We searched the association community for paramount examples of social success. And we’ve assembled a panel of association professionals paving the way and leading the charge in exploration of collaborative technology. These social media trailblazers will share with you their user stories and each provide a unique moment of innovation to the conversation. So how does an association professional become a social media trailblazer? Here are the steps that will apply to this session: 1. Chart the course. Trailblazers are known for being innovators. They welcome problems and gain momentum by overcoming them. Start by understanding the culture of your membership, look for their needs, and be mindful of small details. Ask, will this make their professional life easier? 2. Assess the challenges and opportunities. It’s your job to know what your members need…even before they need it. 3. Look for unmovable obstacles or large roadblocks. You need to have the ability to find out which obstacles continue to hinder change and determine ways to address it. 4. Rally your team. It’s always more fun to hike with peers. Talk, share and learn the strengths of your team. Be thoughtful as you set off on your journey. 5. Enjoy the view! The results of your hard work will pay off. Watching your member engagement data grow, seeing retention rates increase and discovering new community evangelists are just the beginning. THOUGHT LEADER: John Foley, Jr. CEO interlinkONE and Grow Socially Learn more about this interactive webinar series: www.higherlogic.com/resources/learning-series.

3. REGISTER TODAY! hug.higherlogic.com/SF/Registration
READ THE TOP TEN REASONS TO ATTEND: hug.higherlogic.com/SF/Home/Top10

7. Meet Today’s Thought Leader: John Foley, Jr.
• CEO and President
• Software (SaaS)
• ilink V8: Customer Communications Management
• MAX: Marketing Automation. Executed.
• President and CMO
• Consulting for Associations
• Marketing, Strategy, Transformation
• Marketing for Associations
• Strategy: Audits, and Strategic Planning
• Online Marketing Plans: Content, Social, and SEO
• Website Development for Associations

8. Author
Buy at: JohnFoleyJr.com/Bookstore

9. I Encourage Multi-Tasking!
• Tweet
– @HigherLogic
– @JohnFoleyJr
– #HLlearn
• Ask questions!
– Use the interactive chat log
– Dialogue with attendees, me, or better yet…ask questions!
– We’ll answer as many questions as time allows :)

10. Today’s Overview
1. Chart the Course
2. Assess Challenges and Opportunities
3. Look for Unmovable Obstacles or Large Roadblocks
4. Rally Your Team
5. Enjoy the View!
6. Wrap-Up and Q&A

11. 1
Chart the Course
advisorsontarget.com
Trailblazers are known for being innovators.
They welcome problems and gain momentum by
overcoming them.
Start by understanding the culture of your
membership and look for their needs.
Ask, will this make their professional life easier?

12. Understand the Culture of Your Membership
• Demographics
• It’s a multi-channel world we live in
• What are they reading daily?
• Your members don’t all use the same type of
communication!
philmckinney.com

13. Demographics
Why Do Members Join Associations?*
• 24% for networking
• 13% for access to specialized information
• 8% for advocacy
• 8% to learn “best practices” in their profession
The experience you provide to members has
to encompass all of the above, and then some.

14. Ten Coolest Examples of
Social Networking Success
Provide Members with a Member Benefit They Can’t Live Without

15. The American Staffing Association
ASA Central

16. The American Staffing Association
Directories

17. Your Members Seek Education Differently
Drive Them to Your Community by Connecting Through Multiple Channels
I use email
I Google
everything!
I use
Twitter
I’m on
Facebook
& LinkedIn
I go straight to
my association’s
community
portal!

18. What Do Your Members Need?
• Educational Content
– White Papers
– Ebooks
– Blog Posts
– Podcasts
– Charts, Graphs, Statistics
• Resources
– Links
– Case Studies
– Videos
• A good user experience
Will this make
my professional
life easier?
memix.com

19. Ten Coolest Examples of
Social Networking Success
Exceptional User Experience for Members

20. California Society of Association Executives

21. California Society of Association Executives
Website + Community = Member Experience

22. California Society of Association Executives
Website + Community = Member Experience

23. 2
Assess Challenges and Opportunities
It’s your job to know what your
members need
…even before they need it!
Thinkpoint.wordpress.com

24. Thought Leadership
• YOU are a thought leader (whether you realize it or not!)
thought lead·er
noun
An individual or firm that is recognized as an authority in a
specialized field and whose expertise is sought and often
rewarded. wikipedia
• This is why you have members! They look to you for the
answers.

25. Ten Coolest Examples of
Social Networking Success
Hosting Relevant Conversations on a Community Site

26. The American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordination
AANAConnect

27. The American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordination
Use Discussions for Post-Webinar Engagement

28. Sharing
• Sharing is caring! :)
• Encourage members to share knowledge and
content in the communities
• Highlight what they share to other members as a way to thank
them for sharing AND to encourage other members to share!
• The more you show off your members and thank them for what
they do, the more you can encourage future sharing!
dashburst.com

29. Ten Coolest Examples of
Social Networking Success
Remind Members of Their Hard Work

30. Association of Corporate Contributions Professionals
LINK Birthday Card – Side One

31. Association of Corporate Contributions Professionals
LINK Birthday Card – Side Two

32. Association of Corporate Contributions Professionals
LINK

33. Manage Challenges and Opportunities
Ask yourself:
Do I want to be an active or passive part of
the future of this organization?

34. Ten Coolest Examples of
Social Networking Success
Cultivate Volunteer Leaders

35. The American Society of Association Executives
Volunteer Town Square

36. The American Society of Association Executives
Volunteer Town Square

37. 3
Look for unmovable obstacles
or large roadblocks
Find out which obstacles
continue to hinder change and
determine ways to address it
Huffingtonpost.com

38. Ten Coolest Examples of
Social Networking Success
Think Out of The Box to Get Members
Excited About Your Community Site

39. The Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses
ashpo

40. The Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses
Engagement Puzzle – Promo Poster

41. Content
• Where does content come from?
– Member evangelists
– Writers in your association
• Look beyond the obvious marketing/communications folks!
– Publications (yes…you wrote it already!)
– Freelance writers
• WritersAccess.com
• Elance.com
• Reuse/Recycle!
coursera.org

42. If You Write It…They Will Come…
Or Will They?
• You know what assuming does… 
• TELL members what to do
• LURE prospective members in
• Content must have perceived value
• PLAN!
• Overcome objections early and often  use an automated marketing
campaign

43. Ten Coolest Examples of
Social Networking Success
Auto-Subscribe all members to the community

44. The Society for Human Resource
Management
SHRM Connect

45. Acquisition does not
have to be so hard!
• You have to give to get! …yes, give it away
• Most members discover associations through:
– word-of-mouth recommendations (86%)  They communicated the value to
others
– the association website (80%)  They came to you for valuable content
– email (66%)  You reached them with something of value
• See the pattern here…? It’s all about your greatest asset: education!
*MGI 2013

46. Ten Coolest Examples of
Social Networking Success
Engage at Your Annual Conference

47. The International Franchise Association
FranSocial

48. The International Franchise Association
FranSocial – Articles in Member Pubs

49. The International Franchise Association
FranSocial Launch – Professional Photographer

50. The International Franchise Association
FranSocial Launch Party

51. Events
• Use events to engage, connect, and gain member and non-
member participation
• Focus the conversation pre-event
• Use supporting content from the presenters/educators in
pre-event marketing

52. Ten Coolest Examples of
Social Networking Success
Use Collaborate Software to Support Your Event Sites
Better yet…connect them on the same software!

53. American Society of Health-System Pharmacists
Annual Conference Microsite

54. Advisory Panels
• Allow members to help overcome obstacles by setting up
committees for them to participate in
• Panels allow for membership representation and buy-in
• Those on advisory panels can help shape the future of your
association

55. Ten Coolest Examples of
Social Networking Success
Facilitate Networking Relationships

56. The Association for Professionals in Infection
Control and Epidemiology
MyAPIC

57. The Association for Professionals in Infection
Control and Epidemiology
APIContact

58. Your community site should serve as the hub
of all conversations.
Use public social networks to drive traffic to
your private social network.
When Do I Use Public Social Media Channels?

59. Social Media Statistics
1 BILLION+
users
400 MILLION+
tweets daily
400
MILLION+
users
80
MILLION+
users
12
MILLION+
users
72+ hours of
videos uploaded
each minute
2 MILLION+
searches
each minute

60. Social Marketing
Social media marketing focuses on sharing content that attracts attention and
encourages readers to share it.

61. More than PR! Focus on Conversations
• Twitter
– Hashtags
– Retweets
– Twitter Chats
• Facebook:
– Questions/Polls
– Invite Comments!
• LinkedIn
– Groups
– Discussions
• Blog – Posts and Comments

62. Why Should You Care?
Members

63. Here’s How Social Media Can Help YOU
• Build Awareness and Thought-Leadership
• Generate Inquiries and Qualified Membership Leads
• Create Happy Members  Higher Level of Member Service

68. 4
Rally Your Team
It’s always more fun to hike with peers.
Talk, share and learn the strengths of
your team.
Be thoughtful as you set off on your
journey.

69. Educate and Share
• See a great article on LinkedIn?
– Share it!
• Inspired to write a new post for your community?
– Collaborate
• Host internal Lunch-and-Learn events with guest speakers

70. Overcome Challenges!
• Challenge: Insufficient Staff
• Solution: Volunteers and Freelancers – Psst outsource?
• Challenge: Association Perception
• Solution: Staff and Member Enthusiasts
• Challenge: Lack of a Marketing Strategy (Content, Acquisition,
etc)
• Solution: Staff Retreat and Write It Together!

71. 5
Enjoy the View
The results of your hard work will pay off!
Watching your member engagement data
grow, seeing retention rates increase and
discovering new community evangelists are
just the beginning.
addicted2success.com

72. Questions…?
• We’ll start with the questions that were asked
ahead of the session
• New questions? Get ready to raise those hands!

73. 6
Wrap-Up
TO BECOME THE NEXT
SUCCESS STORY!

74. Let’s Connect!
LinkedIn.com/in/JohnFoleyJr JohnFoleyJr.com
Twitter.com/JohnFoleyJr MarketWithMAX.com
interlinkONE.com GrowSocially.com

75. Get involved!
Submit your idea at:
http://ilink.me/HLSocial

76. medschoolcoach.com