Social Media for Chambers
As a chamber of commerce, you are essentially a real, live social network of members who have come together for their common self-interest. So taking the next step to use a new set of tools to facilitate this community and help connect people makes a lot of sense, right?
At the August 2009 ACCE Convention in Raleigh, NC, chamber executives told us that they want to move into the social media space. And many have started. An overwhelming 70% of chamber executives surveyed said that they are currently using at least one social media site to promote their chamber. When asked what more they would like to know about social media, 36% said they want to know “everything.”
Based on our survey results, here are some of the ways that chambers told us they are using social media to achieve their business objectives. We hope that you will share your success stories and ideas with Social Media Leaps so we can share them with others. While chambers are doing some good things with social media today, there are still plenty of opportunities to explore new ideas and new ways you can use this emerging technology to take your organization to the next level.
1.Recognize Members
Your organization is about creating a community of members. An important reason that your members join the chamber is for visibility in the community. Your social media presence can provide a platform where you can help can give recognition to new members that have joined the chamber or to current member companies who have received honors or awards.
2.Prospect for New Members
Of course, you can’t recognize new members, if you are not generating them. Once you build out your LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter presence, you’ll be tapped into members and their networks. Social media tools provide a great opportunity to mine those networks for potential new members.
One of the most powerful tools available to you is the ability to search for someone that is a prospect and identify the “connections” you have in common. Find someone you have a common connection with and ask for an introduction – either online or in person. Join some of the LinkedIn groups in your community to gain visibility for your chamber and to create new prospecting opportunities.
Connecting via LinkedIn may not be the best way to solicit a new membership outright, but it will help you start a conversation with a prospect.
3.Promote Events
Chambers have events as a way of bringing members together. You can easily promote your chamber events through social media tools. Many of the social media tools have functionality that allows you to add an event to a calendar to be displayed on your page. And Facebook lets you upload pictures and videos. Some of them even track RSVPs. And, not only can you promote your own events, but now you have a cheap and easy way to post event notices you sometimes get from outside member organizations. Best of all, the people in your network can share your event information with people in their network, thereby spreading the word for you! Once your event is profiled on a social media site, anyone with an interest in your community that is also using social media can help get the word out.
Here are a few examples of how chambers of commerce across the country are using social media to promote events:
The Clovis, CA Chamber created a Facebook page to promote their annual Clover Fest on Facebook.
4.Become an Information Center for the Media
As the community’s key business resource, you can’t undervalue the ability you have to put your point of view out there and share important information with the local press and the community at large.
Invite local media to follow your chamber’s Twitter account or join your Facebook page or LinkedIn group by following them on Twitter, Facebook and/or LinkedIn. This allows your information to flow directly to them and they will be able to quickly pick up the latest information you are sharing.
In addition, a chamber blog will also allow you to share your perspective on important issues and be a ready source of information for media to get background and perspective for stories they are working on.
Check out these Chamber blogs and see how they are keeping their audience and their members aware of what is happening in their communities:
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Blog
Maryland Chamber of Commerce Blog
5.Update Members on Issues…as they happen
Your members want to be in the loop on topics that are important to business and the community. While your blog can provide that information, you can also keep them in “the know” with microblogging. Everyone likes to know the news before it’s in the paper. Utilizing a microblogging service, like Twitter, can create value for your members and position the chamber as a key participant in your community’s work.
Take short video when you have a meeting with a key community leader or an important event. These are easy ways to capture things going on with your chamber that your members would love to get some insight on. While you need to be careful not to violate confidences, often your network and your timing can allow you to break news that’s important and timely.
6.Solicit Member Feedback
Asking members for their feedback can be valuable to any chamber. All of the social networking platforms offer fast and easy ways to solicit opinions from members—quickly. It also engages your audience and reminds them that you are listening. You can create a LinkedIn discussion to allow members to weigh in on decision making or product development. You can quickly drop a question via your Facebook or Twitter account to your fans and followers to solicit their opinions as well. Soliciting feedback can help you provide the types of programs and events your members want. It takes away the guesswork.
COSE uses its social media networks to help put the media in touch with small businesses owners when reporters want specific information for stories they are working on. It allows the chamber to be positioned as a key resource for media contacts and members love it because they are able to get exposure they might not have otherwise been privy of.
7.Create a forum for members to educate, inform and assist each other
So much of our member’s learning comes from them connecting with each other. Your social media sites can provide a forum for members to learn from each other. Too often, implementations of social media are about us—how do we tell others what we want them to know. A major value that these tools can bring is to connect our members with each other so they can create value for the entire network through peer-based learning and sharing.
Examples:
One of the best social media implementations among chambers to date is the work that Kyle Sexton has been doing at the Salem (WA) Chamber of Commerce. Check out Kyle’s web video about their very successful (and Google recognized!) Face2Face social network/member community.
COSE has also created a peer-based community that enables members to share their ideas and expertise with each other and the broader community. Over seventy volunteers take areas of expertise and become resources for other members. Check out COSE MindSpring.
8.Drive Government Action
Engaging your members on advocacy issues is an important function of the chamber, and social media can be the ultimate grassroots tool. It allows you to update members on important topics, help them to understand how sometimes seemingly complex ballot issues will impact their small business, and make them aware of opportunities to get involved and help support the issue.
Here are some examples how some chambers are using different forms of social media to give dimension to their advocacy work:
View COSE Advocacy Video: COSE Advocacy has utilized video to enhance its grassroots efforts for the issues of card check and county reform. While literature is always helpful to educate members about certain issues, video blogs, PowerPoint presentations, and short videos are also a vital component to raising awareness because they provide a quick insight into the issues and have the ability to generate additional interest in a short amount of time. View the COSE Power Point that was created to accompany the video campaign.
The Detroit Chamber Case Study: The Detroit Chamber of Commerce was an active player in the auto industry bailout process and social media was important to the way in which they rallied support for it. This Case Study they put together is a great overview of social media in action for government advocacy.
There are many different ways that you can use social media tools to advance the work of your chamber. Please send us your social media success stories so we can add them to the resources on this site. Email us at: socialmedialeaps@cose.org.
Additional Reading
Social Media and Chambers of Comerce: Andy Halko, CEO of Insivia Marketing & Web Design, speaks to chambers of commerce on social media.
Blogging: Find information on some of the most popular blogging services being used today.
Photo Sharing and Galleries: This section contains links to the most popular photo sharing sites.
Video Sharing: This section contains links to the most popular video sharing sites.
Discussion Groups/Internet Forums: This section contains links to a few different examples of internet forums and discussion groups.
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