The team here at Greenfield is busy wrapping up the year. We have been truly lucky to work with great organizations this year, learn new skills, and have the opportunity to contribute to the industry through our research and the knowledge shared on the Membership Engagement Blog.
In the spirit of sharing, we thought we would wrap up 2013 with a re-cap of our top-read blog posts this year - and we dug through our stats to put them in order of popularity:
- #Association Goals & Objectives [Infographic]: Our first infographic on the Membership Engagement Blog, this post showcased some key statistics derived from our 2013 Pulse Report on Membership Marketing & Engagement practices. This infographic highlights key goals, and key concerns based on the associations who responded.
- Are You Using Social Media to Engage Members? This post was inspired by research and whitepapers produced by Avectra, a US-based provider to associations. In this post, we encouraged an understanding that "the true value of social media investment comes from figuring out how many of those followers - or fans, connections, private online community members - are engaged in ways that align with your association's goals.
- Smart & Steady Wins the Race: This post was inspired by Shelly Alcorn, CAE. Her original post suggested that when times get tough, association executives' narrow their focus to looking for the one solution that will solve all their problems. In contrast, we encouraged a smart and steady alternative (other than slow & steady - does that even exist anymore!) - by understanding what your members need and want, building reliable revenue sources, and adding secondary revenue streams.
- Social Media Marketing - So Much More Than Just Technology: this post I believe hit home with our readers because it talks about creating strategies that are thoughtful, strategic, authentic and engaging versus jumping in hoping it works.
- Using Twitter for Events - Part 1: Preparation - my colleague Gwynydd Murray, our Social Media Coordinator, created this three-part series. In Part 1, Gwyn encourages association's to truly be prepared for social media at events, including hard copies of important info, event hastags, and a low-tech contingency.
- Where to Look for Member Engagement: This post recommends that we recognize the opportunity that is just beyond our reach, and allocate our resources accordingly. Communication & member engagement models are changing fast, and the future belongs to associations that can make the transition.
- Using SEO to Make Your Website Searchable: my colleague Jeff Chabot, our Web & E-Marketing Coordinator, created this post. Jeff talks about what SEO is, and what it can do for your online brand. He also suggests five things that associations can look at to increase their SEO ranking.
- Using Twitter for Events - Part 2: Mastering Your Tools - Gwyn's second post highly recommends that we don't just install the app to our smartphone and start tweeting. Instead, we should become well versed in what the app can and cannot do, and prepare for it.
- How to Listen to Your Members All Year Round: In this post, we talk about member surveys. While they are great for benchmarking, a continuous conversation is needed to truly listen and engage members today. Social media can help - and we have offered up six steps to build your online presence into the continuous conversation that you and your members need.
- Effective Associations: Making Your Conference a Powerhouse - in this post, we talk about what it takes to make your conference the powerhouse it deserves to be - by getting participants to the table, giving participants what matters most, and the investment that matches the return.
- Declutter Your Communications with Your Members in Mind: This post was inspired by Naylor LLCs study on communications. They reported that most associations are pre-occupied with cutting through the clutter, but they are unclear on their strategy on how this will happen. Our response to this study supported their findings in this post.
- Using Twitter for Events: Part 3 - Engagement: In Gwyn's final post in her three part series, she talks strategically about using Twitter, and reminds us all that Twitter exists to engage; before, during and after the event.
- A Dangerous Disconnect on Member Retention: Our final post in the top 13 discussed the strategy and marketing around member retention. For the second year in a row, our Pulse Report showed that associations lack staff, strategy and resources to conduct a well-rounded retention marketing campaign.
We hope that you enjoyed reading our thoughts and opinions on our blog this year. Thank you all for your continued support! We wish you all the very best this holiday season; we look forward to engaging with you in the New Year!
