The 2010 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report is out, thanks to the gang at Marketing General. Go straight over to Tony’s blog (after you read this 
) and check out the top 10 insights from this year’s report. I found the entire report well worth the read.
There is some good data in the report about association adoption of social media. 92% of associations surveyed are using social media in one form or another, with Facebook being the most popular platform. Interestingly, inhouse strategies like listservs and private social networks are perceived as most effective for membership marketing–presumably by helping with member engagement and retention. I believe that perception will evolve as association marketers become more intentional about driving word of mouth online, and more savvy with measurement. Afterall, word of mouth is at the top of the list for how prospective members become aware of the organization, followed by the association website in the number two position. WOM + WEB = SOCIAL WEB
In terms of adoption, check out this chart showing the types of social media organizations are using. If you like this, there’s more where this came from.
11 responses to "New research on association social media and marketing"
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Interesting that YouTube beats out blogging. I would have guessed otherwise with video content being harder to produce.
8% (officially) using no social media tools. I would have guessed 10-15%.
I agree with Fred – interesting that YouTube beat out blogging. But perhaps associations just use YouTube once or twice (not on a regular basis), whereas they feel blogging requires more of a time commitment? Also, I’m curious as to what “Other” means.
Because of this post, it is without a doubt that a lot of businesses today are really using their resources to broaden their scope. Using social media is I believe a great way for companies to grab the attention of many customers. They introduce their company and products and that’s a good way to be developed. Interesting post!
Hi Lindy — Thanks so much for sharing our Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report. I have two comments. First, as you noted, we did ask associations what “official” social media tools they used. So it is remarkable that there has been a 92% market penetration of this relatively new channel into professional and trade associations.
Secondly, the readers of your blog are welcome to download the full report free of charge from our web site. Here is the URL:
http://www.marketinggeneral.com/accessWp.asp
Thanks again for sharing. Tony
“Other” could be Foursquare, for one. Or Gowalla. Or Flickr. For starters…
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