Battle for Relevance: Learning from the Business World

Battle for Relevance

August 13, 20123:15 to 4:30 p.m.

Hub Tag: #ASAE12 LR3

August 13, 2012

@BrianJohnRiggs@BrianReuwee

#ASAE12LR3

What the Army, Harvard Business Review and Twitter can

teach associations about recruiting, growth and

engagement.


August 13, 2012


#ASAE12LR3

Introductions

August 13, 2012 @BrianJohnRiggs | @BrianReuwee#ASAE12LR3


• Introductions– Brian Riggs, Association Headquarters– Brian Reuwee, AMR Management Services

• Case Studies– U.S. Army recruiting– Twitter’s explosive growth– Harvard Business Review engagement

• Breakout Activity– Identify examples of innovative thinking and how they could be

applied to your association

• Questions• Summary


U.S. Army (Military) Recruiting

• To examine recruitment categories, posters and efforts used by the US Army

• To examine the level of commitment the Army requires from their recruiting officers

• Online effortsAugust 13, 2012


#ASAE12LR3

Goal

• To think differently about your approach to engaging membership

Recruitment - Approach

• Prior to WWI – State Level• Post WWI - National Approach

Recruitment Categories

• Patriotism• Adventure / Challenge• Job / Career / Education• Social Status• Travel• Money• Miscelanous

Civil War Treasures from the New-York Historical Society

http://memory.loc.gov/learn/collections/treasures/thinking3.html

http://www.americasarmy.com/


James Flagg, Lithograph, 1917http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm015.html

World War I Recruiting Poster

World War II Navy Recruitment Posters

http://www.history.navy.mil/ac/posters/wwiiwomen/wavep1.htm


World War II Navy Recruitment Posters

http://www.history.navy.mil/ac/posters/wwiiwomen/wavep1.htm


U.S. Navy recruiting poster, 1974

Army Recruiting Functions

Skills of Today’s Recruiter • Intelligence gathering provides market data for the planning of recruiting operations. It

gives the recruiter a historical and current demographic view of the market.• Prospecting identifies interested people who agree to hear your Army story. Your

mission success is relative to your prospecting success.• The Army interview is the art of recruiting. During the interview you must determine

the person’s goals and passions, devise a career plan, and ask them to join the Army.• Processing ensures only qualified applicants become Soldiers. Processing matches

an applicant’s qualifications and desires with the needs of the Army.• The Future Soldier Training Program reinforces the Future Soldier’s commitment,

prepares them for basic training (BT), and reduces the personal and family anxiety often associated with joining the Army. The FSTP also supports your recruiting efforts by providing quality referrals and market intelligence.

• Training is the leader’s domain and is necessary to sustain your recruiting proficiency. However, it is your responsibility to master the art and science of recruiting.

• Sustainment is the military, civilian, and contracted support that provides the physical means for recruiters to work and accomplish the mission.

• Command and control (C2) enables commanders to make informed decisions, assign responsibilities, and synchronize functions. It helps commanders adjust plans for future operations while maintaining focus on the current operation. Through C2, commanders can focus all systems toward the common goal of mission success.

U.S. Army Online

• Website – mission & vision

• Blog

• Games

• YouTube

• Twitter

Insert title here

Connecting with the Audience

Games

Social Media

Engage & Stay Engaged

We can learn from Twitter

“Current and future stakeholders often have free or low-cost access to a variety of ‘good enough’ and superior alternatives for building networks, retrieving information and pursuing learning.”


Jeff DeCagna, Principled Innovation

Unique, powerful, accessable

Jeff Hurt,

Velvet Chainsaw Consulting

“The power to dictate the terms of new value creation has shifted away from traditional institutions and toward individuals collaborating through public platforms, self-organizing groups and distributed networks.”




Discovery EngineSearch for topics or discover hashtags

(i.e. #ASAE12)

See tweets from @BrianJohnRiggs

Follow @BrianJohnRiggs

Follow others who he RTs


Battlefield Lessons from Twitter

• Keep it simple• Open connectivity can

lead to rapid growth and adoption

• Allow users the space to find value in the community/platform

• Embrace new voices and ideas, engage with new technology

“The qualities that make Twitter seem inane and half-baked are what makes it so powerful."

Jonathan ZittrainProfessor of Internet Law

Harvard Law School

http://www.diigo.com/wiki/Jonathan_Zittrain

Intersection of Associations & Media


HBR: Old media, new direction

Old School New School


http://www.facebook.com/HBR

http://twitter.com/HarvardBiz

http://feeds.harvardbusiness.org/harvardbusiness

http://hbr.org/

http://hbr.org/

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3044917

http://www.youtube.com/HarvardBusiness

https://plus.google.com/102079566431379795675/posts

Battlefield Lessons from HBR

• Understand your audience

• Embrace disruptive trends

• Ditch what doesn’t work

• Stick to your mission


Breakout Activity

• Identify and discuss examples of non-associations successfully using association tactics– Example: MarketingProfs

• How could your example be put to work in your association?

August 13, 2012


#ASAE12LR3

Questions

• Huh? Twitter is like an association?



• Be cognizant of emerging communities and organizations outside of the association industry and what we can learn from their approach.

• Adopt, adapt and amplify• Embrace and listen to your community• Don’t be afraid to blow it up


Thank YouBrian ReuweeVP, Sales & MarketingAMR Management Services(636) [email protected]

Brian RiggsVP, Business DevelopmentAssociation Headquarters(856) [email protected]

August 13, 2012


#ASAE12LR3

Sourceshttp://www.diigo.com/user/brianreuwee/ASAE12

August 13, 2012


#ASAE12LR3