The WAV Group just posted a new white paper on marketing--'edutizing', as they call it. I've written an article on why AE's should read the white paper--go here to read the article. And go here to download the WAV Group white paper.
I’ve been reading about a new software program for associations called “Socious”. This program is designed to help associations bring all the functions of social networking together under one designer umbrella which is unique and personalized to your association.
Imagine yourself on a crowded city street in a rainstorm. While others are jumping from one awning to another to escape the sudden downpour, you whip out your umbrella. It’s large and protective, and it comes with your name woven into the fabric. You walk serenely through the storm around you.
Ok, ok, it’s a fanciful image—and probably a little tortured, too. But I wanted to share what I think is the vision for the Socious software package: while the rest of the association world is all hyped about social networking and wringing its collective hands about which tool to use, the folks at Socious are trying to put it all under one roof (or umbrella, as it were) and integrate social networking into the association’s unique brand and daily management activities.
I will tell you at the outset that I don’t know anything more about Socious than what I can read on the company website and they don’t know me at all. I’m not selling for them, or endorsing the software—I don’t even know how much it costs. What I am doing is illustrating what is possible with social media that’s packaged in the association wrapping paper and handed to you in a tidy box. I sure hadn’t thought about some of these applications, so it’s fascinating to read about what the product developers have envisioned.
The first thing the software does is integrate with the association membership database. Now that may not be so easy in a NRDS environment (the Realtor answer to membership database), but if it is, it means that all the various programs are built on the data exchange with the membership records. Sweet!
For instance: members can easily search the database by keywords, geography, or anything else in the database. And they can see the data which appropriate to their needs—this will become clear later, but suffice it to say that there is the ability to have general membership viewing (financial reports, for instance) and limited viewing (budget worksheets).
Socious provides each member with all of the social networking basics: a profile page, a blog, whatever. Each member can integrate info from other places like Facebook into his Socious association site. The member can also control who accesses his information—only designated people, or all association members. The blogs can allow comments and discussions as well—so, for instance, if a member wanted to blog about how to market a house that is located next to an undesirable property, the member could start an online discussion through a blog post.
Within the software committees, special interest sections, and committees can set up individual communities. This seems to me to be a cool feature: the communities can set up secure sections where only designated groups can go (there might be an association legislative committee site where the general member can read about specific legislation, and committee members only could go to a secure area for discussion and analysis of an issue). But I was also thinking that in the Realtor organization members might wish to set up a site based on a specific pending real estate transaction, which would permit designated stakeholders to place information like inspection reports and appraisals—a kind of transaction management application, if you will).
The Socious software also allows for the establishment of media libraries. The association could of course have an educational media library for members, but the members might also want to establish their own personal media library (of listings, or home tours, or documents) which might or might not be shared with others. The program also has another useful function: issues tracking. This ability would be most helpful for following developments on legislative issues or areas of member concern like a search for a new lockbox or MLS vendor.
Socious also has an integrated polling and survey function, and participants can see immediate results (“Only 11% of those voting favor a dues increase!”). The polls can be general, or target to a specific audience—say, members who have joined the association since 2008.
Another cool application is integrated calendars. These can be targeted or general: you might use them to announce committee functions or the association Christmas party. And a member might set up a calendar function for a closing.
And finally, Socious has a function that I think associations have neglected far too long: it allows you to establish wikis. Wikis are a social networking tool based on collaboration: use them to make to-do lists, frequently asked questions, help guides, and tracking large multi-participant projects—like designing a new set of MLS rules.
Again, I’m not advocating Socious software as a solution for your organization. But I am saying that studying what this software package can do gives Realtor Associations a good model for using social media to accomplish the following:
A. provide a central news network for general and specialized functions
B. provide member communications with List Servers , forums, and special interest groups
C. members, staff, and leaders can express themselves through blogs and discussions
D. information libraries established by members and/or the association staff (all of which is searchable)
E. group, user, and organizational calendaring
F. polls and surveys
G. track issues, and allow for voting and comments
H. manage large and small events
The other aspect of this software that attracted my attention is that while it is association-centered , it also makes available many tools which I can see that our members would use within their professional lives to do business more effectively. It’s unique, I think, to find applications which are useful as association management tools and still provide membership business functionality.
Of course you as an association exec can use existing social networking tools to do all of this, and most of those tools have their free versions. But in presentations to AEs, when I talk about using social media as a tool to build community I often see you rolling your eyes heavenward and here you whisper “Gah! I have no time for Tweeting and Facebooking and wiki-ing. I gotta complete the dues billing. I can’t log in to 15 different sites every day!”
Well, here it is, friends, social networking under one umbrella with your name on it. And if you aren’t ready to make the total investment, at least try walking through the social networking puddles and get your feet wet.
Jul. 2, 2009 - Doughnuts with the Crash Test Dummies
“I dunno,” she said, rolling her eyes heavenward. “I mean, social networking is all the THING! Even Oprah does it! But I can’t get 20 members to show up for a seminar on Twitter and Facebook. And it’s free, even, and I had doughnuts. My members are just so lethargic!”
I look at the flyer advertising the class. “Learn To Tweet!” it says. “Free Seminar. Doughnuts Served.”
A Twitter target market? I ask myself, and I envision a roomful of Krispy Kremes and overweight teenagers with sugar on their lips and hyperactive thumbs. I certainly can’t imagine a classroom of 40-year old real estate professionals with Blackberries in the pockets of their navy blue blazers or Kate Spade handbags.
As a writer, I work best when I can envision my audience—I find myself constructing a composite image, an Annie Audience who will be responding to what I put on the page. I want to have her in the room with me, looking over my shoulder and commenting. “Why should I go to the seminar? I’m very busy. Why should I care about Twits or Tweets or whatever? What good will it do me in my profession? I sell real estate, for heaven’s sake. And I’m on a diet, besides.”
Recently I began working on the content for an online leadership course. “Who’s it for?” I asked my client. “Oh, new leaders,” he replied vaguely.
“Like members who are presidents-elect?” I said.
“Oh, no, it’s for anyone.” And after a moment, “Anyone who might want to be a leader in the association.”
Now, ‘anyone in the association’ is pretty broad, I think. Even ‘anyone who might want to be a leader’ doesn’t narrow it down much. And there’s a fairly wide gap between someone who has a faint notion that it might be ‘nice’ to be a member of the board of directors and a president-elect who has responded to The Call, who has become committed to spending a few years of her life in the service of the association.
I asked my client to give me a scenario of how this course might be used: who would the participant be, what circumstances would direct the member to this course, and what would the expected results be when the course was completed? It took quite a bit of dialogue before I could see it: an association exec or current leader saying to the 30-year-old member, “Well, we’d really like for you to consider becoming involved in the association. There’s a quick and helpful online course that would give you some background in our organization and introduce you to some of the basics. Then you and I can have a talk about whether this is something you’d feel comfortable doing, and we get more specific about how you could fit in to our association. It’ll probably take you just a couple of hours all together. Why don’t I call you in a week or so and see how you’re doing?”
Got it! Now I understand the target market, the format, and the expectations. I can put the material together and work on the course details.
A marketing program starts with product design. And product design starts with a target market. Being all things to everyone isn’t a definition of a target market, and yet when I facilitate a strategic planning session with an association and I ask, “Who’s the main beneficiary of association services?” the answer almost always is, “Why (dummy), it’s the MEMBER.”
Well, unfortunately, Realtor associations aren’t too discriminating about membership—with good reason. (Just ask NAR Legal about turning away membership applicants: no WAY! If someone’s got a license and hasn’t been convicted of ax murders….and neither of those are indefensible barriers, either.) So for whom are you building your member services programs and writing your newsletters? What does your targeted member look like? I think identifying a member persona (avatar, if you will) is a pretty good exercise to do at the beginning of a planning session. Draw a picture and put it in front of the committee. Or construct a crash-test dummy who can sit in the room with the planning team. The more real the target, the more accurate the product or service design and the marketing strategies.
Once you have a clearly defined target market, things fall into place more easily: you know what the problem is, and how your product or service will fill the void. You can see your market and know how to reach out to him. How successful is he? How old? How experienced? What will attract his attention? Make a list of five or ten ways you can touch him with your message. Then, translate those ways into specific action steps and deadlines for completion. Leave yourself plenty of advance time and begin softly—perhaps a with blog explaining, say, how Realtors are using social media.
Then announce the education offering in your newsletter—and not just once. Make sure you explain HOW this information can be of use to attendees: what’s their return on their investment of time? Make registration easy on your website: Payment by credit card or PayPal. Follow up with confirmation letters. Post registration lists and updates. Make a Facebook event site. Set up a hashtag for a Twitter discussion. Complete reminder phone calls. Office visits. Early registration discounts. Establish check points where you compare expected registration results with the reality. You know the drill: set up an action plan and stick to it, keeping your target market firmly in mind.
You could even put your crash test dummy on a chair in the staff lounge to remind everyone to participate in the promotion effort. Dress him in a blazer and khaki pants, Blackberry in hand, briefcase at his feet.
And notice that “free” and “food” aren’t in the marketing mix.
A behind the scenes look at organized real estate--what works in an association, what doesn't, and what a long time AE sees as challenges facing the industry from the viewpoint of its professional organization.
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