Imagine investing years into building up your chamber’s social media presence on Facebook, only to have your account vanish overnight. Poof. Gone. Taken away without notice by Facebook.

Facebook profiles for a chamber

Picture losing, in an instant and without recourse, this key chamber asset that provides you one of the largest social media reaches in your community.

Visualize yourself trying to explain the permanent deletion of your account to your members, the board and the press.

This isn’t some far-fetched social media scare story.

I might be talking about your current, or your next, chamber.

Many chambers are sitting on this ticking time bomb. Either out of ignorance or strategy, they are in violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities by maintaining a presence as a Profile rather than a Page.

This article isn’t about blaming, accusing or guessing motive. It’s about fixing a looming and potentially devastating problem.

Here is the exact issue.

On Facebook, businesses have pages and “likes” (fans) and human beings have profiles and “friends.” Personal accounts (profiles) are meant for individuals. Maintaining a profile for anything other than an individual person is a violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

Noncompliant accounts risk permanently losing access to the account and all of its content.

Facebook Statement of Rights

 If yours is the type of organization that doesn’t willingly and knowingly violate signed agreements, then the chamber profile clearly has to go. A new, compliant page would then be created from scratch.

The obvious downside of this (especially if your chamber has hundreds or thousands of “friends”) is that all those relationships, subscribers, videos and photos would be lost.

There is a solution. Facebook has realized that many businesses have this issue and created a tool to migrate some of the assets of a noncompliant profile to a compliant page.

It isn’t a simple or perfect solution. Yet, it is a better alternative than closing the profile and starting over or continuing to use Facebook with the constant threat of being shut down.

Steps to migrate from a chamber profile to a page:

1)      You must start with two profiles. One is a legitimate Facebook profile of a chamber staff person who administers the account. The other is the illegitimate chamber profile.

2)      These profiles must be friends.

3)      Login as the chamber profile.

4)      Download a back-up copy of the chamber’s Facebook data at https://www.facebook.com/settings. This will take up to 24 hours. It includes videos, photos, friend list, profile data and a lot more.

5)      Appoint new group admins. The new chamber page will no longer be associated with your groups.

6)      Convert you chamber profile to a page with this tool: https://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php?migrate

7)      DO NOT LOG OUT.

8)      Go to your friends/likes list and choose your real profile and make it an administrator of the new page.

9)      Log out.

10)   Log back in as your legitimate profile that you just named an admin. Go to upper right of your profile, click the dropdown arrow and choose to use as the new page.

Here are some things you should know. From reports, this tool doesn’t work 100 percent of the time. This is another reason to do this now, when you have less invested. There is a way to appeal and reverse the process if it fails.

During the process, you can change your profile name to what you want the page to be named. If your chamber has a profile and a page already, there is a way to merge them but this has its own set of issues. Let me know if you need help with this.

Pending friend requests won’t transfer. Facebook profiles limit out at 5,000 friends (many chambers have more than 5,000 fans). Any pending friend requests will be lost.

Once the migration is complete (it can take 24 hours for your fans to appear), you will have access to Facebook Insights (metrics for your page). Also, you can legitimately run promotions and campaigns (using third-party apps) and take advantage of Facebook’s sponsored stories and ads.

There are many reasons why chambers are using Facebook profiles rather than pages. None of the reasons stand up against the downside risk of immediate deletion. Use Facebook’s tool to migrate your friends over to fans. Do this now. Get in compliance and sleep better at night.

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Curious as to how your chamber Facebook fan page count stacks up against other chambers?

With over 7,000 chambers in the U.S. it would be quite a task to rank them all.

Luckily, I remembered from statistics 101 that we can draw some solid conclusions from a decently sized sample.

Thank goodness for that. I was getting tired clicking on all those chamber Facebook pages.

These numbers are from a random sample of 265 chamber Facebook fan pages conducted at the end of January 2012.

Turns out that the average Chamber Facebook fan page count (for the sample) is 653  with a 4.4% PTAT (People talking about this) ratio.

How does your chamber Facebook fan page count rank (click to enlarge image)?

 

Chamber Facebook Fans

Random Sample of Chamber Facebook Fans

Here are some notables chamber Facebook fan pages that you may want to check out to see what they are doing to grow such a solid fan base.

Napa – 1939
Columbus – 2283
Charlotte – 2272
Lincoln, NB – 1542
Palm Desert – 1408
Bakersfield – 1180
Springfield – 1018
Bremerton, WA – 1123
L.A. – 1467
Joplin 2228
Clovis, CA – 1239
Seattle -1249
Pendleton – 5199
Sedona – 5870

It has been reported that the average Facebook user has 130 friends and is connected to 80 pages, events and groups.

With an average of 653 fans, chambers are showing real traction and growth.

Matter of fact, many small businesses have a hard time getting across the 100 fan count (they can then claim their name) so reaching thousands of fans is quite a triumph.

So, how do some chambers have 2, 3, 4, even 9 times the Facebook fan count of the average chamber and at least that multiple of the average chamber member?

We will be exploring the answers to that question through this blog over the next several weeks and months.

Let’s start today with the Pendleton, Oregon Chamber and their Membership Development Director, Lisa Farquharson.

Pendleton Chamber has a whopping 5,199 Facebook fans in a city of less than 17,000!

Pendleton, like most chambers and small businesses, is learning the whole social media thingy as they go.

But they are going. Yes, they will make mistakes.

Not every moment of their time online will have a great ROI and they will have to make corrections.

But they have decided to embrace the tools and learn as they go.

Good for them!

Now, in the interest of learning from other’s mistakes, let’s discuss a few things here.

One, they launched a Facebook profile rather than a Facebook Page.

That is a big mistake that violates Facebooks Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (see #4).

They corrected that by migrating over to a page. Nice work. Very smart.

I will have much more on that soon. If you are in a similar predicament, there is hope.

Second, they used a series of sweepstakes that featured not only Pendleton Bucks but also prizes from their members.

Aggressive and creative.

And while affective, the way they went about their promotion probably ran afoul of Facebook’s complicated rules on contests.

Facebook has some very strict rules on contests, sweepstakes, and promotions.

Facebook requires a 3rd party app for these types of promotions and the sweepstakes, contest, or drawing must comply with all the complicated laws and regulations governing them.

This topic is also going to require a separate post because it is complicated and very often violated.

Having said that, Facebook sweepstakes and contests do work.

I use the Wildfire App to make sure my clients and I stay in compliance. I suggest you check them out.

After researching more than a dozen 3rd party apps, I chose Wildfire (not an affiliate link) because the interface is intuitive, it is very robust, and not overly expensive.

Here is a great primer video from Facebook on promotions and contests if you are using or considering using this strategy.

Promotion Guidelines Facebook

What do you think? What else can or should chambers do to increase their fan count?

What should they do with that large fan base once they have it?

How does your chamber Facebook Fan page count rank?

Feel free to provide a link to your chambers Facebook page below so we can see what you are doing, add you to our future samples,  and study your success.

P.S. Don’t you think it is a powerful new chamber asset to be able to share member news, info, and stories to a much wider audience through social media than your members can do on their own? Chambers are now working this benefit into their dues structures. More on this soon.

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One of the first things I was taught as a chamber exec was to “Put a volunteer between me and a problem.”

The volunteer would be a board member, preferably the chairman of the board.

Chamber Exec Boss

Chairman of the Board

The thinking here is that a problem or conflict with a member (or people in the community) can cause real trouble for an executive and his/her career.

We have all had personality conflicts. Sometimes a person will just not like you, or something about you, and they will set out to make your life miserable.

A volunteer in your corner will give you cover and let you do your job.

However well intentioned, this advice struck me as wrong. Very wrong.

See, I view the role of the chamber exec as being a top leader in the community.

Who else is a top leader? Who is a peer of the chamber exec?

  • The CEO of the local hospital
  • The City Manager
  • The Mayor
  • The area’s Congresswoman
  • The bank president

Which of these leaders, when hired, were told, “Janice, we are hiring you because you are a leader. We picked you because we believe in your ability to get things done for this organization. You were picked out of a field of accomplished and successful executives. And, know this. Should a conflict arise, you don’t have to face it head-on. Just put a volunteer between you and the problem.”

Yuck.

Picture a top CEO in your community. Somebody you respect. Now picture them going to a board member to give them cover.

How many CEO’s of successful companies put a board member between them and a problem?

Worse, how many industries have this as a “First thing you have to learn in this business?”

No. No. No.

Leaders face their problems. They don’t look for cover.

They don’t say, “Well, don’t be mad at me. It was the chairman’s decision.”

No. Leaders say what they mean and mean what they say.

Look, I understand that a Mayor who hates your guts can make a chamber execs life miserable, for awhile. That’s business. That’s life.

You might even have to get another job. Leaders aren’t afraid of looking for work because leaders are rare and they are always in demand.

What do you think about this quote?

“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” Winston Churchill

or

Remember that no one ever kicks a dead dog.” Dale Carnegie

Here’s my point. I get it. Nobody likes being pushed around by a bully or angry member. It’s risky. You might lose.

And sometimes life just isn’t fair.

Pat McGaughey, of ChamberMentor, pointed out in a presentation, correctly I think, that in just about every community there is somebody so powerful, so persuasive and connected that if they take a serious disliking to you they can get you fired.

That is life in the big city. You want an easy life? Don’t be a chamber exec. It ain’t easy.

Want to offset some of that risk? Chamber execs, as most other professionals, should have an employment contract.

You don’t hear of many city managers without contracts. That’s because with a single election or random turn of events they can get fired for no fault of their own.

Now, let me say, I have heard and read this chamber exec advice from excellent chamber leaders. They aren’t weak by any stretch of the imagination.

They just want to protect people coming into a very tough industry.

They know that life is sometimes unfair and that often a volunteer defender or wing person can help you keep your job. And it does work.

But are they doing the industry justice? Are they doing the chamber exec justice? Does this have to be one of our core rules?

There is a better solution.

It will take work and time.

It will require a change of thinking and strategy from chamber members, board members, chamber execs, and the chamber industry.

It may well take a new chamber model.  Gasp!

Only hire a chamber exec that doesn’t need a volunteer to buffer them from their problems.

I know, I know.

  • Chambers don’t pay well enough to hire those types of people.
  • Chamber execs who are real leaders get stolen away as soon as people realize how talented and competent they are.

This is a chicken and egg question.

I have a question for you.

Chambers have been around for more than a hundred years.

How did we get to a place where most local chambers say they can’t afford to hire a chamber exec who is a top leader, someone who doesn’t need a volunteer to run interference?

OK. Segueing here. This post has become a bit of a stream of consciousnesses.

But I think it all needs to be said.

One of our issues is this (we have several but those will have to wait):

Rather than offer programs and services that bring the chambers enough profit to hire and keep true professionals, we have, at least at the local chamber level, taken on doing what no one else wants to do; things like handing out maps, organizing festivals, ribbon cuttings.

Why don’t we offer services that members would pay good money for?

Answer. Too many chambers are afraid of angering members by competing against them in lucrative niches. So chambers are left with the scraps.

Chamber’s don’t want to step on member’s toes. They don’t want to be criticized. They have a mentality of putting a volunteer between them and a problem.

They are risk adverse, under funded, and all too often decidedly non-aggressive when it comes to building their influence and taking action. Or making enough profit to be a powerful asset to the small business community.

I am sure I have offended some people in the industry.

But let me continue the train of thought.

Let’s see,  your average chamber provides services, and makes money, from doing things others don’t want to do….hand out maps, answer questions from the community, attend council meetings.

Plus they earn what minimal dues the members are willing to pay. But because the chamber only offers “low value” services, the members aren’t willing to pay very much in dues. After all, the chamber is just doing things nobody else wants to do. Did you know that many chambers charge dues of less than $200 for a year. That is $16.67/month.

There is a saying – “You teach people how to treat you.”

What is a chamber saying about itself when it charges less than $20/month?

Exceptions abound. I know. Exceptions often prove the rule. But how many chambers choose to directly compete against a member even if they are the natural provider? Not many.

The reality of it is this then…the members like the chamber, they do. But really, if it closed down tomorrow would it affect them? Nope. The chamber offers no critical services.

Over a span of many years, with this minimal funding and lack of essential programs, the chamber cycles through underpaid staff, hiring the best their business model allows them to afford.

And because they can’t afford to bring in top leaders who are risk takers and innovators, they don’t take advantage of changing times and opportunties. If a great money making service does comes along a member will offer it, is the current thinking.

If some service is necessary, but underfunded, like tourism promotion, have the chamber do it.

Sounds like a broken business model doesn’t it? A downward spiral?

Doesn’t this whole scenario look like a recipe for irrelevancy?

Let me wrap this up by pointing out that the industry, from figures I recently heard, has experienced a chamber exec turnover rate of 30% in the last 3 years.

Do you think they will bring in a chamber exec who is a top leader?

Or will it be somebody that needs to put a volunteer between them and a problem?

Final thought.

Boards have to be part of the solution. Boards have a duty to create an organization that is effective and growing. If they agree with me here that the model isn’t working yet they continue down the path…..well, they had better decide if they are taking their role seriously enough.

The country needs strong and vibrant local chambers because 90% of a chambers membership is small business. Small business is the future of this country.

Your community needs the chamber. Your members need the chamber.

At the very least, can we eradicate the saying, “Put a volunteer between you and a problem” and destroy the thinking that went into it?

Would value your thoughts. Am I wrong? Comment below.

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I have been talking with a lot of people about what chambers will look like in 5 years.

Heck, 2 years.

Challenges?

  • Huge executive turnover - 30% in just the last 3 years?
  • Low pay (relative to community leadership peers) – Chamber execs should be on par with city administrators,  not junior permit techs.
  • Declining membership – Flat is the new up for most chambers. 40% declines from peak numbers are not uncommon.
  • New competition from networking and other groups – Check out LeTip. The group I am familier with charges twice what the local chambers does and just does networking and referrals. No maps. No parades. No pageants or pancake breakfasts. No government affairs. No tourism promotion. No chamber membership.

Chamber membership in decline

And that is really just scratching the surface of the challenges chambers of the 20th century are facing in the second decade of the 21st century.

Did I mention social media?

We  had better, individually and as an industry, engage in some serious risk taking (and not a little soul searching).

What does the future hold for chambers?

While no one can know for sure, most people I talk to agree it had better be a different model than what we have had for the last several years.

What’s not enough? I will tell you what’s not enough.

Don’t congratulate yourself, or rest on your laurels, if your chamber has:

  • Bolted in a mobile membership app
  • Integrated your excel spreadsheet, your website database, and Quickbooks into a CMS
  • and created a Facebook profile (yes I said profile) and a Twitter account

That is scratching the surface today.

20 years ago a major improvement, like moving from a spreadsheet to a CMS was a big deal. Today, that is “So What?”

“You have a chamber app that includes your online directory and a map? So what? I have Google, Yelp, and TripAdvisor and they have rating and reviews.”

Chamber - ratings and reviews

Slide- Rating and reviews for the tourism industry

Try publicly rating and reviewing your membership and see how that works for your 20th century Chamber of Commerce

Read this recent post (Thank you Cathi Hight for sharing this) from a blogger about how some members and ex-members feel about the local chamber? Read the comments (unless you don’t really want to know). #Reinventing: Chamber of Commerce

Most of the ideas in the article may be fantasy. But the frustration is clear.

Are 20th century chambers going to continue to be relevant?

The chamber model of the second decade of the 21st century had better not be the model that worked (barely) in the the 20st century.

The world has changed. Plain and simple.

It may be time for a slow-to-change and risk adverse industry (more on that soon) to embrace change rather than fight it.

To fight for the status quo, to celebrate the way things used to be, is simply a recipe for declining relevancy.

What are your thoughts?

Are chambers declining in relevancy? Is there hope?

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Some of the chamber of commerce trends I am seeing aren’t easy to face.

One is the high executive turnover rate (30% in the last 3 years, not including retirements, is a number I heard recently).

I hear people asking, with all earnestness, “Are chambers loosing their relevancy?’

That is pretty tough on the ears.

Is the model broken? Maybe.

The model is clearly under serious attack from technology trends (especially social media), local networking groups, generational changes, and a myriad of other sources.

Is it going to be utterly transformed the way print media, the book industry, recorded music, the yellow pages, and so many other established industries will be?

I wish I did, but I don’t, have all the answers.

Where can we find some answers?

Facing Chamber of Commerce Trends

Wayne Griffin’s presentation at the W.A.C.E. 2012 conference in Las Vegas was hard hitting on the chamber of commerce trends issue.

Take a moment to watch the video. It will give you an idea of the seriousness of the questions he asked the chamber of commerce professionals in the room during his breakout at the W.A.C.E annual convention.

This wasn’t a feel good, let’s all hold hands presentation.

Wayne, an Accredited Chamber Executive who has been attending the conference for 24 years, focused in on several major challenges that face the chamber of commerce industry and then he engaged his audience in debate and discussion.

Chamber of commerce trends and what to do about them.

We agreed that change is coming on fast and furious and chamber of commerce professionals have got to change too.

One of the hot topics of his presentation was time poverty. Another was technology. A third was relevancy.

Chamber of Commerce Trends

Ideas that came out of the breakout presentation:

  • Don’t create the perception that your chamber only has value if the members participate in meeting and events. The old argument, “You would get leads and referrals if you just attended the events” no longer holds water. They don’t have time. The key is to create value without participation.
  • Reduce what has to be read by your members. They are probably just as busy as you are and they don’t have time to read. They skim.
  • Make it personal. Send chamber emails from a person rather than the organization. People might be too busy to read the chamber’s email blast but they will read an email from their friend who happens to be a chamber staffer.
  • Find the strengths of your individual members and tap into them, especially with the new generations. They want to participate, not attend meetings.
  • The discussion got around to finding true technology experts who could be relied on. It was agreed that not every “self proclaimed expert” is one. With so many companies pushing social media and mobile applications at chambers today it has become confusing to many. Just because someone says their technology will solve some problem doesn’t mean it is the best long-term solution. Research and ask around, especially with your fellow chamber professionals.

Other challenges brought up concerned using new technology, like video and the CMS systems, that are effective yet require a time investment to learn and use.

The book Wayne references in the video, The End of Membership As We Know It: Building the Fortune-Flipping, Must-Have Association of the Next Century, by Sarah L. Sladek added to the discussion on several issues, not the least of them being the massive generational impacts we are experiencing.

Finally, Wayne covered the W.A.C.E. Tool Kit and survey and how it allowed chamber leaders to find out how they were doing, from their members prospective, on the core competencies of chambers. More information is always better than less.

Wayne used the collective intelligence of his audience to create a fast paced and informative conversation. It was excellent. Nice work Wayne and W.A.C.E.

What’s your take? Is the chamber model broken? Can these chamber of commerce trends be turned into opportunities rather than threats?

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Not every organization needs a social media policy.

 

What do you think about that statement?

Do you think you need a social media policy for your Chamber of Commerce, business association, or organization?

Social Media Policy Graphic

While I am not a lawyer, and won’t offer legal advice, I am glad to share some of my research on this topic.

I am in the camp that believes that employee policies, especially social media policies, are all too often overly restrictive, hard to understand, unrealistic, and quickly out of compliance with current law, technology, and best practices.

Here is an article from a couple of weeks ago that speaks to the last point – NLRB Report Challenges Validity of Many Commonly Used Social Media Policies.

Policies are just as often, from what lawyer friends tell me, used against the organization as for it.

My advice is to create a social media guide rather than a social media policy.

First though, let me share with you several, what I call rigid, examples of social media policies that you could gleane content from:

You may also want to check out this free social media policy template from Sheila Birnbach of Birnbach Success Solutions, faculty of the Institute for Organization Management.

All that being said, I am willing to share what I consider a more realistic and workable guide to employee social media use.

I have adapted it to chambers, small business, medium business, and non-profits.

The original outline came from folks over at SocialFish –  who adapted it from a major corporation’s social media policy.

If you would like to see my social media policy template just let me know and I will email it to you.

Email me at Frank@FrankJKenny.com

Frank

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2012 Social Media Survey Report

 

Executive Summary

 

Social Media Survey of Chambers, Associations, Members

Recently we conducted our annual Social Media Survey to discover current challenges business owners and organizations share in their day-to-day use of social media.

A significant number of small and medium businesses (SMBs) and several dozen associations, such as chambers of commerce, responded to our invite to participate over a period of several weeks.

In addition to our online survey, we conducted interviews with select respondents and clients.

The goal of this FREE 17 page executive report is to share the common findings of the social media survey and provide access to solutions.

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FREE

In the social media survey, we inquired about business organizations’ social media goals, frustrations and fears for 2012.

We asked them which social media tactics and strategies have worked and what has failed for them. We also wanted to learn what kind of information they felt they were missing in order to use social media effectively.

Specifically, we asked:

  • What have you tried in social media that works?
  • What have you tried in social media that failed?
  • What is your biggest fear with social media?
  • What is your biggest frustration or challenge with social media?
  • What would you love to accomplish this year through social media?
  • If you could have one question answered about social media, what would it be?

The social media survey produced nine clear social media challenges business organizations, such as chambers of commerce, and SMBs are facing in 2012.

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As you read this report, you may find some of the answers as well as frustrations resonating with you. You will be able to glean new ideas and insights that will immediately help you become more successful in using social media for your organization.

Social Media Essentials and StrategiesWe have also provided resources to help you explore the topics further. These include Frank Kenny’s e-book, “The 7 Secret Laws of Society: Social Media Essentials and Strategies for Small Business and Associations,” as well as a variety of recorded interviews with experts, white papers, training webinars, articles and more.

Frank J. Kenny is a nationally known author, professional speaker, and new media consultant. He is on the faculty of the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Organization Management (IOM), instructing C(460) Integrating Strategic Technology Solutions & E(161) Technology Tools and Trends. He has presented on social media through the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) and the Western Association of Chamber Executives (W.A.C.E.).

As a former Chamber of Commerce President/CEO, he led a team that doubled the membership of his organization over an 18-month period, primarily through their social media strategies. Frank helps businesses and nonprofit organizations in their successful integration of new media, social media marketing, and modern technology.

Social Media Training for Chambers, Associations, and Their Members

“Any chance you have to hear Frank, take it!”

Bob Green, President, Washington Chamber of Commerce Executives (WCCE)

“Enjoyed the W.A.C.E. webinar very much, Frank. Gave me some additional good info to share when I am out and about working with boards, especially those that aren’t quite sold on the possibilities. Thanks!”

Valerie K. Boyle, Organization Management Consultant at W.A.C.E.

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I had an epiphany yesterday concerning building stronger online networking relationships.

I love epiphanies. Somehow it’s like, “I already knew that but now I can put it to work for me!”

Here’s the story.

Networking Relationships

Recently, I signed up for Pinterest, just to check it out (especially for Chambers of Commerce and their members, my specialty).

I created the profile and pinned a few photos.

I also added a few friends that Pinterest found through my Facebook profile.

Then people started to find me. Lots of people came across my Pinterest profile and followed my pins.

Here comes the epiphany part….

A few people that I really like, but I thought I had weak relationships with, followed me.

They reached out and showed interest. I had a warm fuzzy feeling all of a sudden.

I immediately felt that I had stronger networking relationships with these particular contacts.

 

I extrapolated that affect out to the other platforms I am active on; Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, etc. that many of my connections are also active on.

There are plenty of people that I am “friends” with who are on everyone of those sites….we have a lot in common, like good friends often do, but it isn’t that we fish or golf together, it is that we hang out at the same places (online).

Overtime, if we are active online, we will come across our various contacts images, posts, comments, etc. and engage with them, showing interest or being helpful, thereby giving them warm fuzzies for them because we care.

That commonality builds over time, strengthening those networking relationships (and allows all the good that comes from strong networking relationships to manifest). The more sites you know a person through the stronger the commonality.

That is a strong argument for being active on all the social networks where your target market hangs out, whether you particularly like those sites or not.

It’s not about you and what you like. It’s about them. And business. And living in the modern, social media connected world. The more you have in common and the more often you come across a contact, the more likely it is that relationship will grow.

Commonalities build strong networking relationships.

 

Friendships are simply tighter when people have more things in common.

So much in life hinges on our perceptions and feelings.

When I feel that I have a tighter relationship with someone then I am more likely to reach out to them, help them, refer people to them, and otherwise plant seeds of reciprocity.

It begins with me feeling we are tighter.

I immediately felt, because they were also on Pinterest and they had reached out to me, showing interest, that our networking relationships were stronger.

Even relative strangers can jump onto your stronger networking relationships list if you have something in common with them, like an alma mater, military service, or a presence on an obscure networking site.

There is a reason Chris Brogan shares his juicer stories on Google+ and Twitter. People who are into juicing will have an additional thing in common with Chris. They will like him more.

My know, like, and trust of the people who followed me on Pinterest grew from them reaching out to me and showing interest. It’s human nature.

Lesson: The lesson here is that business leaders need to be friends, followers, and fans of their member’s/customer’s. The more online places that you have a connection with your target market the more likely they are to know, like, and trust you.

You don’t have to be their best friend. They just need to know that you care enough to follow and engage from time to time. The idea of a business leader having just a few friends, or separating “work friends” from “real friends” is a mistake.

Instead, reach out to your target market wherever they congregate and show an interest in them. It is not a question of quality over quantity. It is balancing quality, quantity, the new realities of business in the age of social media, and your time.

The ROI of relationships is off-the-charts because humans are social creatures and we make our decisions emotionally, not rationally. Feelings matter, to the vast majority of people, more than facts.

What do you think? Are your networking relationships improved by knowing each other on multiple platforms? Is it worth your valuable time to have build these networking relationships? I hope you said yes.

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Content is the key to social media success.

From the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal

By FRANK KENNY

There is an old story, shared by personal development pioneer and radio legend Earl Nightingale, about a fellow that said to his woodstove, “Give me heat. Then I will put in some wood.”

Social Media Content

Of course, the fellow never did get any heat from that woodstove.

He simply didn’t understand one of the key rules of life; one must put wood in first and then the stove will return heat.

As it concerns social media, far too many people expect to see positive results from social media before they have put in the wood, or in this case, valuable content.

What do I mean by valuable content? I mean posts that either add value to a person’s life by solving a problem, thereby improving their condition, or remove some pain, or potential for pain.

See, people always want their lives improved. You could say that your customers always want more. More security. More success. More time off. More knowledge. More. More. More.

That is human nature.

Businesses that want to utilize social media successfully must provide their customers — or potential customers — with that opportunity for More.

Social Media Content

They do that by posting valuable content:

Information that their target market will find valuable.

A plumber should post tips about common household or commercial plumbing issues, depending on their target market. This will give the customer more knowledge. Provide your audience with how-to videos, new information, new insights.

Post specials, sales, discounts. Give them a reason for becoming and staying a fan of your page.

Share case studies on how you improved a client’s conditions. Explain the client’s situation before the intervention, share what strategies or methods you applied to improve their situations, and detail the results of how the client ended up with more.

Interview expert in your industry, perhaps a nationally known author, and share the interview with your audience.

Entertain your audience with stories, images, and videos. People enjoy and good laugh and that is providing value. Don’t get carried away with this one though.

Where does all this effort on content get you?

To read the rest of this post check out the full article on the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal site.

 

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Thank you for checking out this social media for tourism case study featuring Alderbrook Resort and Spa.

Alderbrook is a beautiful destination resort and spa located on the Hood Canal in Washington State.

Social Media Tourism CaseAlderbrook’s Courtyard

Details of this social media for tourism case study:

When their general manager at the time, Michael Carnovale, brought our firm in to project manage social media for the property, Alderbrook Resort and Spa did have a business page on Facebook.  This quick case study is going to focus on that page and a specific issue, social media content.

Issue: Choice of content and quantity of content being posted to the page.

Alderbrook’s posting strategy had been to limit posts to major news events, such as being named a 2011 Award Winner: BEST Resort (Runner-Up). Even with their limited frequency of posting, with the resort being a prestigious vacation and relaxation destination with a spa and fine dining restaurant, they had accumulated 3789 Facebook likes.

They had chosen not to focus on Twitter but did monitor TripAdvisor and OpenTable.

Alderbrook Resort Tourism Case Study

Each of the spikes from the Insights report represents a post during the past 6 months or so. You can see that when they posted, their daily active users numbers spiked. However, the posts naturally faded from Facebook Newsfeeds, usually in a day or two, and Alderbrook’s Facebook visibility greatly declined. As said above, Alderbrook’s strategy prior to our intervention was to post primarily news events, which, on average, occurred about twice a month.

Social Media for Tourism Case Study

Our firm developed a social media strategy for Alderbrook of several posts each week, each signed by the poster (a member of our team or staff that we trained).

The vast majority of these posts were focused on providing valuable content for those who are, or might be, interested in the resort, the marina, the spa, the restaurant, or the region. We also, from time to time, posted specials, deals, and packages. We still made room for the big news events but now we had daily interaction with our fans on a myriad of topics.

Here is a screen grab of the immediate difference it made in keeping Alderbrook in people’s newsfeeds.

Alderbrook Resort and Spa Daily Active Users

You can see that the trend of monthly active users dramatically accelerated from 1592 monthly active users to over 3000 during this time frame, primarily from the more consistent posting of valuable content and actively engaging users.

 

Social Media Case Study on Tourism

 

Conclusions that can be drawn from this small case study:

A critical element in having a successful Facebook Page strategy is in providing valuable content on a consistent basis and engaging with  fans. In just a few short weeks, the number of followers grew to 4033, an increase of 6%. Monthly active users nearly doubled.

We also launched Twitter for Alderbrook. More on that soon.

What is your social media for tourism case? Questions?

 

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