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7 ways to encourage activity on your LinkedIn Group

July 26th, 2012 | Posted by Abby in Networking | Social media - (0 Comments)

LinkedIn-LogoFor one of my clients, I am interviewing a number of their members on different issues about the membership body. One of the topics I am exploring is their thoughts on the organisation’s LinkedIn Group. It made me think about the ways I have helped encouraged activity on previous LinkedIn Groups so I thought I’d share my top tips:

1. Encourage your members to join – members should be invited to the Group, both directly and also through mentioning the Group in your communications.

2. Post regular content – there is nothing more disappointing than joining a Group and seeing that the last post was 4 months ago! As the owner of the Group you need to feed it with content. You can also use RSS feeds to channel news stories, but nothing beats content from your organisation.

3. Ask questions – when posting content, try to encourage debate and comments by asking a question at the end of your post.

4. Answer questions – if your members ask a question of your organisation then you need to reply. If they are asking a question of other members, the organisation can if relevant post links to any services or benefits. It is a great ‘soft’ way to highlight the value you are offering.

5. Privately ask “fans” to be active – even the busiest LinkedIn Groups tend to have a few predominate posters. The truth is, some of these may well have been encouraged to post by the Group owner. If the only people that post are from the organisation, it doesn’t reflect well and shouts “nobody comments on here”. So, encourage those members that are LinkedIn savvy to post and comment. It can help prompt other members to get involved.

6. Use the messaging function – as the group owner you can message those members who have agreed to receive messages from you. You can send a message to members highlighting recent discussions to encourage them to visit the group. I loved this example from a Group I am part of:

Linkedin Message

7. Support your events through the group – you can encourage members to visit the group and post if they are attending an event to connect to each other.

What do you think?
Is your LinkedIn Group active? Have you found any good ways to encourage debate on there? Do leave a commment below or contact me with your thoughts.

8 top tips for great new member lunches

May 16th, 2012 | Posted by Abby in Events | Membership | Membership Benefits | Membership retention | Networking - (0 Comments)

I was talking to a membership contact last week and we were discussing the success of their lunches for new members. I have also found this a helpful way to introduce members to the organisation.

Typically these lunches are fairly informal and are a chance for new members to hear directly about the organisation’s benefits and what the organisation is planning over the coming months. It is also a chance for members to meet membership staff, senior managers and trustees.

 

 

My top tips for a successful new member’s lunch programme:

1.    Invite them! – make sure your welcome letter/email mentions the lunches, but also have them on your website and mention them in your membership communications.

2.    Have a rolling programme –  if members cannot make the next one, then there is an alternative date on offer.

3.    Try to offer different locations – so they are more accessible to members from across the country.

4.    Ensure that key staff/trustees are available – new members may not expect to meet the CEO, but they would like to see some senior decision-makers.

5.    Do run through the benefits – despite the fact that these members will have probably recently reviewed your benefit literature/website before joining, it still pays to take them through the benefits in more detail. Allow time for them to ask questions.

6.    Provide name badges and allow time for them to network with each other too - these lunches are a good opportunity for new members to forge links with other members. This can help demonstrate the value they are receiving from membership. It is just not just about meeting staff from the organisation.

7.    Have a note taker – I have found these sessions are a great way to hear directly from members about their needs. Make sure somebody is taking notes to capture the issues and ideas that are discussed.

8.    Follow up – do send a “thank you” email to the members for attending. This is the start of their engagement process. Make the most of it!

Good luck!

What do you think?
If you offer new member lunches, what works well? Do share your comments and thoughts below.

GALA case study: offering webinars for members

March 14th, 2012 | Posted by Abby in Events | Learning | Membership | Networking - (0 Comments)

Thanks to Amy from GALA, a US based membership body who shares information about their successful webinar programme.
By Amy Ephrem, Membership Coordinator, GALA

Webinar imageThe Globalization and Localization Association (GALA) is the largest global non-profit association within the language industry, providing resources, education, ideas and research for companies working with translation services, language technology and content localization.  GALA member companies are vendors and buyers of language services and technologies.  They deploy sophisticated multilingual strategies and proven tools to take content and products to markets around the world.   GALA is comprised of over 300 companies from more than 50 countries.

Using Webinars
Launched in 2008 as a way to provide an efficient and cost effective way of gathering worldwide groups of language technology and services professionals together to have a discussion, watch a presentation, or view a tool demonstration, the GALA Webinar Series has become one of our most popular member programs:

  • GALA hosted more than thirty webinars in 2011.
  • Close to 1000 people participated in these sessions.
  • Over 300 people have already participated in GALA webinars in 2012.

Our webinar series includes four different types of sessions:

  • Expert presentations on industry topics
  • Sponsored tool demonstrations
  • Advanced tool training sessions
  • Premium professional development webinars, sessions with an interactive workshop format that give participants the opportunity for more in-depth learning on focused topics

With members spread out across the globe on every continent but Antarctica, it is important for our association to be able to offer programming that is accessible for a global audience.  The GALA Webinar Series does just this as it provides opportunities for our members to connect with industry tools, technology, ideas and discussions in a sales-free environment right from their desktops.

It also offers our member companies a place to showcase their technologies as well as a chance to share their industry knowledge and expertise with colleagues around the world.

Highly valued by members
When asked what they consider to be the greatest benefit they receive from their GALA membership, members will often mention our webinars. Members who are unable to attend our live webinar sessions due to time zone differences are also able to download past webinars from a library of recordings that we keep on our website.    

Where to start
Providing online training opportunities is relatively inexpensive and easy to coordinate with the technology that is available today. 

The technology
Organizations should begin by researching and testing out the different webinar platforms that are available to see which one best meets their needs.  With our international audience, it was especially important for us to use a webinar system that allowed participants to connect through their computers with VOIP rather than having to make long distance phone calls.  GALA currently uses the GoToWebinar platform from Citrix Online (http://www.citrixonline.com), which we have found to be quite affordable and user-friendly for organizers, presenters, and participants.  

Choose your topics
Organizations will also need to know what topics their members are interested in and will then need to vet interesting and engaging presenters who can speak on these topics. GALA regularly issues calls for webinar presentations, and we also poll our members for topic ideas and suggestions. 

Provide an interactive element
Finding ways to make the webinars sessions engaging and interactive for participants is key and one of the greatest challenges when using an online format. 

We have found that allowing participants to ask and answer questions during the webinar sessions either by chatting through the platform’s IM feature or using its polling question feature to be helpful in getting attendees more engaged.  We also encourage our presenters to extend the life of their presentations by continuing the conversation with webinar attendees through email follow-ups, social media, and GALA’s blog.

Conclusion
Coordinating and conducting webinars may seem like a daunting task at first, but there are many resources available to help organizations through the process of getting started.  Webinars are an excellent and efficient way of providing accessible information and training for members and something that every membership organization should consider.

More information about GALA’s webinar series is available at http://www.gala-global.org/call-presentations.

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Did you know you can create a personalised URL for your LinkedIn profile?

March 10th, 2012 | Posted by Abby in Marketing | Networking | Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

LinkedIn is known as the Facebook for business. It is has 150 million + users. It’s a good platform to connect with like-minded business people as well as being an effective online shop window for your work and your experience. What makes it even easier did you know you could create your own URL for your LinkedIn profile? Mine is http://uk.linkedin.com/in/abbywrightparkes

There are a few reasons why this is a good idea. You can add it as a link on your email signature so people can browse your experience straight away when you send them a message. If you’re still in the process of setting up your own website it’s a great way of directing someone to a website all about you. It can help with SEO, making it easier to find someone with your skills through search engines. Pop it on your business cards and it makes it simpler for an interested client or professional to connect with you.

So how do you do it?

  • Just log on to LinkedIn.
  • Hover your mouse over the Profile tab and select Edit Profile.
  • Your Public Profile page will pop up.
  • Scroll to where it says Your Public Profile URL and click Edit, just on the right.
  • A box will appear saying Update this Address.
  • You’ll see the base URL www.linkedin.com/in with an empty box to the right of it.
  • This is where you can type in your individual URL. It can be no more than 30 characters and be at least 5. It might be your name and your skills, or just the name of your business.
  • A green tick will appear if it’s free and then you can save it.

Make sure you have all your skills and experience up to date on the site and there you have it, a quick and easy way to direct people to your online presence.

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