It would never have occurred to me a decade ago–or even five years ago–that in 2023 I’d still be writing about social media still being considered a shiny new thing to associations, or that associations would still be grappling with, essentially, social media 101. But of course, it should have occurred to me because what’s […]
Why Every Association Exec Needs to Read The State of Community Management Report
Hellloooo there! Been about a million minutes since I last posted here–or anywhere, other than my journal–but I guess that’s what happens when you become your own boss. It’s been a wild year to say the least, but kind of an awesome one. I’ll save the long story for another time, but short story: I’m […]
What Associations Can Learn From Journalism about Membership and Engagement
Remember when I wrote about how journalism was scrambling to find a sustainable path forward as brands continue to shift their ad spend to digital giants Facebook and Google? And how that path forward is the same one that associations have always relied on: membership? Well, it’s been about 18 months and the Membership Puzzle […]
21st Century Communication Strategies for Associations: Integrating Video, Social Media, and The Next Thing
Happy summer! Hope yours is going better than mine so far. : / A few weeks ago, I led a DC-area Idea Swap about 21st century communication strategies for associations, so figured I’d repurpose it here for those of you not in the DC area. I hate powerpoint so figured I’d try something new–Wakelet–to curate […]
What associations need to know about Facebook’s new political content rules
Ah Facebook…always looking for new/better ways to be transparent and to protect our security. That’s why they’ve implemented this…oh, sorry, that’s not it–that’s just the billionth time they “accidentally” changed users’ sharing settings to public. Last week. But they’re sorry, obvi, because they a whole commercial promising that they’re going to do better to protect […]
Associations: It’s Time to Embrace Remote Work
You should write a blog post about this! It’s an insight that I think would be good to expand on. — Ernie Smith (@ErnieSmithAN) June 4, 2018 When one of your favorite writers suggests you should write a blog post about something, what do you do? Obviously, you write it, even if your brand new […]
Steal Like a Fundraiser: Innovations in Cause-Oriented Fundraising for Associations
Guest post by Sohini Baliga, Director of Communications, Taxpayers for Common Sense, and Elizabeth Weaver Engel, M.A., CAE, CEO & Chief Strategist, Spark Consulting LLC Associations don’t always have all the answers (we know, you’re shocked). We definitely have some major advantages, not the least of which is that we are highly a cooperative and collaborative […]
Sunset an association’s community? Community IS the association
It’s been a minute since I’ve written about my all-time favorite topic: online community for associations. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking (aka obsessing) about it though…for better or for worse, depending which way you look at that 🙂 Even though I’ve recently switched over to the “dark side” (although it’s the brightest dark […]
What Associations Need to Know About Facebook’s API Changes
Ah, Facebook–that social network I love to hate, even though my career kind of depends on using it. For those of us in the association and nonprofit sectors, Facebook just got a lot harder to use effectively with the announcement that they’ve changed their API and eliminated the ability to modify link previews when posting […]
Include Is a Verb: Moving from Talk to Action on Diversity and Inclusion
This is a guest post by Sherry Marts, PhD, President and CEO, S*Marts Consulting Association executives know that the Millennial generation, which will soon be the majority of our workforce and membership base, is the most diverse generation we’ve ever had in the US. And the yet-to-be-named generation coming up behind them is even more so. […]