What Your Association Can Learn From Hillary Clinton

She’s always moving in and out of the political spotlight, but should associations also be keeping an eye on former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s past? The answer: probably.

Learn from one of the nation’s political heavyweights how to become a heavyweight in your own sphere in today’s Social Media Roundup:

Bipartisan Wisdom from Clinton

https://twitter.com/billwalker7/status/441628999752896512

Learn from the past:  The deluge of documents just released by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library  (opens in a new tab) has provided an intriguing look behind the scenes of his wife’s stint as first lady. And some of the information about those inner workings can be useful to associations, Kipp Lanham says over at Ragan.com  (opens in a new tab).

He points particularly to communications strategy and tactics. Among the tips recommended by Hillary Clinton’s advisors? Engage journalists by meeting with them. “An editor or reporter working on a story that affects an association might have no idea whom to contact for comment,” Lanham writes. “Associations must be proactive in developing media relationships.”

It’s an unconventional source of inspiration, but as Lanham makes clear, many of the tenets of effective communication and best practices for building press relations remain relevant years after they were employed in the political sphere. And, hey, she speaks at association events, too! (ht @billwalker7  (opens in a new tab))

Leverage the Revamped LinkedIn

LinkedIn Publishing: 4 Reasons You Should Want to Do It Now http://t.co/kIZ4gZe17g  (opens in a new tab) via @shellykramer  (opens in a new tab) <just got access….will try it>

— maggielmcg (@maggielmcg) March 6, 2014  (opens in a new tab)

Rev up a new publishing machine: Plenty of us are on LinkedIn, and many have its share button on our sites, but how many association leaders and members are active contributors to its publishing platform?

Shelly Kramer is a LinkedIn evangelist, and she has a post over at V3 Integrated Marketing  (opens in a new tab) on why you should keep an eye on the platform’s increasingly open self-publishing tools.

Once you gain access to those tools, the doors to new audiences are open, she says, and with that come opportunities to play alongside industry leaders and prominent associations.

“It’s truly a point of differentiation that can make a world of difference because, to our way of thinking, it’s not about what you say you know how to do—whether for yourselves or for your clients—it’s what you show you know how to do that makes the difference,” Kramer advises. “Writing content designed for publication on LinkedIn, getting great engagement as a result of that content, social sharing, showing up in Google results and the like—that is bound to impact your own authority.”

If you’re persuaded by Kramer’s argument, you can register for early access right here  (opens in a new tab). But if you need a second opinion, be sure to check out the CMSWire piece  (opens in a new tab) we pointed out this morning. (ht @maggielmcg  (opens in a new tab))

(Getty Images News/Thinkstock)