Usually when something starts that way, it usually means that it will offend & this might, but I have something I have to get off my chest.

The more visibility I receive via speaking gigs, articles, etc. the more consultants and vendors I have calling me up, just asking for a “minute of my time” to discuss social media. Nine times out of ten they are trying to pump me for my “secret social media sauce” because they don’t know about the tools. They talk about all this potential of social media and how they’re incorporating it into their businesses, but for the most part I can tell they’re just trying to get information from me.

This makes me angry b/c there is only one real secret to social media… Participation.

My advice to those vendors & consultants that are trying to ride the new wave in associations is to participate. Through participation in social media, you’ll actually learn what your customers want.

Us association folk have to do the same thing to reach our members, it’s only fair that they do the same.

~Lynn

P.S. I am making broad generalizations about the consultants & vendors I have randomly calling me up. There are MANY consultants & vendors that understand these tools & participate in the community of association people. But, for those association folk that are new to social media, please remember that just because a consultant says they do social media, doesn’t mean they actually participate. You’re best bet for a genuine referral (should you want to bring in a consultant) is to read the different association blogs, see who is mentioned, see who is linked to, ask the association people that do participate.

I just received my Smart Brief on Social Media in my inbox. I always enjoy the Wednesday’s poll, but this week is a little disturbing to me.

They asked “Should users of social networks maintain separate personas, one for business and another for their personal life?”

My answer: No.

Why? Because if you’re trying to keep your work & personal personas separate online, you’re doing nothing but trying to kid yourself. Privacy really doesn’t exist anymore and if that scares you, I’m sorry, but we are in an era of transparency where your actions will be seen. If you have something to hide, then maybe you shouldn’t be doing it? Just a thought.

What disturbed me is that as of 1:30pm 50% (YES 50%!) said “Yes, absolutely. Keep business and personal separate.”

I hate to break it to this 50%, but you will be found. I could definitely be called a hypocrite considering I have both a personal & profession Facebook profile as well as a separate Twitter account for work. Call me a hypocrite, it’s okay, because I wrestle with this too.

I wish I didn’t have two. The Facebook profile was a COMPLETE mistake, though it does keep me from accidentally dropping an F-Bomb in a place where my HR department could see it. My Twitter account on the other hand I see as two brands of myself. I share personal information on both, but what I would call my “personal brand account” (@MissLynn13) has way different content than my “work brand account” (@AAPALynn). I don’t hide that I’m both personas, but they are separate because they are speaking to two different audiences. Think of it like segmenting your email marketing. It’s not personal vs. professional, it’s that I know PAs aren’t really going to care about the latest in association news. I’d love to only have one, it would make my day job that much easier, but the separation is a good thing.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s okay to have two accounts, but the personal & the professional should be in both. Don’t leave one out, because if you do, you’re cutting out a large portion of yourself.

Okay, so I think we’ve involved enough in social media within the association world to say that there are some things we shouldn’t be doing. A lot of these are from the perspective that my organization uses social media as an engagement tool and NOT a broadcast channel. Our focus is on the value of participation, which probably colors my opinion. After you read my list, I’d love for you to weigh in as well.

1. Social Media is NOT a broadcast channel – I find a lot of brands on Twitter (or representatives of brands) are broadcasting things out. Broadcasting needs to be balanced with actual engagement. There is nothing wrong with announcing something, but if you aren’t eliciting feedback, then why would anyone want to listen to you?

2. Social Media is NOT about making money – I think associations are struggling on the ROI (especially if they don’t have a white-label network with ad space), but whether or not you are able to turn a profit, turning a profit should not be your main goal. If it is, then you need to re-evaluate why you are engaging in these conversations. It’s about building relationships, not about soliciting donations. I heard that the Obama campaign didn’t solicit a donation until the 5th time they made contact with you, meaning that you had already established a relationship with them when they asked for donations, meaning you were more likely to donate b/c you hadn’t opt-ed out yet. As with any form of online marketing you need to cultivate a relationship first, then see in what ways those relationships can be leveraged to further your association goals and ROI.

3. Social Media is NOT about telling your audience what they want – The whole point is to listen, so hush up until you have a reason to respond. Find out what your customers/members are saying about you, not tell them what they should be saying.

4. Social Media is NOT about you – I find that the most valuable resources in social media come from individuals that care more about their community than their own celebrity. You can have an opinion (in fact it’s encouraged), but thinking about your community first (especially for associations) is imperative.

5. Social Media is NOT about your canned responses – No longer are we in the days of generic, unauthentic, canned responses. It’s about being real & listening to your customers/members and providing them with a real response.

Those are a few of my personal guidelines, feel free to disagree, but I think we’ve come to a point where there are things you should or should not do.

(Btw, I fully realize this could cause some backlash b/c the general feel is that there is no right or wrong way to do social media)

~Lynn

Lindy Dreyer recently posted about social media teams.I was originally going to comment and then realized I had more to say than a comment would really do justice to.

She’s written an interesting post and I think it speaks to how social media should be run in an organization. It shouldn’t just be one person, because it affects everybody (much like marketing or a website), but a team that works together. You may have someone who does the primary implementation or an “expert” on staff for guidance, but it really should be a team effort.

I do have to say that it is easier said than done though. Here’s why I think so…

1. Silos – It’s not a big secret that associations have silos, we try to be open & communicative, but it’s usually the smaller staffs that are able to accomplish it just because the volume of work is smaller. Downside is that there could be less content. A lot of times the social media person needs to be getting content from the other departments to push out and it can becoming more of a trying to pull content out of other departments.

2. Employee apathy – I’ve been told by colleagues what a waste of time or an annoyance they think certain tools are, but then they still want the benefits of  the channel. That lack of dedication to understanding the tools can put the social media person in a position where they have to decide do they take it on or do they let the apathetic employee move forward, which could potentially damage what has been built.

3. Lack of knowledge – It takes time to learn how to use these tools properly, it also takes dedication to maintain the connections that you build. We do internal learning classes (taught by me), but I’ve found that some take to tools more quickly than others. When teaching classes I try to come at it from a personal perspective, because if someone understands how a tool benefits them personally, they then can more easily translate that into business purposes. This also usually results in increased dedication to using the tools & their postings have a bit more heart & personality.

Using the social media team (or community manager) to empower employees to speak on behalf of the association is the ultimate goal, I’d love to have it that way, but from my experience the reality is that your social media team has to act as “gatekeepers” (at least in the beginning) because though everyone wants the benefits of social media exposure, they don’t want to add another thing to their plate or they don’t have the time to learn the tools.

My job then becomes trying to pull the content out of different departments. I try to coordinate with others to create allies, but it can be difficult. Just as community building takes time with social media tools, it takes just as much time internally.

Coordinating can also be difficult across a large team. One thing I’m always very aware of is trying not to overwhelm our channels with content. There are only so many Facebook status updates one should do in a day on a Fan Page, so you have to balance your content. Sometimes things get pushed ahead, sometimes things need to be held, etc.

Though I think Lindy is right on about how it should be, I think it can be very difficult to do such a thing.

Volkswagen is embracing the “fun”, so why shouldn’t you?

If associations embraced the fun more, imagine how we could change the world.

It was time to update the blog, it’s been a year now that I’ve been posting directly to this and I needed a refresh. So take a look if you’re curious.

Also I’m coming to the conclusion that I don’t know if I have the time for SNAP anymore, which was the basis for the previous visual design. I never login anymore or do any of the things that made the network valuable. Though I think it had the potential to be something great, once I took my current position at AAPA, it’s hard to keep up with it all and maintain any sort of personal life.

So I guess this is the first step of separating this blog from the network and make it that much more personal and reflective of me. It’s sad, but I think it’s the only right if I no longer have the time.

So I’ve noticed a few of my fellow association community managers are flying the coup lately. Both that I know personally are moving to work with consulting companies. I don’t know the full details of their positions, but is this mass exodus a sign of something? (I say mass exodus, because that’s around 1% of the known social media specialist workforce in association land)

I also know that there is an article coming out in the November Associations Now which features 3 community managers & their first six months on the job. Well two of those three have left (I believe they are the same two that I know directly). Having a little bit of inside info on the situations I wasn’t shocked when I heard the news, but I think these happenings say something about the way community specialists are treated within associations.

In general, social media specialists aren’t fully understood. Why should they be, they are specialists in what they do, meaning not everyone is as versed in what they do as they are. At the same time though, I don’t think they are as respected as other specialists, partly because social media/networking really does cross that personal-professional boundary a lot of the times. A social media specialist spends their time on websites that most of us use for fun.

But social media specialists are more than that. In essence, they are community builders and have learned how to use specific online tools to do just that. They’ve crafted their listening skills and learned how to respond to situations when appropriate. A social media specialist or community manager (I’ve been using these terms interchangeably in this post) is someone who has taken the time to learn social media tools inside & out. They understand content, how to inspire it as well as find it. They understand the language of the web. I just wish they were given a little more freedom to do what they do best.

P.S. Yes, I am a community manager/social media person at an association (obviously), sometimes I feel the way I’m talking about and sometimes I don’t. There are common themes in the complaints though that social media specialists talk about, mainly the focus on trying to control, lack of understanding, funding support, etc. These may be things that affect a lot of individuals in the association world at large. I’d just like to open the dialog a bit about the role social media specialists play in the big picture, b/c I feel social media specialists have the opportunity to break down the silos that we all try to operate around.

Update 3:15pm: The fabulous Maddie Grant has a post relating to her article called “3 Examples of Initial Steps taken by New Association Community Managers” over on her SocialFish blog, you can also read the AssociationsNow article as well.

So every week there is #assnchat (that’s a special code on Twitter that means Association Chat in case you were curious) and every week I debate participating. I have once or twice before, but the hurdle for me is that they use Twitter to do it.

I love my community of association professionals I interact with, BUT they are noisy enough without adding a chat to the mix. I know everyone has their own preference of how they interact & digest content, I just wonder if I’m a bad community member by not participating?

Sometimes I feel like I’m missing out on it, but other times when I do peek at what’s going on I don’t. It almost seems like too many people participate and the 140 characters is a little too limiting for a chat functionality. I like the idea of it, but the tool doesn’t work for me.

Same goes for the ASAE Collaborate site (at least that’s what I think it’s called). Honestly, I don’t visit ever really. The only times I visit are when I receive a personal message or a connection request. Other than that I don’t visit b/c I really have no need to and I don’t know what the direct value is to me. I prefer to connect with my fellow members on the channels I already use. There are enough sites I have to read, enough profiles I have to update w/o having another.

Yet with that said, am I obligated to participate? My initial reaction is no, but at the same time I question whether or not this makes me a “bad” community member. Not that I do anything wrong, just that I’m not giving enough. Thoughts?

I’m sure everyone has seen the commercials with Woody for TGIFridays. If he reached a certain number of Fans by the end of the month, then everyone would get a free Jack Daniels Burger or Chicken Sandwich. Well the boyfriend & I eat there a lot and the JD burger or chicken sandwich is usually what he orders, so I figure why not participate? It’ll be a free meal for him, plus it’s interesting seeing social media campaigns from the customer perspective, it makes me a better marketer.

So I signed up, so did over 950,000 other people. Then I receive the email this week with my coupon… (It goes downhill from here)

First thing I notice is that this coupon is only good from October 4th (a Sunday) through October 8th (a Thursday), that’s annoying.

Next, when I go to print my coupon, I have to install software on my computer. Not really cool to me, but install anyways, I can always uninstall later, right?

Finally, I went on to the Fan Page (http://www.facebook.com/fanwoody) and there were a ton of negative comments. I’d say the comments were almost 50/50 – positive/negative, yet no sign from the admins responding to questions.

Here are my issues & why Fridays gets a big #fail from me:

1. Limitations on the coupon. So you hype us all up with the promise of free tastiness, then when it comes time to redeem that tastiness you put a huge restriction on the time that it is valid. I didn’t see anything like that in the original commercial and don’t give me that “fine print” BS. Fine print is for tricking your customers, not for building relationships.

2. No comments from Woody about this. Okay, well Woody himself probably wouldn’t respond, it would be a PR or Marketing person from TGIFridays. Well leading up to all of this “Woody” was pretty active, posting pictures of his travels, trying to hype us all up for burgery-goodness, yet when the promotion is done, little is being said.

3. Apparently there are issues with people not receiving their coupons, so they are offering a second chance to make sure you get it between 10/4 – 10/6. Good for them to make sure it wasn’t false advertising, here’s the problem though: Those dates are 2 out of the 4 dates that the damn coupon in valid!

Final Thoughts: If TGIFridays wants to play in this space, then they need to take a risk & actually have a conversation. Don’t try to dupe your customers into becoming a fan with the promise of free stuff then put major restrictions on when that bonus can be used. It’s just not good customer service.

Will the boyfriend & I use the coupon? Maybe, not 100% b/c the weekends are usually when we go out to eat. It would be a good brand builder for them to allow me to use the coupon when I am able. How about any time during the month of October? That would at least allow me ample time to use the reward.

A side note – When I commented on the Fan Page, other fans commented as well (most were flamers) about me complaining about getting a free burger. Well what I’m complaining about are the restrictions, restrictions don’t build relationships, happiness does. Make your customers happy & they’ll keep coming back.

1. Virtual Conferencing will never fully take off

Why? Because they are a little too much like role-playing games. Remember when the Sims where really popular? It didn’t last too long because the novelty of avatar-based interaction only really engage a small percentage over the long term.

2. Associations will start piling on the apps

Why? Smart phones are a part of every day life now, and I think like outposting strategies, associations will want to capitalize on the things members use in their daily life.

3. More associations will see the value of the cloud

Why? As more people start to telecommute and netbooks become more popular, the cloud offers an effective way to keep all your information in one place. WebEx Connect is a tricked out cloud software that makes me drool when I think about using it. Check it out if you haven’t yet.

4. Rolling out the Macs

Why? Though I think most associations will stay with Microsoft, most web based positions will start to recognize that Macs are an effective tool for accomplishing the job with fewer complications. And if you have a competent IT department your Mac can live friendly in an PC environment.

5. Here comes the open source!

Why? Associations are going to need to become more flexible, nimble and stable. The use of open source software (such as Firefox on work computers & Joomla! or Drupal as a CMS) will become more prevalent to support these goals.

So what other things do you think are coming down the Association technology pike?

~Lynn