Happy Friday, everyone! We hope everyone has had a good, productive and fulfilling week. In keeping with our Friday tradition, below are five our of favorite blog posts from the last week in the association community.

1. Jeffrey Cufaude shares 10 tips for engaging a volunteer community. Small staff associations likely have to rely on volunteers for many things due to limited resources, so this list is definitely a must-read!

2. How do big brands manage social media? Maddie Grant shared a great – long! – video about how large brands manage their social media efforts. There’s also a conversation about social media management systems. Of course, most nonprofits and small staff associations likely do not have those types of resources, but there are always lessons to be learned and idea for how to scale your own efforts.

3. Could your association implement social dining? Deirdre Reid examines the concept and gives some great background info. (I kept comparing it to the speed dating concept in my head as I read.) Although your organization might have to rely on volunteers, social dining could be a fun member meet-up.

4. Pinterest really is everywhere right now – even on association blog! KiKi L’Italien shares how nonprofits and associations can utilize the popular pinning social network. You may already be familiar with the social network for personal use, but KiKi shares great tips for how your association can get involved. The best tip? Make your content pin-friendly.

5. Aaron Wolowiec shared feedback from one of his quotes from LSAE: There is no such thing as constructive criticism. Does “real” constructive criticism exist, or is it simply criticism cloaked in good intentions? There are great lessons here for all leaders and managers – the first being, to give positive feedback first, then follow it up with things that could use improvement.

From everyone at MemberClicks, have a great weekend!

Happy Friday! What’s everyone doing for the Super Bowl? Will you be watching the commercials, the game or both – or neither? I’m excited for a football-themed road race Sunday morning, brunch with friends and then cheering on my team in the game that night! Even if you’re not a football enthusiast, I hope your weekend will be spent happily, with friends and family.

Before you start loading up on queso and buffalo chicken dip this weekend (or is that just me?), don’t miss five of our fave association blog posts from this week. Share your own favorites in the comments!

1. Aaron Wolowiec writes about a topic near and dear to my heart: millennials. The oldest baby boomers turn 65 this year, and  Aaron asks if millennials are willing to step up and lead associations. Yes, this younger (and large!) generation wants to make a difference in the world, but Aaron asks if they are interested in the “generalist lifestyle,” or if they want to become experts in one particular field instead.

2. Is your association’s member recruitment strategy effective? Erik D. Schonher shares a great list of how you can structure a well-designed membership recruitment strategy. Our favorite? Keep in mind that an initial investment today, even if it incurs a loss in present day dollars, if done correctly can acquire essential knowledge to refine future acquisitions and set the stage for long-term organizational growth.

3. Google’s attempt at a Facebook and/or Twitter replacement can no longer be ignored by association professionals – no matter how small your association. Deirdre Reid provides info on Google’s new algorithm and how not being on Google+ can negatively affect where you appear in search results. Is your small staff on Google+?

4. If you’re into technology for associations and not reading Wes Trochlil’s blog, you should absolutely add it to your reading list. His post this week on parallel processing included great, practical info. Wes says he always advises his clients to not engage in parallel processing, and explains why here.

5. David M. Patt advises association professionals that, while social media isn’t a silver bullet, it’s still a great tool. Social media adds to the marketing mix, it doesn’t replace everything in it, David writes. Wise words to remember when so many sources are proclaiming that social media is the be-all, end-all of marketing.

Good morning and happy Friday! Let’s get right to our favorite blog posts of the week; be sure to share your own faves in the comments!

1. Maddie Grant shares findings from a Conversocial study indicating that nearly 50% of consumers would be less likely to buy anything from a company with multiple unanswered questions on their Facebook page. I can speak from experience that although social customer service is annoying and difficult, it can speak positively about your brand in spades.

2. Got an interview via Skype coming up? Don’t miss Cindy Butts’ great tips – the most important one, for me, is to actually know how to use Skype before the interview. I had that issue about a year and a half ago, but luckily, everything worked out – and I got the job.

3. At the Acronym blog, Mark Athitakis references an interesting NYT article and asks: Are we suffering from teamwork fatigue? Lots of research suggests that people are actually more creative on their own due to the “groupthink” mentality. Read the comments on this one too.

4. Jamie Notter wrote a very interesting post about Humanize and millennials this week. As a millennial myself, I found it particularly interesting. Do milliennials bring a fresh perspective to the workplace, or will they (we?) become accustomed to the same practices that generations before us have used?

5. When brainstorming and strategizing, do you truly get down “in the trenches” and nurture your ideas? Jeffrey Cufaude shares a great metaphor – water your ideas like a garden. Just like plants need nurturing, so do your ideas.

From everyone at MemberClicks, have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Friday from all of us at MemberClicks! What are you doing this weekend? (Personally, I’m all about the NFL playoffs!) Whatever your plans, I hope there’s adequate relaxation and recharging!

As usual, we’re sharing some of our fave association blog posts from the community today. What were your favorite blog posts this week?

1. Aaron Wolowiec asked fellow association professionals and/or consultants how they prepare their speakers and educators at meetings. If associations are supposed to be curators, they should take an active role in shaping speakers to be successful at their particular event or conference.

2. Is your small-staff association purpose-driven? Jeffrey Cufaude shares several reasons why now, more than ever, associations and their leaders need to be purpose-driven, not fear-driven.

3. Tony Rossell shares some great information about membership marketing benchmarks and setting up expectations. All “good” results are relative – he shares the example that 72 degrees is a good temperature if you want to go for a walk but not if you want to have a cook-out. Be sure to take context into consideration when determining whether a benchmark for your association is good or not.

4. Facebook has come a long way from a social network exclusively for college kids and is now a mainstream part of our culture. Jeff Hurt shares some great ways to increase engagement on your association’s Facebook page – and a lot of these things are easy to do! One big one: post daily. Posting once a day is a great way to keep your association out there but not create fatigue among its Facebook fans.

5. Is your association in tune with what is going on with its membership? Shelly Alcorn shares a few dismaying stories from her community to remind everyone to foster a zero-tolerance atmosphere in your association. This is quite a thoughtful topic that probably doesn’t get as much attention as it should.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Friday! Here at MemberClicks, we’re enjoying a delicious barbecue lunch in honor of Alabama’s 2011 college football national championship. (Our founder, Thomas Howard, is a proud Bama alum.)

All college sports talk aside, it was a great week in the association community! Here are a few of our favorite posts from around the blogosphere.

1. Wes Trochlil always shares great, practical advice – particularly about databases, which we’re definitely interested in. This week, he shared a wonderful example of collecting data you don’t use  (such as fax numbers!). Stop collecting that stuff and simplify your databases!

2. Shelly Alcorn relates an unfortunate customer service incident at a popular bookseller. This is a reminder that your customer service processes should be as simple as possible. Don’t over-complicate things for your members.

3. Does your association make it clear to its volunteers that they are representatives of the organization? David M. Patt reminds us why that’s so important, and why they should exhibit the same levels of professionalism and sense of responsibility as your staff members.

4. It’s always hard to decide when to let someone else fail, Jeffrey Cufaude writes. However, do we even have the right to make those decisions? Jeffrey explores this question in a wonderful blog post this week.

5. You may be familiar with one of the latest social media platforms – Pinterest – but do you know why it could be important for nonprofits and associations? Those of you who are visual learners especially will find Pinterest – a virtual pinboard and scrapbooking tool – interesting.

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