Tweeting for Dollars: Associations Now: March 2012
This month’s column results from my asking a specific question dozens and dozens of times: “Does your association, or any association you know, actually create net income directly from social media?” Finally, after approximately six months of asking the question and getting “no’s,” I got a “yes.”
The positive answer came from Holly Ross, who is the executive director of NTEN, the National Technology Network. The goal of her association is to “help their members use technology skillfully and confidently to meet community needs and fulfill their missions.”
Part of NTEN’s methodology is to try out different technologies and providers their members might want to use, but that are as yet unproven to the broader association community. In this way, the association can take a risk that would be too large for any single member to take. And that is what happened here.
NTEN was already successfully using social media to learn which presentations the association’s members wanted them to pursue at conferences. Holly figured out that they could be using very similar technology to develop a little funding, as well.
The article speaks in detail about the circumstances and the results, but what ASAE will not allow me to print are the names of the companies that NTEN tried out as “back offices” for the fundraising work. I am happy to provide them here:
Razoo
CrowdRise
Causes
As you can see, NTEN uses a variety of providers on a test basis, rather than simply selecting one and using it again and again. Holly indicated that each of these companies was successful in its own way. However, she made an effort to point out, as I did in the column, that it is not the up-front fee, but rather the per-transactions costs that any potential user must be well aware of. It is these ongoing costs that will determine the true out-of-pocket cost of the effort.
I believe what worked for NTEN will be widely applicable throughout our association community and I encourage you to examine how it might best work for you.
Read More >>> Go under Articles and Text, most recent articles and click on: Tweeting for Dollars
Reminder: Free video on “How Associations Are Finding Revenue Now.”
A very up-to-date video on how associations are currently increasing their net income is available on our website at www.langcpa.com/courses.
This presentation can be viewed in its entirety (45 minutes) or can be viewed in three shorter sections. The video begins with an overview of the techniques used by some of the nation’s savviest associations, both large and small, to increase their bottom line. It then goes into specific detail on what was done by various associations. The PowerPoint slides from the presentation are also available on my website so they can be printed and reviewed as the presentation is being watched.
We encourage you to review the course and share it with any and all executives you think might be interested. If you find the presentation of value your mention of it on list serves and chat rooms would be most appreciated!
To watch the video >>> go to the Courses Page and view under Available Electronic Courses
