Today, June 30, is “Social Media Day,” as declared by social media blog Mashable. Technically, it’s supposed to celebrate and acknowledge the fact that media has become (or is becoming) social.

You don’t have to attend a special “Social Media Day” event to celebrate. It could be a good time for your organization to evaluate where it is regarding social media. Maybe you barely use it. Maybe you’re an active user and evangelist. Maybe you don’t get what all the fuss is about. Whatever your feelings about social media, and whether or not you personally use it, I think it’s important to acknowledge that social media is changing the way people communicate.

Social media is all about connecting people. Associations are all about connecting people. It seems like the two would go hand in hand. Unfortunately, because social media allows people to connect for free (assuming they have an Internet connection), it’s often difficult for the two to coexist peacefully.

Whatever your organization’s take on social media, it’s hard to deny its growth. Sure, maybe the tools we use won’t last forever, but social media helps connect people, and so do associations. And creating meaningful relationships will never go out of style.

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In yesterday’s post about the Membership Marketing Benchmarking Survey, I wrote about how small staff organizations can offer excellent customer service to their members. I was reading the report again this morning and I noticed that small organizations (those will 1,000 members or fewer) are more likely than others to have renewal rates higher than 90 percent.

Additionally, organizations with 5,000 members are fewer are more likely to use more personal onboarding tactics, such as welcome phone calls or new member reception.

Could the two be related? I don’t want to draw any conclusions that may not be accurate, but I think it’s safe to assume that the fewer members an organization has, the easier it can be to offer more personalized experiences. If members don’t feel like just another statistic, perhaps they will be more likely to renew.

No one wants to be a nameless, faceless number. According to the survey, respondents felt people joined their association for the networking opportunities. People like to be connected to those with common interests or professions.

The report says:

Another communication tactic that is correlated with renewal rates of 80 percent or higher is a volunteer or staff welcome phone call. Furthermore, associations showing increases in overall membership over the past year are significantly more likely to use this ‘personal service’ in the form of an in-person new member reception.

So personalization = higher renewals (in most cases). Not exactly rocket science. But small staff associations with a shortage of full-time staffers probably feel the crunch and have too little time to make a phone call to new members. This is where volunteers come in. Having volunteers call new members is not only personal, it could also help new members get acquainted with current ones.

How does your organization create a personal welcoming experience for new members?

In March, we gave four brand new Apple iPads away to four lucky winners. As the winners, each association agreed to be featured on the blog and check in with us every so often to let us and our readers know how they’re using the iPad in their operations.

Lauren, from the Association of Test Publishers, is the latest winner to check in. ATP launched its MemberClicks solution and “after many months of preparation, we pointed our old website address to our new MemberClicks website and celebrated liftoff!” (Congrats, ATP!) Lauren said the new site “was met with rave reviews — and lots of questions, which is where the iPad is coming in handy. Now that we’re online 24/7 with MemberClicks, I’ve found the iPad is an extra pair of hands in the office.” (As a small staff association, I bet ATP loves that!)

Lauren said she can keep the iPad open to MemberClicks on her desk and have the entire association at her fingertips. “Whether a member is looking for a document, a link or has any of a myriad of questions, the answers are usually right there on my iPad,” Lauren wrote. “I can pull up their records, find a file for them, or even help them edit their profile or change a permission — and basically give them instant member service on demand.”

Having the association at her fingertips has been immensely useful for Lauren, who can take care of administrative issues and then return to her desktop Mac to work on whatever she was previously doing. In fact, ATP is “about ready to elevate the iPad to the level of ‘additional staff member caliber! (Though I hope it doesn’t start asking for a raise…)”

Does your organization have an iPad? If so, how are you using it? Do you find it cumbersome to have another piece of hardware to use, or has it been beneficial?

When it comes down to it, word of mouth continues to be the best marketing tool associations have.

Shiny new social media tools, the ability to access the organization’s website on our smart phones and direct mail are all well and good, but it’s your current members who really count. A whopping 91 percent of respondents in the 2010 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report said that prospective members become aware of the organization because of word of mouth.

Last year, the top answer was the association website (85 percent), which grew to 88 percent this year, but was second to word of mouth.

What does this mean for organizations? How can they continue to create meaningful experiences for members, thus perpetuating a growth in membership?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Your members should be your best advocates. We use word-of-mouth recommendations to make other decisions in our lives, such as choosing a restaurant or an apartment complex or school district. Your organization should be no different.

No act of customer service is too small. No personal message or note is too insignificant. When you’re caught up in your day-to-day duties, it can be difficult to remember the affect the organization has on its members’ lives.

Don’t be discouraged if your organization relies on just a few full-time staffers. You don’t necessarily need to have an arsenal of staff members to create meaningful experiences for your members. If your members are on a first-name basis with all the staff members at your organization, I bet they appreciate that. Additionally, the smaller the organization, the more personal the experience can be.

Since I didn’t get the opportunity to share a few of my favorite blog posts from last week, I thought I’d take today to do so. As always there were some great blog posts around the association community. Perhaps you missed a few, or maybe you just need some extra reading material today. Either way, enjoy!

No money, mo' problems?

1. There were a few posts on ASAE’s Acronym blog specifically geared toward small staff associations, which I loved. Sue Bowman summarized a few tips for organizations that are involved in marketing on a “shoestring budget.” Some key points? Promote the members-only benefit your organization offers, and make it a priority to understand your metrics and what defines your success.

2. Jeffrey Cufuade has started a new series on his blog called Facilitation Friday. Last week’s discussed how associations can make their communities more connected. Just allowing people to convene isn’t enough. There has be additional value. All the choices organization leaders make should involve community and allowing people to connect more. After all, that’s what associations are all about.

3. As the community manager at ASHA, Maggie McGary knows a thing or two about social media and associations. And that’s why she said associations and community managers go together like PB&J — both are all about connecting people. (Sense a theme this week?) Every association is already a community. Maybe they’re not all active online yet, but who from your organization greets them when they arrive?

4. In a fantastic post on SmartBlog Insights, Shelly Alcorn wrote about governance and the problems that surround this aspect of association management. Shelly admits that governance gets a bad rap, but she writes that governance is more leadership than management — and shares how governance can become more authentic. Don’t get caught up in the politics of it all.

5. I absolutely loved Brian Reuwee’s post at the Drake Co’s blog about futbol, football and association collaboration. He discussed how countries across the world collaborate to make the World Cup an unforgettable event (although many Americans seem to forget it exists for three years at a time), while American college football conferences are in disarray due to television revenue issues. If associations look to FIFA as an example of good collaboration, it would seem that almost anything is possible.

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