that he didn't seem surprised) and he arranged for another sales rep to come by and give me an estimate. 

The second rep arrived, and he settled down to start talking.  After a few minutes, he told me that he didn't want to give me an estimate because my husband wasn't home.  Yes, ladies, even in the 21st century this type of malarkey continues.

After this remark, I ended the meeting. 

This encounter was disappointing in many ways: the caveman attitude, the wasted morning when I could have been doing other things, and the lack of information.  It also got me thinking about appearances. 

We make many judgments based on appearances because this is the first information we receive when we meet or see someone.  We use this data to make decisions about our interactions with individuals: should we fear them? help them?  chat with them?  We then take what we see, apply our preconceived notions and without even knowing it, that person is labeled and filed.  Unfortunately, this initial scanning data doesn't give us the most important information -- who that person REALLY is and what their true situation is. 

For example, the sales rep had no idea about my career, background, abilities, or the knowledge that I make a lot of decisions related to the running of my household -- including which companies to work with on projects.  His assumption that only a HUSBAND could make a final decision cost him a sale. 

When we interact with members, we make the same sort of judgments and decisions.  We rate their performance, their ability to play the politics to get into leadership positions, their ability to communicate, etc., usually without spending a whole lot of time getting to know them.  Then, we sort them into the "hot" and "cold" categories of potential leadership and then provide them service accordingly. 

Every once in awhile, WE ARE WRONG.  Some guy we assumed was not a player suddenly gets on the Board of Directors -- and he REMEMBERS how we treated him on the way up.  Hopefully, we treated him or her well.

Taking the time to get to know the "Back Story" about our members can open our eyes to their true potential.  Maybe you're right and a particular "Joe Member" isn't board material, but he could be GREAT at managing your foundation's journal.  With a surprisingly small amount of effort, you can get to know what's under the surface and find out how best that member fits into your association's puzzle. 

After I worked in component relations the first few years, I realized that sometimes members grow into volunteer positions even if at first glance they don't appear to have leadership qualities.  I began treating EVERY member as a candidate for the Board of Directors because I realized that every member IS a potential board member.  With the limited time staff gets to spend with members, it is essential not to write someone off without a second look. 

In the area of volunteer management and relations, taking a few extra minutes to get to know a little about a member can pay off with big rewards for all in the long run.  Treating each member like a board member also shows your members that everyone will receive the highest quality service -- and that will only make your first impression a great one!