Social Media Roundup: Demystify Leadership Elections

Try these tips to revamp your leadership nomination practices. Plus: Use social media to supercharge the chatter around your event.

If your members are clueless about how your association chooses its qualified candidates for volunteer positions, inspire them to get involved by sharing the many ways to become a leader. That and more in today’s Social Media Roundup.

Follow the Leader

New Year’s resolution: review your organization’s leadership nomination process before your next election. #assnchat  (opens in a new tab) http://t.co/z88Q55WJqv  (opens in a new tab)

— eBallot (@ebvote) January 7, 2014  (opens in a new tab)

Need a good outside perspective? Helping members climb the volunteer leadership ladder can bring in a new crop of ideas. Many might perceive your association’s hierarchy as monolithic and unchanging. Providing diverse and experienced supporters with opportunities to develop their unique leadership skills can help them find renewed meaning in your organization’s mission. Votenet CEO Michael Tuteur says  (opens in a new tab) the leadership nomination process should be a “transparent, inclusive” experience. Rather than losing disinterested, uninformed members, he suggests giving them the inside scoop on the responsibilities that come with running an organization. “People no longer have the desire to spend years serving time while waiting for their turn to make a difference,” he says. “You’ll lose leadership talent to other organizations if you don’t find ways to provide opportunities for people to contribute at the highest levels.” (ht @votenet  (opens in a new tab))

Augmenting Events With Social

3 Rules to Apply to Your Event’s Social Media Strategy http://t.co/77j87CJs4w  (opens in a new tab) #eventprofs  (opens in a new tab) #expochat  (opens in a new tab) #assnchat  (opens in a new tab) #events  (opens in a new tab) @ungerboeck

— Stefanie Kilmey (@stefaniekilmey) January 8, 2014  (opens in a new tab)

Creating conference chatter: 2013 was certainly a huge year for social media strategy, and your association can continue to leverage the trend by making your 2014 events more connected. On the Ungerboeck Software blog, content manager Rebecca Rutherford highlights three ways to do that  (opens in a new tab). While in-person events and social media often work well together, she says, no conference organizer wants to see attendees glued to mobile devices. Instead, planners want event attendees to use social media as an accessory to networking and as a way to talk about the event. Rutherford suggests common practices like creating a hashtag and posting content related to the event, along with fresh ideas like producing event-specific social media pages for curation, launching a mobile app, or even having an on-site social media newsroom. With a little work, you can transform social media from a distraction into an engagement booster. (ht @stefaniekilmey  (opens in a new tab))

Do you have tips for using social media to enhance your event? Offer your take in the comments.

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