Communicating with your Local Section Members

American Chemical Society

Communicating with your Local Section MembersACS Leadership Institute ● Dallas, Texas

January 24-26, 2014

Charles E. Cannon; Councilor, Chicago Local Section & LSAC Member

Kate Sellar, Technology Manager, Administrative & Programmatic Technologies

Angela Morris, Technology Associate, Administrative & Programmatic Technologies

American Chemical Society 3

What You Can Expect from this Session

You will come away from this session with:

•An increased understanding of the importance and benefits of having a communication plan that suits the needs of your executive board and members

•Information about online communication services offered from ACS that might aid your section’s communications.


Communicating with your Executive Board

What are the Goals?

•develop an effective strategy based on your circumstances

•focus on critical needs (budget, election, meetings, events)

•create a team spirit to share ideas/tasks

•document as you plan and carry out each activity, makingannual reporting easier and helping future leaders

Develop a Multi-Channel Strategy

•In-person

•Audio, Web and Video Conferencing (Skype, etc.)

– Consider A+ Conferencing for special rates for Local Sections

•Email


Communicating with your Executive Board

• Questions about communicating with your Executive Board?

• Examples of successful (or not so successful) communication strategies between officers?


Communicating with your Members and the Public

Develop a Multi-Channel Strategy

•Website

– update your information regularly

– Use it in conjunction with any social media efforts (ACS Network, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

•Email

– using a mass email service is more effective than using a personal email account

•Newsletters

– hard-copy and/or electronic based on your members’ preferences

•Audio, Web and Video Conferencing (Skype, etc.)

– Consider A+ Conferencing for special rates for Local Sections

•In-person meetings/events



Website

An excellent entry-point to your Local Section's full complement of online communications/services

•Use your website to:

– Tell your origin story (where, when, why and how?)

– Post your Annual Report (include a compelling summary)

– Post announcements and results of activities

– List your Local Section Officers

– Share an events calendar (keep it updated)

– Provide first-hand accounts from members

– Keep an image gallery from events

– Post local job listings perhaps not easily found on your typical job search site.



According to the local section annual reporting for 2012, 149 of the 186 Local Sections reported have websites.



Mass Email

When used properly, using a mass email service can

•Help you develop a trusting relationship with your members

•Help you keep your contacts organized

•Enable access to email campaign reports (analytics), measure your results after every email campaign

•Meet the requirements of the CAN-SPAM act (avoid having your emails get stuck in SPAM filters)



According to the local section annual reporting for 2012, approximately 80% of all Local Sections use email as their primary mode of communication to its members.



Questions about communicating with your local section members?

What are some common communication challenges?


Available Online Communication Tools & Services from ACS

• Online web-hosting solution provided through our partner, webs.com

• Email management service (currently a pilot program) from Real Magnet

• The Volunteer Support and Engagement (VSE) Group on the ACS Network (easy access to recent and relevant content for local sections’ online and hard-copy communications)

Online Web-Hosting solution

• In 2009 – to meet the needs of our Local Sections and Technical Divisions, ACS partnered with webs.com to provide a free, online web-hosting solution.

• To date, 96 Local Sections have signed up for the service

• Is your section using the service? Ask us if you’re not sure.


Online web-hosting solution

Main benefits of the service include:

•ACS branded, easy to use templates




Main benefits:

•a user-friendly web editor (no need to know HTML)



Main benefits:

•ability to easily hand over web administration duties from one person to another)

Email Service Providers


Email Management Service - Pilot

• To meet the critical needs of our members, ACS has partnered with Real Magnet and is exploring the potential benefits of a free, mass email service for local sections and technical divisions.



Main benefits of the service include:

•Individual account with intuitive dashboard



Main benefits:

•ACS branded template to put your message within



Main benefits:

•Message tracking - insight into a message’s performance, with all the key metrics (delivery, open rate, clicks, bounces and unsubscribes) represented both numerically and graphically.



• Use your current email address or any pre-existing email address

• Download lists, i.e. from eRosters and upload into Magnet Mail

– you’ll need to update the list each time you send a new email.

• You will upload your lists to 1 of 2 Groups in Magnet Mail:

– Promotional emails, i.e. invitations to events, general communications and info (must have the opt-out option for promotional emails)

– Administrative emails, i.e. elections and governance meetings, etc.

• Interested in singing up for the pilot? Contact [email protected]


ACS Network: Volunteer Support & Engagement

• http://communities.acs.org/groups/vse


• An open group where pertinent information for dedicated ACS members can be found, posted and shared.

How to Contact

• Online web-hosting solution:[email protected]

• Email Management Service (EMS):[email protected]

• Kate Sellar, Technology Manager, Administrative & Programmatic Technologies: [email protected]

• Angela Morris, Technology Associate, Administrative & Programmatic Technologies: [email protected]


Thank You

Communicating with your Local Section Members

Documents

Transcript of Communicating with your Local Section Members