Blogging for associations - benefits, strategy, content and making it work.

1. Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/evilerin/3796279865/
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2. Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebruce0/2266376897
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3. Strategy first: identify the problems/challenges this blog will solve, aspirations it will
meet and objectives it will help you and your members achieve.
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4. SEO – fresh content (dynamic), many pages (URL addresses), keywords/tags, incoming
links
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6. Showcase and promote ideas
Raise awareness of issues
Correct misperceptions/myths
Humanization of organization – friendly trusted helpful voice
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7. Provide stories that illustrate impact of legislation/regulation
Motivate members and stakeholders to action
Show how to take action
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8. Preview upcoming speakers/sessions/reports
Build buzz for events (before, during and after) – ASAE is a good example (Annual
Meeting, Great Ideas)
Success stories about members using association services/products, or being involved as
volunteers
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9. Comment function interaction, conversation with association and among readers
Spotlight members
Show lighter side of association
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10. If Board asks you to start a blog, ask them why.
Solution to not only problems but answer to aspirations
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11. Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/frenchy/5524349584/
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12. Members
•Who’s most likely to read blog? Do you know? Have you asked?
•Who’s on the periphery now that might benefit?
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13. What keeps your audience up at night?
What will help them get to where they want to be?
What will they enjoy reading or learning about?
What will amuse them?
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14. Subscribe to other association blogs, related associations, ones with similar types of
members, and industry/competitor blogs.
Who else is playing in your sandbox?
What type of content do they deliver?
How can you differentiate your brand?
How can you differentiate your content?
How might you collaborate? Blog carnivals.
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15. How blogs are different, different kind of writing
Blog is a social tool - building rapport and creating connections, telling stories
Blog personality or voice –
•human, personable
•authentic, conversational
Not an institutional or departmental voice
•No spin
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16. Team content sourcing
•No silos – cross-departmental effort – content is everyone’s job
•All ears attuned to ideas
Inventory magazine, enewsletters, website, reports, editorials, conference
presentations, file folders, binders, desk drawers, email templates – repurpose
Image: Dept of Defense
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17. Departments (like a magazine)
•Tips on certification, leadership, social media, other needs
•Young professionals (member or staff)
•Member spotlight
•Professional niches
•Commonly asked questions – ask your ‘call center’
•CEO column – your perspective
Weekly roundup of interesting stories/news/posts
Conference buzz
Before – speaker previews (Q&A, videos, links to articles/posts), crowdsource a
member panel
During – session reporters, daily tweets, photos, videos, get vendors involved;
blog party for contributors and for readers
After – continue the conversation, takeaway points, video, audio
Reports from trade shows, conferences, educational sessions
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18. Steal from your ‘family’ – national assn, other state assns – find their SMEs, interview
them if they can’t write – network with state EDs, share
What’s timely, newsy – how can you use that?
Idea collection – biggest hurdle
•Team collection – meetings, shareable doc (idea dump) – Google doc, wiki, intranet
•Get close to the member – who answers the phone, replies to emails, talks to members
– capture needs/ideas immediately
Image: American Pickers
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19. Curated posts – you decide, you filter content, bring the best forward – member
service
Summarize discussions, add your perspective
More: http://www.socialfish.org/2011/04/five-models-of-content-curation.html
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20. Single or multiple authors?
Staff
•Those at the member level are the best, know programs, know members
•Incentivize
•Skill development
•Affiliated staff (foundation, others in federation)
Members – what about vendors?
Guests – Q&A or video, if too much work for them
Supplement with freelancers – put it in the budget
Image: Mike Licht, Notionscapital (Flickr)
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21. Free Google spreadsheet or calendar to capture, manage, and share your
calendar as well as your to-be-scheduled post ideas.
Can combine with Google doc as your idea collector.
Consistency counts – more frequent, more traffic, but don’t overdo it, start 1-
2/week, build up
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22. Always collect ideas – organization-wide effort
Twitter lists - RSS
Google Alerts – RSS
Twitter hashtags on industry keywords or conferences
Always look for contributors or people to interview
Repurpose everything across platforms/channels
Finding time to write
•Turn off phone/email – give same quality time to others – cultural
acknowledgment of writing needs
•Set timer - never more than 30/mins at once
•Flow - start with rough idea, outline, messages; first narrative - no editing, flow
•Post length – keep it under 700 words (series)
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23. Are you interested in creating a dialog - a two-way conversation via comments -
with your readers?
Encourage conversation.
Call to action, questions, controversial, ask for opinion, call out a niche
Moderation
Reply to comments
Dealing with negativity – criticism vs. trolls, perils of censorship (ASAE incident)
Have guidelines somewhere.
Jamie Notter: “Err on the side of conversation.”
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24. Exercise analogy – if you value something, you’ll make achieving it a priority, give yourself the tools to
make it a habit
External/social pressure
mention blog posts/conversation elsewhere, leadership set an example, other influencers
Regular schedule/appointment
RSS feeds or emails
Reliable schedule - weekly appointment
Repeat exposure in a short time period
Intrinsic pressure or desire – inner motivation
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25. Make it easy to share your posts.
Comment on industry blogs – no spam or links
Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter - Tease with conversation bits, questions
Which other blogs complement yours?
How can you enter the dialog on these other blogs in a way that will eventually
drive traffic to your own blog?
Which LinkedIn groups might be interested in the content on your blog?
Which twitter search terms (hashtags especially) are relevant to your blog?
How will you track those search terms to find relevant conversations to join?
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26. How can you use your existing Web site to promote the new blog – one click
away on home page (obvious link, button), news section announcement, press
release?
Where does it make sense to include the blog URL on existing marketing
materials?
Where does it make sense to include the blog URL on trade show materials?
Are there instances where it would be appropriate to add the blog URL to certain
email signatures - either personal or company-authored and mass-distributed?
Could you send a mailing (email or snail mail) to your existing database to
announce the launch of the blog?
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27. Keep this simple, encourage only a few measures, hard to measure sentiment and return
on attitude, anecdotal evidence
What’s objective? How would you define success? How can you measure blog impact on
that?
Match metrics to your goals
How: Google Analytics, member surveys/polls, feedback
What:
Awareness – traffic, mentions, incoming links, subscriptions, search ranking
Marketing – clicks, outgoing traffic, ‘source’ field on forms, promo codes
Member engagement – comments, traffic, mentions, time spent on blog,
subscriptions
Member service – views for posts related to common questions, referral to blog,
comments addressing member issues
Return on Attitude
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