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Association Success Story | Association Insights ASSOCIATION SUCCESS STORY Project A website to maximize the untapped communications potential of ETIS and help to ensure public trust in the organisation, attract and retain members, raise public awareness whilst increasing member engagement, commitment and support for the organisation Categories Association and member management technology Dates 2012 to 2014 Association ETIS – The Global IT Association for Telecommunications Members Founded in 1991, ETIS is a membership based organization which brings together the major telecommunications providers in Europe to share knowledge on key information and communication technology issues in a trusted environment. Project team Fred Werner – ETIS Communications & Programme Director Objectives The goal of the new ETIS Website was to maximize the untapped communications potential of ETIS and help to ensure public trust in the organisation, attract and retain members, raise public awareness whilst increasing member engagement, commitment and support for the organisation. The new website helped equip ETIS Members and Central Office staff with a set of necessary tools for more effective and enriched communications and interaction in order to help ETIS achieve its Mission and Vision, supported by an upgraded ETIS Online Community Platform. Below is an overview of the major outputs and expected benefits of the new strategy and website: » Upgraded Members Corner to create a more social, dynamic & collaborative ETIS online community that fosters a culture of sharing knowledge » Refreshed ETIS message that effectively communicates the benefits & values of ETIS membership in order to attract new members, associates, partners & sponsors » New tools & strategies to effectively cross-communicate our activities, topics, survey results & deliverables to ETIS members » Leverage the Social Media opportunity to increase our online presence, public profile, distribution of top level public information & member engagement www.associationsnetwork.org » Improved logistical tools to support our members ‘onthe-go’ like responsive design, online meetings and event management tool » Increase the security, quality, targeting and accuracy of content and data in our Members Corner » Increase the efficiency of the Central Office by aligning internal processes into one platform » Ensure that our Website keeps up with the speed of the Web and control future development costs Introduction Several years ago we found that some of our Members were self-organising on Linkedin and creating their own Working Group spaces. This served as a wake-up call to make sure that our Membership Platform was good enough to at least not give them the excuse to run to other free resources to engage with each other online. The result was a thorough review of our communications plan and the launch of a new Website and Membership Management Platform which has almost double our Member Logins. Background Over the years ETIS has put a lot of effort into the image of the organisation as well as the continual improvement of the ETIS Website and Members Corner. As a result, we have succeeded in conveying an image of ‘trust’ and ‘community’ supported by a coherent brand/image and a working set of marketing/communications tools. Although we have succeeded in many areas, there is always room for improvement especially in the ‘web 2.0’, collaboration and social media aspects of our communications strategy. Following the spirit of continual improvement, we used this opportunity to further strengthen our communications capabilities with an updated Communications strategy between 2013 and 2015. The goal of the Communications Analysis & Roadmap 2013-2015 is to maximize the untapped communications potential of ETIS and help to ensure public trust in the organisation, attract and retain members, raise public awareness whilst increasing member engagement, commitment and support for the organisation. Activities Personalised experience: The ETIS online community, as a concept, serves as a dynamic central communications hub where all communications originate, retu rn to, converge and where member interaction takes place in a manner that empowers our members to take ownership of ETIS activities. It also acts as a one-stop shop for all ETIS-related needs of our members – information, networking, engagement, collaboration, sharing of knowledge as well as informal socialisation. © Associations Network 2015 | 41