They’re the connectors, the cheerleaders and the calendar operators who keep the character in communities. With a myriad of events, people, places and things represent, for a Chamber of Commerce branding and marketing is a multi-tasking adventure.
Recently, I was asked how CoryWest Media develops our Chamber of Commerce social media marketing strategies. Here’s a 20 point checklist you can use to get started, improve or assess your social media marketing program in action.
Social Media Marketing Strategy 20 Point Checklist for Chambers of Commerce
1. Capture the current conversation online by searching for the name of your community + Chamber of Commerce on Google, Google+. YouTube, twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
2. Assess your current communications to see what can be repurposed via social media. For example, your email newsletter can be broken up into blog posts, sponsors can be recognized in tweets and events can be promoted via a Facebook page.
3. Clarify communications, public relations, marketing and sales goals. What do you want to achieve: gaining and retaining members, raising awareness, forming partnerships? Stay focused so you can measure results later.
4. Identify target talkers and existing communities on established sites. Where do your people congregate? LinkedIn and Facebook will probably be the front-runners. To tap into these social networks, recruit social media ambassadors that have high visibility and strong connections.
5. Evaluate your online social media position. Where are you on your community’s radar? Can and do people find you from your Chamber blog or site? How do you compare to other organizations?
6. Determine your value. What will you bring to the conversation? How do you fit into your community’s life? Will you be a community events aggregator, problem solver or something else?
7. How will you contribute to the online conversation? Set interactive communication goals for each audience [we will watch for ________, respond to ___________ and inform about ___________]
8. Select keywords and craft key messages, based on the conversation that’s already going on out there. Use your town, Chamber, Chamber of Commerce, special events, etx.
9. Design an interactive communications planner by channel, community, frequency, priorities and responsibility so that time is managed well. Consider hiring an intern to support your social media activites.
10. Ensure that someone will [always, always, always, always, always] be watching and responsive. You can set up this service using HyperAlerts.
11. Automate, without being robotic if possible, across multiple channels. Use Hootsuite to schedule your Chamber’s social networking updates and monitor community conversations.
12. Produce and share engaging content that may include success stories, pictures, videos and survey results.
13. Start a group on LinkedIn that leads into a membership site that gets you closer to prospective members.
14. Be the leader that people want to follow because the Chamber is their source for information about the community.
15. Build relationships with champions, ambassadors and evangelists in businesses, education, government and healthcare.
16. Be where they can find you – consider advertising on key sites or sponsoring events that link social media back the Chamber.
17. Measure results and track stats that help you modify your marketing, sales and communications systems with Google analytics, Facebook and LinkedIn insights, or one of the free social media measurement tools.
18. Re-Align communications accordingly to make sure that your posts are engaging your audience.
19. Shift with your people by liking and commenting on their updates throughout social media.
20. Shepherd and follow them everywhere. You represent the community in real life, why not be the keeper of its keys online?
Over to you . . .
How do you commune with your Chamber of Commerce community?
Searching for a qualified and experienced Chamber of Commerce speaker, consultant or workshop leader? Need ideas? Let’s talk: 630.207.7530.
Photo Credit: Barbara Rozgonyi for thesociallens from the 2011 Glen Ellyn Jazz Fest Collection
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