Change is coming, but that’s nothing new, we’ve known that since, well, forever. However, within the current tide of change, associations must decide if that change will be the long hoped for type of change that Sam Cooke sung about or if it will be the change that steamrolls its way through our organizations. That’s what this year’s Aptify conference was all about. Specifically, embracing technology to lead and harness the power of change. One key theme that stuck out, was that not only do members expect things at their fingertips, so do employees. This fact was highlighted in Jamie Notter’s (Author of “When Millennials Take Over”) keynote speech about millennials in the workplace – “The Power of Millennial Alignment”. It isn’t enough anymore to know what members expect and to kindly say “we’re working on it”, we must be able to deliver what they want when they want it (and when do they want it? NOW, of course). That’s where technology partners like HighRoad come in. Partners in the association space are working alongside associations to harness the power of technology to deliver member services and respond to member needs.

Creating relevant, original content takes a lot of effort and time.  Repurposing the content you already have across multiple social channels can ease the pressure to produce.  Repurposing also expands the reach and impact of each piece of original content to it's full potential.  The infographic below reveals how to repurpose content across various social channels.

If you have made the decision to purchase a marketing automation system, there are a few things to consider first.  When it comes to marketing automation, taking some time before hand to understand what you need to plan for and expect from the implementation of your new system may save you pain down the road.  There are some questions worth considering when choosing a marketing automation system.  What do you want your system to achieve for you?  What platforms or tools do you wish to integrate with your new system?  What level of vendor support will you need to get up and running?  And for how long?  Gillian Wildfire at Act-On has written an article about the four steps you should take when considering marketing automation solutions.  Taking these four steps first will provide you with the information you need in order to ensure success with your new system.

Any growing business or organization that wants to have long-term success in today's digital world must learn to take advantage of digital content.  While there is still value in physical business collateral such as books, brochures, magazines, informational pamphlets and the like, what's becoming a standard for practically every professional industry is for businesses to produce online content for a digital audience.  If you're wondering how to best approach digital content for your business to ensure that it's helping rather than hindering your goals, here are 5 important rules when writing digital content:

Content marketing is the creation and distribution of relevant, valuable content to attract a specific audience in order to drive engagement.  The main objective of content marketing is to generate leads, and as a marketing strategy it can be quite effective.  Demand Metric Chief Analyst Jerry Rackley and our own CMO Suzanne Carawan discuss how organizations are successfully using content marketing as a lead gen tool.  In addition, they discuss:

Digital marketing is a cost effective way to promote and grow your organization.  With so many consumers online these days, it's important to have a strong presence there.  The infographic below is a simple guide for successful online marketing.