As association executives you are always looking for ways to get your word out into the world. There’s a lot of noise about what you should and not should be doing on social media to spread your message. We think the best way is to look at a success story and see what they did right.
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) have worked hard to create an engaged audience on Twitter. If you have spent time trying to do this yourself you know this can be difficult. Competing for users attention with the sheer volume of messages can be intimidating.
So what is NAM doing differently than other associations? For starters they’ve done a great job of identifying where their voice needs to be heard. This year they focused on the State of the Union address and presidential debates.
According to a post on Twitter’s blog the town hall meeting dynamic that happens on Twitter during political events lets users weigh in and learn about issues in real time. “This dynamic makes the platform a prime marketing channel for trade associations and advocacy groups seeking to shape the national dialogue”
During the 2015 State of the Union address NAM had over 100,000 engagements. This means that everyday americans following the debate got see manufacturers needs. It also delivered a clear message to politicians about the importance of manufacturers in America.
NAM’s social media manager Martha Sprague was pleased with how the campaign played out.
“The power of now is very important for our association. On Twitter, we’re able to insert ourselves there, get our point across, and engage with new audiences, new followers, and really push the needle a little bit further,” Sprague said.
Does your association have a success story comparable to NAM? Tell us about it in the comments.