Finding Members on Facebook

Intitially I believe there are 3 people who can benefit from social networking:

• Those already online
• Those who are participating in a conversation
• Those who need technology to participate

Today, I'm going to help you find members online because it's much easier to empower members who are already participating then trying to get newby's online.

So here are the quick tricks that I've learned for finding members online using facebook:

• Export a member list into a CSV file (no larger than about 1000).
• Use facebook's friend finder (must sign into to facebook to use).

Some tips for using friend finder:

• Once you select your list and upload into the friend finder it will begin searching - there is no activate button
• Members on facebook will appear from the email list automatically checked off. You can't send a note to them from this page nor can you track who a friend request was sent to, so it'd be a good idea to save this list and send out an email before or directly after you invite members to be friends
• After you select friends it will bring up emails not in facebook. I would seriously consider not inviting them to join facebook for two reasons: it will look like Spam which means they'll delete it, and second - think organic.

Upon successful uploading, you may have found more members online than you thought. Ask them to be your friend and reach out and see why they're online. If they're already talking, let them continue the conversation, maybe even help it continue to flow. Members already using the technologies may just be the WOM you need to get the later adopters online.

You can also search facebook groups, you never know, your organization or event could already have a group. What you do with the group is completely up to you - but it might at least be worth checking out to see what's being said. Organic growth will happen in one form or another.

Thanks for reading,

Bob

Is your Association a Facilitator or a Director?

The Young Association Professional blog was originally proposed as a committee blog, but that idea was rejected. The association that hosted the committee preferred to support their association blog and not support competing blogs – even niche blogs that could compliment the larger blog. That’s fine, I’m a big boy (don’t let the photo fool you), I’ll just blog on my own. But this begets the question, as association professionals, are we facilitating our members conversations/energies or are we directing them?

With the internet connecting like minded individuals easier than ever with blogs, social networking sites and other emerging technologies, it’s time to really take a hard look at the conversations our members are having.

Thanks to these Web 2.0 (or 3.0 or 2.1 or what ever version you consider it) technologies, members can now have conversations and interact with each other without having to come to an association event – or perhaps more terrifying – without having to join the organization.

We as association professionals need to transition ourselves (if we haven’t already) from middle-people to facilitators. And while Web 2.0 threatens associations, it also offers opportunities to strengthen them. We as a community of association professionals know the technologies that are out there and we know how to use them. Now we need to open our ears toward the conversations our members are having and empower them with these new social technologies to help them continue the dialogue with each other rather than through staff or committees.

Listening to these dialogues as they happen will allow us to:

• Get a real time pulse on our members needs/wants/interests
• Connect members who may not have connected otherwise
• Make networking easier (imagine opening a social network before each conference to allow members to network before the event – taking out the time and anxiety that comes with networking with strangers)
• Develop programming/white papers/ educational tools and products our members need
• Give all members an opportunity to become active in the association

Let the conversations happen naturally. If members are talking, listen and facilitate that conversation, harness that energy. Because if you direct a member to a destination they don’t necessarily want to go to, they may go rogue. And if they go rogue on too many items, they may leave your association and open one on facebook, or ning, or use one of the other emerging technologies. And while it may not cause the organization to go under, there is an awful lot of value in free. And there are young professionals who have connected to individuals across the country without ever having paid a due.

So case in point – if no one member is the same, how can one blog serve all equally? (Is it so bad to branch into niches?) While it wasn’t accepted by the committee, I welcome any and all young professionals to join as a blogger on Young Association Professional as a full-time blogger, or simply as a guest blogger. Simply email me at rawolfejr@yahoo.com and I’ll add you.

P.S. (Do blogs have post scripts?)
I am happy to report that I was actually mentioned by Ben Martin, CAE Blogger, as one of the candidates for new blogger of the year (I was at the bottom of the list though, but on the list none the less). This was really a pleasant surprise because Ben has one of the most valuable blogs on association management. If you haven’t visited it, check it out on the side bar. His blog is a great mix of tech, links, and insight padded with some lighter moments (the caulking of the tub post is a classic example).

So it’s been almost two weeks since my last post – er… my first post, but I’m back, and hope to be mentioned by Ben again next year – maybe as up and coming blogger (hint, hint). Thanks Ben for the acknowledgement and for getting me started up again.