When Linda and I put our heads together and started the social media committee at
AAKC, we had no idea how successful it would become. It has gone from some words on paper to an amazing group of people brainstorming ways we can make our association stronger.
We meet once per month like our other committees at
AAKC. But, instead of planning a trade show or awards banquet, we plan ways to promote our association and other events. We create new ways for our members to get involved.
One of our most successful ideas is to host a monthly "Social Hour". Our committee chooses an establishment in a different part of the Kansas City Metro each month to host the event. A different committee member each month takes the lead and works out the details and even gets the location to donate a gift card or two for us to give away at the event. To promote this, we mainly use
Facebook by creating an "event". The first Social Hour in December had about 40 people in attendance. A huge success! Each month after that we average about 50 members. We now even have a vendor sponsor the event. For a small fee, we put their name on the event page and use their name when promoting the Social Hour.
Some people still think social media is a fad and it is going to fade away into the sunset. I respectfully see things a little differently. I feel it is here to stay and I am so happy it is. After all it is so much fun!
It is great having a large committee of great people that are on the same page and can help come up with so many fun ideas. I can't wait to see where social media will take our association this year.
http://www.aakc.us/Tweet to you soon,
Jeremy Lawson,
NALPSocial Media Committee
