Associations are embracing Social Media channels as a way to enhance member engagement, to expand thought leadership beyond their member base and to develop new marketing channels. Nearly three-quarters of associations used some form of Social Media communication in 2011. This study documents association use of Social Media and records behaviors and best practices. Social Media Use by US Associations Benchmarks and Practices Andrew Roscoe, Managing Partner Andrea Knotts Bona, Managing Partner One Orange Feather, Inc. 1
Social Media Use by US Associations Benchmarks and Practices Key Findings Almost three-quarters of 250 associations surveyed used some form of social media marketing in 2011 (defined here as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn). Association adoption rates increase with association annual budget levels, reflecting the capacity of larger associations to invest in technology and marketing. Facebook and Twitter adoption by associations correlated highly with associations budgets. LinkedIn adoption by associations was more associated with industry group, with particularly high adoption in the Telecom/E-Data, Real Estate and Finance industries. Among our panel of two dozen associations given detailed interviews, 58 percent will invest in social media in the next budget cycle. Within this group, the average investment in social media is projected to be 12 percent of their Web budget. Key barriers faced by firms implementing social media programs were: Commitment to timely engagement Commitment to fresh content Staff training, particularly to maintain unity of message About the Authors Andrea Knotts Bona brings 20 years of multi-channel marketing, branding and publishing experience, particularly in the trade association and business-toconsumer sectors. Prior to launching One Orange Feather, Ms. Bona was Vice President of Strategic Marketing for the Mortgage Bankers Association, where she spearheaded corporate branding and marketing strategy. Previously she was a consultant with McKinley Marketing Partners, where she led new product launches for pharmaceutical clients, including US Pharmacopeia, and developed tactical online marketing campaigns for Network Solutions. Ms. Bona has a BA in Communications and Sociology from James Madison University. Andrew Roscoe is a 25-year-plus executive with a track record of building successful businesses using a range of business models. He has experience in executive operations, corporate process, marketing, strategic planning, market research, economic analysis and IT management. Mr. Roscoe's previous positions include Executive Director Corporate Operations at Technologists, (a mid-sized international government contractor), CEO Roscoe Consulting (a marketing consultancy serving trade associations), Chairman and CEO of O2 Wireless Solutions (a public telecommunications construction company), and Chairman and CEO of The Strategis Group (a global marketing and management consultancy). He has a BA in International Affairs and MA Economics from GWU. Research support by Kaushika Prakash. One Orange Feather Inc. specializes in providing marketing and management solutions to the trade association, technology and government sectors. From message development to targeted channel distribution, we create integrated solutions with the broadest reach to create memorable impact. www.oneorangefeather.com 1
Associations Begin to Innovate Amid Widespread Adoption of Social Media Social Media Begins to Mature Social media is a well-established tool used by associations to communicate with their core audiences. Nearly three-quarters of the associations surveyed used some form of social media communication in 2011. However, associations use of social media marketing is far from mature. There are wide variances in adoption rates by industry group and size of organization, reflecting diversity in need and capacity among associations. The models used by associations to link social media marketing to association strategy and goals are still in the early stages of development. We are seeing models that use social media to drive traffic to a Web site and models that use social media as the nexus of communications with an audience. Some models drive membership, while others push products and services. The most successful models are those that drive engagement, i.e. two-way communications. Study Methodology One Orange Feather undertook a detailed study of more than 250 associations in late 2011 to determine their use of social media and related Web marketing tools. Our sample represented a wide range of associations in terms of size and industry group. We deliberately over-sampled larger associations to provide a sufficient sample size to reach conclusions for this group. As a result, the sample statistics are accurate at the sub-group level, but the total industry statistics are skewed toward behavior of associations with an annual budget greater than $1 million. We also conducted a detailed survey to explore qualitative issues with a panel of several dozen association marketing executives. Findings from these surveys are not statistically projectable but are used as directional findings. Associations have indicated that they will increase investments in social media in 2012 and 2013. As an industry, we will need to track and prove the ROI on the increased investment in this communications tool.
Size Matters Large Associations Lead Adoption of Social Media Facebook and Twitter Adoption Closely Correlates to Association Size There are many social media channels available for association use, including custom-developed channels and mobile applications. However, for the purpose of this study, we narrowed our focus to study the adoption of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Overall, 73 percent of associations used some form of social media marketing in 2011. Among the largest associations (those with an annual budget of more than $100 million), adoption of some form of social media is universal. Adoption rates decline incrementally as association size declines. Among the smallest associations (those with annual budgets less than $1 million), social media adoption was at 42 percent in 2011. Facebook and Twitter adoption were highly correlated to association budget. Facebook adoption ranged from 100 percent of the largest association group to 42 percent of the smallest association group. Twitter was adopted by 86 percent of the largest associations and 19 percent of the smallest associations. These adoption patterns reflect the capacity of large associations to have substantial technology and marketing budgets. However, they also reflect the reality that properly implementing a social media program requires resources resources that the smaller organizations don t feel they can afford. Unlike for Facebook and Twitter, the adoption of LinkedIn by associations shows no relationship to size of association budget. Among the largest associations adoption is 29 percent, for those with budgets of $25 million to $100 million it is 45 percent, and it is 8 percent among the smallest associations. LinkedIn Favored by Associations in Specific Industry Groups LinkedIn usage is particularly strong in associations within specific industry groups. LinkedIn adoption is high in the Telecom/E-Data, Real Estate and Finance industries. Adoption of LinkedIn lags in the Education, Legal and Manufacturing industry groups.
Most Associations Social Media Managed In-House LinkedIn is more likely to be a critical communication tool in industries where communications with other businesses or executives in a business format is prevalent, which explains the intensity of use in Telecom/E-Data and Finance industry groups. Education associations are often focused more on individuals, often outside of the business environment. Most Associations Plan Social Media Investment in 2012-2013 Among our panel of association executives, 58 percent indicated that they would invest at some level in social media in the next budget cycle. This compares to 73 percent of marketing executives across all U.S. industries that indicated that at least 5 percent of their marketing budget would be allocated to social media in 2012 (according to an emarketer report of a Pivot conference survey). Forty-two percent of our panel will make no investment in social media marketing this year. One-third of our panel indicated that they would allocate between 1 and 9 percent of their Web budget in the next budget cycle. About one-quarter of the associations in our panel are intensive investors in social media. Twenty-one percent of the panel indicated that they would spend 10 to 24 percent of their Web budget on social media, while 5 percent indicated they would spend one quarter or more of their budget on social media. Overall, associations in our panel will invest about 7 percent of their 2012-2013 Web budgets in social media. Of those associations investing in social media, the average investment will be 12 percent of the Web budget. Invest In-house or Outsource? At this point in the adoption of social media, most investment is made on internal staff and activities. Among those investing in social media on our panel, 83 percent will invest in internal social media activities and 26 percent will outsource at least some activities. This indicates that social media marketing is largely being taken on by internal marketing/communications staffers. It s About Creating an Online Community, with the Reward of Relationship Building While our research focused on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, social media is about building an online community in different social spaces and how they relate to each other. It is about understanding
Association Investment in Social Media the difference between the hub and the spokes. Building an online community today means learning how to navigate between outpost activity (on public sites like Facebook) and home-based activity (on your own website, white-label community space or blog.), according to the authors of Open Community. Paying attention to what people are saying is beneficial because it makes it easier for your organization to be relevant. Listening helps you be less of a spammer and more of a service provider, said Damielle Brigida, a social media strategist for the National Wildlife Federation, in The Networked Nonprofit. While many associations both large and small suffer from senior management s aversion to the organization growing into a social organization, social media is a part of today s business culture and being leveraged by savvy associations to engage their audience. Our research indicated that there would be an increase in digital media marketing, which includes all digital channels, not just social media. Case Study: CompTIA Embraces Multiple SM Channels CompTIA is the voice of the Information Technology (IT) industry with 2,000 members, mainly small business, and 1,000 business partners. The trade association focuses on four main program areas: education, certification, advocacy and philanthropy, with a heavy emphasis on certification. The association has two audiences individuals who need to take certification courses, such as Department of Defense employees and students, which are more of a consumer play, and the association s membership. Both groups are technology savvy and social media oriented. CompTIA s Senior Director of Communications, Lisa Fasold, told us that CompTIA is a heavy user of social media. The association hosts 20 separate LinkedIn Groups and struggles to limit its Facebook pages to five. They also have four main Twitter feeds representing certification, advocacy, membership and the foundation. There is also one YouTube and one Flickr feed. Once the channels were established CompTIA ran into a problem many organizations experience: They need to go to the next step of training staff to be more responsive. Engagement is the name of the game. We are doing too much pushing and not enough engagement. On the certification side we ask questions, and we run content.
Linking Social Media Strategies and Association Goals However, we are not taking it to the level to get enough engagement. Sometimes it takes up to 48 hours for an employee to answer a question, Fasold said. We need to convince CompTIA employees to engage; we have been training the staff to be more responsive, she added. However, CompTIA is growing its use of social media and migrating away from print marketing, parts of the organization continue to emphasize existing channels from a marketing perspective. The certification (marketing) group leans toward print materials; they have not embraced social media or email. When a new product is developed the first thing they do is create a brochure and a Web landing page, Fasold said. Case Study: Linking Social Media to Strategic Goals in a Large Association The National Association of Realtors Virtually all large associations, those with budgets over $100 million, now use some form of social media. Facebook penetration is near 100 percent, Twitter penetration is 86 percent and LinkedIn penetration is 29 percent. These very large organizations have budgets and resources to pursue complex multi-dimensional strategies. The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) faced the challenge of multiple audiences each requiring different approaches and messaging, such as REALTORS on the state and local levels, consumers and the business community at large. Virtually all large associations (those with budgets over $100 million) now use some form of social media. Facebook penetration is near 100 percent, Twitter penetration is 86 percent and LinkedIn penetration is 29 percent. NAR embarked on an aggressive social media strategy in 2008 (for members of ASAE, the NAR Social Media Strategy document is available in the Resources section of the ASAE website). Hilary Marsh was the Managing Director of Realtor.org at the time and directed much of NAR s social media strategy during this period. She told us that social media became a way for NAR to accomplish three of its strategic goals:
Linking Social Media Strategies and Association Goals 1. Create and support a meaningful, long-term relationship between REALTORS and consumers (by modeling smart use of social media and by creating guidelines for REALTORS to follow) 2. Be the most comprehensive, reliable and accessible source of real estate information (by sharing real estate information in more channels) and 3. Strengthen relationships with REALTORS and within the REALATOR Community (by blogging, as well as responding to other real estate blogs, and by creating and fostering online communities of realtors to enable them to learn from one another.) NAR identified four primary goals for social media: Turn monologue into dialogue with members. Reach more members with information when and where it s relevant to them. Join and influence existing conversations about NAR and about issues realtors care about Build deeper relationships with members and others. In 2009, NAR decided to use three primary channels to achieve these goals Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, as these were the primary social media channels used by realtors. In addition, NAR pursued blogs and multimedia channels. Today, NAR s use of social media is extensive across all of these channels. NAR lists seven LinkedIn groups, 35 Facebook pages for related and affiliate groups (including specialty REALTOR groups, such as women REALTORS, trade show Facebook pages and research-oriented Facebook pages). One of NAR s LinkedIn groups has almost 50,000 members, making it one of the 200 largest groups on LinkedIn. Effective Resource Management Key in Successful Social Media Maintaining focus, unity of message and current content for such a variety of channels is a massive undertaking, said Marsh, who identified critical success factors for a large social media program [Associations] have to consider what resources a social media program needs to be successful, which usually includes time, commitment, ongoing support and prioritization. Social media marketing is no longer a new tool for associations, and the majority of associations are now engaged. For the industry to prove the ROI on the budgets allocated to this channel, they will have to find processes, resources and budgets to support engagement and timely content while maintaining unity of messaging. Contact: aroscoe@oneorangefeather.com andreabona@oneorangefeather.com