This SmartBrief Insights guest post comes from Deirdre Reid, CAE is an association consultant, speaker and trainer focusing on member engagement and social media at Deirdre Reid LLC. Connect with her @DeirdreReid.

Umair Haque, in his Harvard Business Review post, From Social Media to Social Strategy, believes social strategies will change the essence of organizations and social media tools can be a catalyst for that change. He talks about seven social strategies that will be the key to success and help organizations provide meaningful and sustainable value to members, customers and communities. I’ve already examined Character, Control, Creativity, Culture and Clarity. Today let’s look at Cohesion.

Cohesion

My interpretation of Cohesion according to Haque: individual, and often disparate, voices and relationships coming together, sticking to each other, thickening and blossoming into a community. Associations have always sold as a benefit the fact that our voices are stronger when we stand together; our community can be stronger too.

This new cohesive community doesn’t require large numbers of members, rather it looks for solidity, where the ties between members and between members and the association are strong. It’s a cohesive community of substance and value, not just numbers.

He advises us that “in relationships, seek quality, not quantity.” We hear this over and over, it’s not your number of Facebook fans or Twitter followers that matters; what matters is how you act with them and how they act with each other – the mutual engagement, support and trust that develop.

Several years ago our local affiliates learned a hard lesson about quantity vs. quality when during a weakening market, leadership encouraged a statewide member-get-a-member recruitment drive. They were keen to bring in lots of new members and the resulting dues revenue. But some chapters didn’t have the staff or volunteer resources to provide the desired level of service and membership ‘touches’ to all these new members. Plus, in their enthusiasm, many members recruited others who really weren’t a good fit for the association and vice-versa. A year later, in a horrific market, they still weren’t integrated into the community and many dropped their membership. It would have been better to focus on recruiting fewer members at once and giving them the attention they deserved.

The association’s role is to “help dialogue happen — and make relationships not merely inflate, but cohere.” Think about the association as a host of a huge party with guests spread throughout our house. We help members meet each other; sometimes we even play matchmaker. We give our guests what they need to have a good time, or succeed. We’re the ‘hostess with the mostest’ – the best resource for connections, news and education – the best party in town. We set the right mood and create a space for healthy dialogue. Those who didn’t come know they missed out yet feel welcome to come to the next one. We’re careful not toot our own horn too much, instead we let others rave about us.

“The art of social engagement” becomes increasingly important in our quest to provide value and community to our members. New social skill sets may be required. In a world overloaded with numbers and noise, we can be the community that members turn to for valuable and meaningful content and relationships.

Related Posts:

• Missing in Action: Young Association Leaders
• How to make time for a “small bite” of community
• How associations can engage a crowd of curators
• Is Boomer Leadership Failing Millennials?
• Social Strategies for Associations – Choreography (Part 7)