Matrix Group International

Author: Joanna Pineda

  • Why Are Infographics So Hot?

    Why Are Infographics So Hot?

    Version 13.2 of MatrixMaxx was released last week and it had several notable, new features related to visualization. The first is an infographics builder that lets clients chart meeting registrations against membership data and individual demographics. For example, a client might chart meeting registrations by member type, job level and job function. The second is a dynamic mapping feature that lets clients take a data set and map it. Let’s take the meeting example again. Clients can now push a button to see the spread of meeting attendees across the US.

    Maxx Infographics

    Why this emphasis on visualization?

    I believe that in this age of big data, we’re drowning in statistics and reports, but we’re starved for insight and trends (sorry for the mixed metaphor). Our CRM (customer relationship management) and AMS (association management software) systems are tracking all kinds of demographic data and transaction history but what are we really learning about our customers?

    If I have a list of 1,200 meeting attendees, organized by last name, company or state, I have a roster. A report that gives me total attendees by state will show me where my attendees are coming from. If I plot that data on a map, I might learn that most of my attendees are coming from the coasts or the southern states. Now imagine if I took the same list and plotted it against industry, type of business, job level or number of plants, what would I learn that isn’t at all obvious from looking a list of attendees?

    Ever notice how your boss or your Board is always asking for charts and graphs? It’s usually because they’re cold on an issue and summary data, along with visualizations, can give them the 20,000 foot view they need to make strategic decisions.

    Here are some example of amazing visualizations that tell a great story:

    My prediction: infographics and visualization tools will continue to grow and dominate our thinking and analysis.

  • How Can Your Organization Use Crowdsourcing To Increase Member and Customer Benefits?

    How Can Your Organization Use Crowdsourcing To Increase Member and Customer Benefits?

    lego-minecraftMy family went to New York for Spring Break. During the obligatory visit to the flagship FAO Schwarz store, my husband caved and bought our 8-year old a LEGO Minecraft kit. Don’t know about Minecraft? As far as I can tell, Minecraft is THE hot game for boys, who play it on computers, tablets and phones, basically any device they can get their hands on. Minecraft is a game that allows players to build anything out of blocks (buildings, lakes, plants, etc.). At night, the zombies come out so your house or castle better be safe. Anyway, back to my story. We shelled out $44 for a LEGO Minecraft that wasn’t designed by LEGO.

    For the past few years, LEGO has been accepting models from amateurs through their Cuusoo crowdsourcing platform. The model is simple enough: anyone can build and share a model. If your model gets 10,000 supporters, LEGO HQ reviews it and decides if it should become an official product. If your model goes into production, you get 1% of total net sales. Is that crazy or what? LEGO has managed to tap into the creative consciousness of its loyal fan base, who will undoubtedly bring their knowledge and interests to LEGO, at nearly zero cost to LEGO. Think of the buzz that a new kit has already generated by the time it reaches 10,000 supporters. That’s 10,000 nearly guaranteed sales! More craziness: my 8-year old has already brought his Minecraft kit to school for show and tell and he’s made a YouTube video that will join the thousands of other YouTube videos on Minecraft.

    The question is, how can non-manufacturers use crowdsourcing to generate new product ideas, generate customer and member love, and increase revenues? Here are some ideas:

    • Many professional societies accepts submissions to speak at a conference. These submissions get reviewed and voted on by an elite panel of members. What if the society blew open the submission process and let the entire membership vote? The top submissions would then get to speak at the conference.
    • How about a soliciting ideas for publications and research to be funded by your Foundation? And then let the membership vote and you fund the top vote getters.
    • Want to connect with your members? Ask them what topics they’d like your CEO to address during a live chat or in blog posts, then get the membership to vote on the topics. Your CEO would then address the top topics during a meeting, call or in blog posts.
    • Thinking about staff retention? Ask your staff for their best non-financial benefits and rewards and then get the entire staff to vote.

    It’s easy to associate crowdsourcing with websites like KickStarter, where entrepreneurs submit their ideas and people support the ideas with their money. But I think crowdsourcing can be a powerful engagement tool for organizations of all sizes, in all industries.

     

     

  • Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Website Redesign

    Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Website Redesign

    Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board) was founded in 1985 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that serves the public interest by promoting the value of professional, competent and ethical financial planning services, as represented by those who have attained CFP® certification.  CFP Board sets and enforces the requirements for CFP® certification.

    As THE premier certification organization for financial planners, CFP Board needed to redesign its website to:

    • Educate financial planners on the importance of CFP® certification and encourage them to become certified
    • Keep current CFP® professionals informed about the requirements for maintaining their certifications
    • Position CFP® certification as the financial planning industry standard to a broader audience

    Matrix Group worked with the organization to revamp their website. The new site:

    • Features an improved “Find a CFP® Professional” tool.
    • Is mobile friendly!
    • Is built in the Sitefinity content management system and integrated with netFORUM, CFP Board’s certification database.

    Visit the CFP Board website.

  • Evernote

    Evernote

    I love this note taking and organization app. It syncs between my laptop, iPhone, and iPad and I can access it from anywhere. I can even share my notes with friends or staff!

  • How To Get Your Brand Pages Ready for the New Facebook News Feed

    Facebook logoEarlier this month, Facebook announced that users’ home page will soon be transformed into a revamped newsfeed. If you’re the administrator for a brand page, here are some things you should know about the new News Feed.

    Facebook Will Let Users Choose the Feeds They Want To See. Today, Facebook tries to guess what posts, images and links will most interest you. It’s called EdgeRank and it’s based on a complex algorithm that’s based on four factors: whether you’ve interacted with a friend or brand before (including frequency), other people’s reactions to a post (i.e., if lots of your friends are commenting on a post, chances are you’ll see that post in your feed), your interactions with posts of that type in the past (i.e., if you seem to like photos, you’ll see more photos), and whether or not a post has received complaints. With the new News Feed, Facebook will let you choose the feeds you want to see: Friends, Photos, Music, Following, Games, etc. So is EdgeRank dead? At least a few Facebook experts think so.

    Images and Video Will Rule. The Facebook News Feed will be all about photos and videos. Newsfeed will be bursting with large images and videos, including videos from third party sites. As I’ve noted above, Facebook will let users view just photos from friends and pages they like. So what happens if your organization tends to post Facebook updates with no images? Your updates will probably be largely ignored. Bottom line: think big, bold images because they will dominate the News Feed.

    Third Party Content Regains Status. If you’ve got great content on a blog, community site, YouTube, Pinterest or Instagram, for example, Facebook will let you feature those links and posts prominently, especially if they have nice images.

    How to get ready for Newsfeed?

    • Read more about the new Facebook News Feed
    • Join the waiting list so you’ll be one of the first to get Newsfeed. Go here and scroll to the bottom of the page.
    • Have a photo strategy for your website and your Facebook posts.

    Are you ready for the new News Feed? It’s coming and you want to be sure that your followers continue to WANT to read your posts and allow your posts to be featured in their feeds.

     

     

  • 5k Fridays

    5k Fridays

    Crystal City’s 5k Fridays are a great way to kick off the weekend. Matrix staff love running these races together every spring.

  • American Counseling Association Website Redesign

    American Counseling Association Website Redesign

    The American Counseling Association (ACA) is a not-for-profit, professional and educational organization that is dedicated to the growth and enhancement of the counseling profession. Founded in 1952, ACA is the world’s largest association exclusively representing professional counselors in various practice settings.

    ACA needed to redesign its website to support the demanding needs of counselors who serve in various practice settings worldwide. Members told ACA they wanted:

    • A more robust search to find things quickly
    • An easier way to complete tasks, e.g., renewing memberships, registering for courses and conferences, etc.
    • Easily accessible resources to help counselors with their daily work and career advancement
    • A website that explains who counselors are, how they help clients, and why they fill an important need in our communities

    To help ACA reach their goals, Matrix Group:

    • Created dynamic topic pages in the Knowledge Center. 
    • Achieved single sign-on (SSO) between the Sitefinity CMS, the iMIS association management software, Wiley Publishing and Higher Logic’s community platform.
    • Made the website mobile-friendly through responsive design
    • Created a tutorial that introduces visitors to the site and teaches them how to use the site to get the most out of their membership.

    Visit the ACA website.

  • National Electrical Contractors Association Website Redesign

    National Electrical Contractors Association Website Redesign

    The National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA)  is the voice of the $130 billion electrical construction industry that brings power, light, and communication technology to buildings and communities across the United States.

    NECA’s previous website had served its members successfully for more than four years, but the way electrical contractors do business is now changing and NECA wanted to ensure that they were providing members with information and resources they needed to grow.

    NECA joined forces with its longtime web partner, Matrix Group, to create a more robust, functional website that met the needs of its membership base. The new site:

    The new site:

    • Features a new “Contractor Resources” section.
    • Is now mobile-friendly. W
    • Is a user-centered design, using imagery that captures the diversity of the industry and what NECA members do.
    • Is implemented in the Sitefinity content management system.

    Check out the newly redesigned website at www.necanet.org.

  • Food Allergy Research & Education Website Redesign

    Food Allergy Research & Education Website Redesign

    Food Allergy Research & Education, Inc (FARE), is a nonprofit organization based in McLean, VA, that works on behalf of the 15 million Americans with food allergies, and was formed in 2012 as the result of a merger between the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network and the Food Allergy Initiative. FARE aims to ensure the safety and inclusion of individuals with food allergies and to pursue a cure.

    FARE wanted to unify its brand, its mission, and its message under FARE, and to increase engagement with their members and the public.

    Here’s what we did:

    • Interviewed FARE leadership and members, including researchers, educators, parents and individuals living with food allergies, to ensure we had the most up-to-date, pertinent information to share.
    • With FARE, researched the websites of FAAN and FAI to determine how to most efficiently merge the site’s taxonomy and functionality.
    • Created new branding for FARE, uniting the themes of food, health care, and education.
    • Crafted a clean, user-friendly design for the new website, organizing the vast amount of information in an intuitive way, simplifying the experience for all visitors.

    Visit the redesigned site at www.foodallergy.org.

  • American Counseling Association Website Redesign

    American Counseling Association Website Redesign

    The American Counseling Association (ACA) is a not-for-profit, professional and educational organization that is dedicated to the growth and enhancement of the counseling profession.

    As the world’s largest association exclusively representing professional counselors, ACA needed to redesign its website to support the demanding needs of counselors who serve in various practice settings worldwide.

    Matrix Group worked with ACA to completely revamp its website. Based on extensive interviews with counselors, ACA leadership and staff (part of our user-centered design process), Matrix Group updated the navigation, created a new design that reflected the association’s brand, implemented the website into a content management system and integrated it with ACA’s technology partners.

    The new ACA site:

    • Features dynamic topic pages in the Knowledge Center. 
    • Achieved single sign-on (SSO) between the Sitefinity CMS, the iMIS association management software, Wiley Publishing and Higher Logic‘s community platform.
    • Features a new MyACA section that gives counselors a snapshot of their profiles and makes recommendations for things to do and purchase.
    • Is now mobile-friendly. Counseling.org is responsive to users’ devices, whether it’s a smartphone, tablet or desktop computer.
    • Features a tutorial that introduces visitors to the site and teaches them how to use the site to get the most out of their membership.

    Check out the new ACA website at www.counseling.org