Membership Hack: Get Social With Onboarding

How to hack it? When a company joins the Air Conditioning Contractors of America, they receive traditional member-onboarding materials, including a mailed packet of information, a welcome email, and a check-in call.

But Karina Romero, ACCA’s manager of customer services, takes the onboarding process one step further, tagging new members on Facebook and Twitter. “We want to recognize our new members via social media because it’s an easy and low- or no-cost tool,” she says. “It creates traffic for their social media pages, and, most of all, it creates brand recognition.”

Here’s what a welcome tweet looks like:

We’re happy to welcome our new member contractor, Cooper Mechanical, Inc. @CooperMech  (opens in a new tab) in Ottsville, PA ! We thank you for your support. We look forward to working with you. #accamovement  (opens in a new tab) #hvac  (opens in a new tab) #accanewmember  (opens in a new tab) pic.twitter.com/iKiPIsVGTT  (opens in a new tab)

— Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) (@accausa) November 13, 2018  (opens in a new tab)

Why does it work? Welcoming a new member on social media makes a positive impact on the company during the onboarding experience. Meanwhile, Romero tracks social media metrics, which tell her whether the new member is likely to engage online. “I do like to review tweet impressions or other brief comments from others, and it looks positive,” she says.

What’s the bonus? ACCA’s social welcomes set up a channel for two-way communication:  Members can ask questions or post comments about their membership experience so far.

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