“E-Book Teaches Chamber of Commerce Leaders How to Use Social Media to Dramatically Increase Membership and Remain Relevant”
By Frank J. Kenny. Released June 18th, 2012 – Get Up To Speed, Social Media for Chambers
Foreword by: Chris Brogan…
President, Human Business Works
Co-author of “Trust Agents”
Frank here has written up what he feels you need to know as leaders of chambers and associations. He’s got a list of stats and thoughts and ideas. I want to share how this is going to feel to YOU, how you’re going to have to think about it, and what it might mean to you.
There’s this “overlay” world happening “out there.” Some people are starting to glimpse the disconnect between the strictly physical world and the opportunities that seem to be floating in that “internet” world. Now, the truth is, that internet world is no different than 100 years ago, when the telephone showed up, but people are quite nervous because this new telephone has more buttons, more numbers to dial, more ways to get it wrong. And yet, it’s really still just a phone.
Frank’s going to tell you a lot of names and numbers and stats and he’s going to tell you to get into this or that channel. I’m going to tell you this: If you ran a local restaurant in a small town and you wanted to get more people into your seats on those off-days like Tuesday night, the tools that used to work aren’t working as well. Give away as many free peach cobblers as you want. People can’t see through the haze of all the chitter-chatter going on out there. They aren’t watching the local TV channels. They have an iPhone plugged into their car stereo, or even a CD spinning. They’re not listening to your ad. The daily newspapers are still fighting the good fight, and I won’t count them out, but they’re losing circulation fast, too.
In a world where it’s getting harder and harder to be seen or heard, what do you do?
Here comes this whole new raft of tools. Some call it social media. Others call it social networks. They all have weird names and words. You tweet and like and friend and blog and follow and whatever. You Foursquare and Yelp and Groupon. The names are all stupid. Check. The tools are all foreign and you feel silly using some of them. Check. Who cares? Do you want more business or not?
What built your business, if I am right in guessing, is passion. You came to this with a knack for doing something, the ability to do it reasonably well, and you had a sense of how to please your buyer. None of that’s changed. You just need more buyers and you’re not sure what to do about getting them.
What follows in this book are Frank’s ideas on how to get you there. He wants to help. Sure, he’s paid to help. But he wants to help because he loves your world. He wants you to succeed. He knows the world will be better if you feel educated and ready to take it on together.
So with that, I say, “Learn. Dare to try this stuff. And join the new digital channel.” There’s gold in these here hills.
–Chris Brogan…
President, Human Business Works
Co-author of “Trust Agents”
Download Get Up To Speed, Social Media for Chambers
