and now you want us to blog too?

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/evilerin/3796279865/ Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/evilerin/3796279865/

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Strategy first: identify the problems/challenges this blog will solve, aspirations it will

meet and objectives it will help you and your members achieve.meet and objectives it will help you and your members achieve.

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SEO – fresh content (dynamic), many pages (URL addresses), keywords/tags, incoming

linkslinks

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Showcase and promote ideas

Raise awareness of issuesRaise awareness of issues

Correct misperceptions/myths

Humanization of organization – friendly trusted helpful voice

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Provide stories that illustrate impact of legislation/regulation

Motivate members and stakeholders to actionMotivate members and stakeholders to action

Show how to take action

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Preview upcoming speakers/sessions/reports

Build buzz for events (before, during and after) – ASAE is a good example (Annual Build buzz for events (before, during and after) – ASAE is a good example (Annual

Meeting, Great Ideas)

Success stories about members using association services/products, or being involved as

volunteers

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Comment function � interaction, conversation with association and among readers

Spotlight membersSpotlight members

Show lighter side of association

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If Board asks you to start a blog, ask them why.

Solution to not only problems but answer to aspirationsSolution to not only problems but answer to aspirations

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Members

•Who’s most likely to read blog? Do you know? Have you asked? •Who’s most likely to read blog? Do you know? Have you asked?

•Who’s on the periphery now that might benefit?

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What keeps your audience up at night?

What will help them get to where they want to be?What will help them get to where they want to be?

What will they enjoy reading or learning about?

What will amuse them?

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Subscribe to other association blogs, related associations, ones with similar types of

members, and industry/competitor blogs.members, and industry/competitor blogs.

Who else is playing in your sandbox?

What type of content do they deliver?

How can you differentiate your brand?

How can you differentiate your content?

How might you collaborate? Blog carnivals.

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How blogs are different, different kind of writing

Blog is a social tool - building rapport and creating connections, telling storiesBlog is a social tool - building rapport and creating connections, telling stories

Blog personality or voice –

•human, personable

•authentic, conversational

Not an institutional or departmental voice

•No spin

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Team content sourcing

•No silos – cross-departmental effort – content is everyone’s job•No silos – cross-departmental effort – content is everyone’s job

•All ears attuned to ideas

Inventory magazine, enewsletters, website, reports, editorials, conference

presentations, file folders, binders, desk drawers, email templates – repurpose

Image: Dept of Defense

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Departments (like a magazine)

•Tips on certification, leadership, social media, other needs•Tips on certification, leadership, social media, other needs

•Young professionals (member or staff)

•Member spotlight

•Professional niches

•Commonly asked questions – ask your ‘call center’

•CEO column – your perspective

Weekly roundup of interesting stories/news/posts

Conference buzz

Before – speaker previews (Q&A, videos, links to articles/posts), crowdsource a

member panel

During – session reporters, daily tweets, photos, videos, get vendors involved;

blog party for contributors and for readers

After – continue the conversation, takeaway points, video, audio

Reports from trade shows, conferences, educational sessions

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Steal from your ‘family’ – national assn, other state assns – find their SMEs, interview

them if they can’t write – network with state EDs, sharethem if they can’t write – network with state EDs, share

What’s timely, newsy – how can you use that?

Idea collection – biggest hurdle

•Team collection – meetings, shareable doc (idea dump) – Google doc, wiki, intranet

•Get close to the member – who answers the phone, replies to emails, talks to members

– capture needs/ideas immediately

Image: American Pickers

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Curated posts – you decide, you filter content, bring the best forward – member

serviceservice

Summarize discussions, add your perspective

More: http://www.socialfish.org/2011/04/five-models-of-content-curation.html

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Single or multiple authors?

StaffStaff

•Those at the member level are the best, know programs, know members

•Incentivize

•Skill development

•Affiliated staff (foundation, others in federation)

Members – what about vendors?

Guests – Q&A or video, if too much work for them

Supplement with freelancers – put it in the budget

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Free Google spreadsheet or calendar to capture, manage, and share your

calendar as well as your to-be-scheduled post ideas.calendar as well as your to-be-scheduled post ideas.

Can combine with Google doc as your idea collector.

Consistency counts – more frequent, more traffic, but don’t overdo it, start 1-

2/week, build up

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Always collect ideas – organization-wide effort

Twitter lists - RSSTwitter lists - RSS

Google Alerts – RSS

Twitter hashtags on industry keywords or conferences

Always look for contributors or people to interview

Repurpose everything across platforms/channels

Finding time to write

•Turn off phone/email – give same quality time to others – cultural

acknowledgment of writing needs

•Set timer - never more than 30/mins at once

•Flow - start with rough idea, outline, messages; first narrative - no editing, flow

•Post length – keep it under 700 words (series)

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Are you interested in creating a dialog - a two-way conversation via comments -

with your readers? with your readers?

Encourage conversation.

Call to action, questions, controversial, ask for opinion, call out a niche

Moderation

Reply to comments

Dealing with negativity – criticism vs. trolls, perils of censorship (ASAE incident)

Have guidelines somewhere.

Jamie Notter: “Err on the side of conversation.”

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Exercise analogy – if you value something, you’ll make achieving it a priority, give yourself the tools to make it a habitmake it a habit�External/social pressure

�mention blog posts/conversation elsewhere, leadership set an example, other influencers�Regular schedule/appointment

�RSS feeds or emails�Reliable schedule - weekly appointment

�Repeat exposure in a short time period�Intrinsic pressure or desire – inner motivation

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Make it easy to share your posts.

Comment on industry blogs – no spam or linksComment on industry blogs – no spam or links

Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter - Tease with conversation bits, questions

Which other blogs complement yours?

How can you enter the dialog on these other blogs in a way that will eventually

drive traffic to your own blog?

Which LinkedIn groups might be interested in the content on your blog?

Which twitter search terms (hashtags especially) are relevant to your blog?

How will you track those search terms to find relevant conversations to join?

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How can you use your existing Web site to promote the new blog – one click

away on home page (obvious link, button), news section announcement, press away on home page (obvious link, button), news section announcement, press

release?

Where does it make sense to include the blog URL on existing marketing

materials?

Where does it make sense to include the blog URL on trade show materials?

Are there instances where it would be appropriate to add the blog URL to certain

email signatures - either personal or company-authored and mass-distributed?

Could you send a mailing (email or snail mail) to your existing database to

announce the launch of the blog?

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Keep this simple, encourage only a few measures, hard to measure sentiment and return

on attitude, anecdotal evidenceon attitude, anecdotal evidence

What’s objective? How would you define success? How can you measure blog impact on

that?

Match metrics to your goals

How: Google Analytics, member surveys/polls, feedback

What:

Awareness – traffic, mentions, incoming links, subscriptions, search ranking

Marketing – clicks, outgoing traffic, ‘source’ field on forms, promo codes

Member engagement – comments, traffic, mentions, time spent on blog,

subscriptions

Member service – views for posts related to common questions, referral to blog,

comments addressing member issues

Return on Attitude

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