Associations face a lot of competition when it comes to information and networking opportunities from online search engines and social platforms like LinkedIn. But there are opportunities for associations to stand out by leveraging personalization.

“If we want to embrace changes to our environment while still maintaining the solid foundations upon which our associations are built, personalization is going to be key,” says Mark Kibble in an Association Success post.

Kibbles argues that for-profit companies are constantly using personal data to target ads at consumers, but associations, on the other hand, can use that data to provide value to members. “For example, when creating a newsletter, can we not use machine learning to build a version of the newsletter for each individual depending on his/her interests and requirements?” he asks.

What not to Ask EMployees

10 things you must never, ever ask your #employees to do for you: https://t.co/vSo17XK2NP#leadership #management #ethics

— Future Value (@FVCTweets) February 21, 2018

There are obvious requests that bosses should never make of their employees. For instance, you’d never ask an employee to do your laundry or babysit your kids. But some professional requests subtly cross a line. For instance, have you ever asked one employee to report back to you about another?

A recent post on Forbes details 10 questions you should not be asking of others. “If you want to build trust on your team, the way to do it is not to send out a scout to gain an employee’s personal information through stealth, and then scurry back to you with the gossip,” writes contributor Liz Ryan.

Other Links of Note

If you believe that membership recruitment is everybody’s job, then check out these 10 tips for strategic growth from Ed Rigsbee.

Looking to try something new in social? SocialFish offers up some guidance for a social media takeover.

Could your fundraising story be stronger? The Heroic Fundraising blog shares the six As of storytelling.

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