During a two day forum, The Drake included presentations to help everyone become active content marketers. One session discussed tactics that will set your association apart from others by breaking “bad habits.” Here are a few common mistakes we’ve all made:
1. You don’t define your audience. Defining your audience is essential - you need to know who you are having a conversation with and what their interests are.
2. It’s all about me, me, me (or us, us, us). Constant talk about your organization will drive your members mad. Yes, they want to hear about you, but they also like other news, members and topics associated to the organization. Talk about industry information and other things related to your organization.
3. Not addressing your member’s pain points. Know what upsets your members and what keeps them up at night. This might be an area you can offer your expertise to help out members. If you don’t know the answer, you need to be asking your members in a survey, through social media or an editorial committee.
4. Confusing “Content” with “Tools.” Content is your story. It is valuable information you want to share with your members. Tools are how you deliver the message to them. Certain tools are better for certain content.
5. Not making the most of your content. If you have great content, share it! Use multiple tools to carry out the message. Repackaging information can help drive a point across to your members.
6. Overlooking the importance of an editor. Your content is your voice to your members. Ensure that content is accurate, professional and readable.
7. Producing content then forgetting about it. Producing content is a great way to engage members, but if you don’t use, measure and evaluate your content, no one benefits.
So that's what we shouldn’t do; here is what we should do.
1. Listen. Social media is great for giving and getting feedback. If you don’t listen to your members they will not develop strong relationships with your organization. Social Media is hard to keep up with; fortunately there are some tools to help us listen. Tools like: HootSuite, TweetDeck, Google Alerts, Google News and Radian6 will help you keep track of what members are saying.
2. Respond. Listening is the first step. Then you need to take action and respond to member’s request. Respond to both negative and positive feedback so you create an open online environment where members feel comfortable sharing their opinion.
3. Measure the strategy. To know if your content was effective, you need tools to help your measure. Sites that will help you measure include: Google Analytics, Hootsuite, TweetDeck, Radian6, EdgeRank Checker and Bit.ly.
By avoiding the “bad habits” and taking action, your association’s online community will break through the clutter of other static sites. Making your content engaging to members has many benefits including strengthening relationships between the association and its members.
The whole presentation is available on SlideShare:
Thank you for recognizing the importance of the work we editors do!
ReplyDelete