Social media has become a very key aspect of an association’s marketing strategy. The average member learns most of what they know about the association, its offerings, its culture, and its upcoming events from the various social media platforms it posts to. So that means your association should have a presence on the big players which include Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIn, and maybe even TikTok. Don’t get hung up on your favorites. It’s important to diversify your social media presence in order to tap into the broadest set of demographics.
Social media helps your organization with search engine optimization (SEO) and your placement on the results pages, customer service, and brand reputation management. The objective of social media posts is to educate, entertain, inspire, and promote. Beneficial content includes FAQs, “Did You Knows”, recognition, behind the scenes/a day in the life of your organization’s executive office staff, uplifting/inspirational quotes, testimonials, and recommendations.
Your Association’s Content Strategy
An important aspect to keep in mind is the time of day you’re scheduling social media posts. It is best to post when the highest percentage of your audience tends to be online simultaneously. Keep consistency with days you post and the times your posts are scheduled. Your goal should be to post daily, but that can be overwhelming if you’re just starting out, so pick one or two days per week and build from there, but be sure to post consistently every week.
Establishing a theme for certain days of the week is a good strategy for getting the ball rolling. We recommend “Mindfulness Monday” with inspirational quotes or “Throwback Thursday” with pictures from your association’s live events over the years (be sure to tag the people in the photos!) Aside from weekly posts like this, your association should also be posting for major holidays and annual observances. Finally, make sure every graphic used for social media includes your logo and URL. This way, when your members repost to their social media, there will always be a visual connection with your association.
Hashtags & More
Hashtags are a great way to spread your reach and attach your post to various communities. Check out popular hashtags used in your field and the hashtags your competitors are using. Look for public hashtags that have between 100-10k posts (less posts means the hashtags are irrelevant, more posts will smother your post). It’s also okay to use hashtags that are custom to your association that you will build with consistent use. It’s also ok to use funny hashtags occasionally, just remember to be consistent about using hashtags that will get your posts seen. Also, make a list of hashtags that you want to use and when/how to use them to distribute to your association’s employees, leaders, and possibly your members who regularly repost your posts.
Social Content Creators and Influencers
Social content creators are responsible for the contribution of information to digital media targeted to a specific audience. Influencers are people on social media who have a large following. Influencers are a subset of creators. An Influencer can be found by surfing social media platforms and looking through hashtags, Google searches, YouTube, following blogs, and more.
Working with Influencers and creators can help spread your brand name much faster. Working with an influencer shouldn’t be one-sided, it’s a partnership. Try to collaborate with Influencers within your niche but also create some unlikely pairings (this increases the chance of the post reaching a wider audience). An example of an unlikely pairing is a shelving company sending some of their shelves to be in the background of the videos of a social media Influencer of any topic. Always fairly compensate Influencers.
Ambassadors
An ambassador is like an influencer but has slightly less significance in what they do. Ambassadors are usually volunteers or employees of the association. Ambassadors can generate positive engagement by following campaigns set in the marketing strategy. Ambassadors should also be engaging with all of the posts made on the association platforms. One way to encourage employees and members to participate as ambassadors is to offer prizes to the ambassadors who interact on social media the most. It is important to constantly recruit and reward ambassadors.
Ready to beef up your social media Marketing strategy?
We’re here to help! If you’re ready to chat about the next steps for your social media marketing strategy, please click on the button below to Book an Appointment. You may also want to see our Services page and our FREE Guides.
