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.

There’s more to a (seemingly) simple e-mail campaign than you might think. Avoiding spam filters, including the right keywords in your message and striking the right tone are each important factors.

I’m willing to bet a lot of associations rely on e-mail as a main form of communication. But did you know that a 25 percent open rate is actually a good percentage in an e-mail campaign? So many people just delete e-mails without reading them (I’m guilty of it, as well), and there are a few things to keep in mind when designing an e-mail campaign.

For one thing, what’s the definition of spam? If you think spam is anything that gets automatically filtered to your junk folder, or an e-mail from a long-lost uncle in Africa who needs money immediately, think again. Spam is anything unwanted in your subscribers’ inboxes. If they don’t want it, it’s spam to them – even if it’s a perfectly legitimate newsletter or update from your organization.

Send e-mail on a regular schedule. If your members are expecting a newsletter on a certain day or at a certain time, they won’t be caught off guard and delete it without reading. Establish some sort of schedule for all your marketing e-mail.

Write from your recipients’ perspectives. When I see an unexpected e-mail in my inbox, I immediately want to know if it has information that will save me money or time, or if it offers some other benefit. With the amount of e-mail we all receive each day, there’s no room for your e-mails to contain a message that won’t get noticed.

For example, if you’re writing about your annual conference or meeting, be sure to include how it will help your members’ professional development, rather than just writing about how amazing your keynote speakers are. Include tangible examples of what benefits attendees will receive.

This should go without saying, but proofread, proofread, proofread. There’s nothing more off-putting to me than a beautifully designed e-mail riddled with typos and grammatical errors. (This may be the grammar geek in me, but I hope we can all agree that professional e-mails should be grammatically correct.) (And yes, I make mistakes as often as the next person; everyone is human!) A second set of eyes is always helpful.

Don’t be discouraged by a seemingly low open rate. E-mail, when used correctly, can be one of the most effective ways to reach people – both members and non-members.

Your organization’s data can be extremely powerful if you know how to properly harness it. Be sure you’re only keeping track of fields and guidelines you actually need. Not only create, but also executive data integrity reports. Formal trainingis absolutely necessary to be sure your organization knows how to properly use its database.

For training purposes, create a test environment. Many association management software companies will do this if they offer implementation and training. Additionally, integrating your AMS with your e-mail client (such as Outlook) can be extremely beneficial and save you a lot of time. Create one “source of truth” for your organization by eliminating shadow systems and redundant databases. Having to sort through duplicate information will only lead to frustration, and if you’re a small staff association professional, you need your AMS to save you time, not create more headaches.

Many organizations find it useful to track all volunteer activity — even non-financial and non-volunteer activity and interactions. You can use your “Notes” field to track all of your interactions with individuals, whether on a formal volunteer basis or not.

Be sure to properly utilize the tags feature. If you tag everything by topic, you should have little to no trouble finding data at a later date. By setting realistic benchmarks for data accuracy (such as performing an integrity report at regular intervals), you will ensure that your database continues to be as powerful as possible. It truly can be the backbone of your organization, if you’ll let it.

One major thing that stuck with Elyse was “Pursue success, not perception.” A database can be deceptively organized and almost tidy-looking, but if you can’t find information easily, or if you’re not tracking the right things, it can be a huge mess and a lot to sort through. And as a small staff association professional, you need your database to save you time, money and frustration.

Many small staff associations may be starting to plan their annual meetings or conventions right around now. If that’s the case for you, be sure to think about how to assess your meeting after it’s over. Otherwise, how else will you improve??

So, how do you assess your meeting?

• Staff interviews: Conduct interviews with staff members and the sales team. Through confidential, one-on-one interviews, solicit buy-in for recommendations and identify the most culturally friendly approach to achieving ABC’s goals and objectives. Interview questions will be approved in advance.
• Stakeholder interviews: Conduct interviews with stakeholders to gather information for the components of the evaluation. Interview questions will be approved in advance.
• Member interviews: Conduct interviews with ABC’s largest customers to gather information for the components of the evaluation. Interview questions will be approved in advance.
• E-surveys: Conduct e-surveys of staff members (entire association) for full organizational buy-in, stakeholders and members (those not interviewed) to further validate interview findings and gather enough data to be statistically valid to support
  recommendations for improvement.
• Benchmarking assessment of other associations with like-size and larger event
  departments.
• Sales team effectiveness assessment

Based on interviews, analysis and research, you’ll know how successful your event was and what factors to change while planning the next one.

Has your small staff association begun using social media to support its customer service efforts? Even if you haven’t, check out the below infographic from ZenDesk about how social media has affected customer service.

Interestingly, 34% of survey participants use Facebook to interact with their favorite brands. That’s a significant percentage, and one that should not be ignored.

If your organization uses social media for customer service, share your success stories or issues you’ve faced.

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