Now that I have a weekly podcast (Associations Thrive, available on all the major podcast networks), I interview CEOs, Executive Directors, and Presidents every single week.
And you know what I’ve realized? Some chief execs have a great microphone or headset with a great microphone, and many do not. For the purposes of my podcast, I want the chief execs to have a great microphone because my episodes come out sound so much better, and so much more professional when my guests have nice audio. If the exec doesn’t have a microphone, I make it work, but the difference is so great that I’m about to start requiring a microphone or I’ll send the exec a microphone.
But then I got to thinking. If some execs sound great during my interviews, while some do not, the same is also true during the endless Zoom and Teams meetings that these execs have all day long. So does it really matter if a chief exec sounds great during a virtual Board meeting, staff meeting or webinar?
I think it does. I think that in 2020, when the pandemic was just starting, people put up with less than optimal video and sound quality during their virtual meetings and conferences. But today, people expect higher production value, and they expect good video and audio. Your members may not say it, but subconsciously, they are rating your performance as a chief exec on everything you’re doing: your actions, your words, your visual presence, and yes, how you sound on a call or video meeting.
I think it’s also a sign of respect to your audience to sound as good as you can during an online meeting. With a great microphone, your fellow meeting attendees or guests don’t have to strain to understand your words, and you don’t risk being misunderstood because your words aren’t clear.
You don’t need to spend a ton of money to sound great during a Zoom meeting or podcast interview. If you’re in the market for a microphone, here are my recommendations:
I myself own a blue Yeti. I love this mic. My staff say I sound great all the time. I sprung for a pop screen because I record for Associations Thrive every week, but I don’t think it’s necessary unless you’re doing a lot of recordings like me.
If you want a budget microphone, Leah Monica, Director of Marketing at Matrix Group, uses this microphone.
You probably splurged on an external camera during the pandemic (I know I did, well, I spent $100!). Isn’t it time to spend a little money to sound great during your next Zoom meeting? CEO or otherwise!
In case you missed it, Matrix Group now has a podcast. It’s called Associations Thrive! Each week, I interview association and nonprofit CEOs, Presidents and Executive Directors about the things their organization is doing to increase membership, generate revenue, and ultimately thrive.
Associations Thrive came out of a marketing planning meeting I held with my team at the beginning of Summer 2022. You see, at least once a year, we do a webinar where we showcase some of the amazing projects of our clients. This year, we thought, “Why not showcase what associations and nonprofits are doing, regardless of whether or not they’re clients, and why not do it through a podcast for greater reach?”
What are some of the themes that are emerging? What do successful organizations all have in common? Here’s what we’ve learned so far:
Successful organizations have chief executives that work cooperatively with their Board. This sounds so unbelievably obvious, but it makes sense. When Boards provide the guidance and oversight, and then let their Executive Directors or CEOs execute on their vision, great things happen. For example, Lindsay Currie of CUR has a Board that practices anticipatory planning and has an innovation fund. Russ Webb of the Bay Area Apartment Association says he doesn’t tell his members how to run apartment buildings, and they don’t tell him how to run the BAAA, but his Board does provide mission and guidance.
Successful organizations took advantage of the pandemic to update their governance, update their strategic plans, think proactively about the future, and revamp their education programs. These are organizations that are not going back to their pre-pandemic structures and offerings. For example, CASE updated its strategic plan and created a new career journey framework during the pandemic.
Many are re-imagining their conferences. They are updating the formats, creating new events, and rethinking legacy events. For example, Russ Webb of the Bay Area Apartment Association has a FOMO (fear of missing out) event strategy. The BAAA’s annual conference is held at different times of the year, in different locations, and with different program elements. The Book Manufacturing Institute has a Book Manufacturing Mastered event that is offered at different locations and the program is guided by the most important topics affecting book manufacturers at the time.
Research and reports are helping members navigate the future and create amazing member value. For example, AAPACN has research that shows having at least one AAPACN-certified nurse at a skilled nursing facility improves quality outcomes and increases reimbursement rates. The BMI and CASE report data from members around the world.
Technology powers successful organizations. For example, CASE updated its technology to become a more nimble association. CUR updated its technology and is now an all-remote association.
Successful organizations value member feedback and create opportunities for hearing member concerns. For example, Alan DeYoung of the Wisconsin EMS Association visits member agencies once a month to solicit member feedback, distribute goodies, and ask how WEMSA can help. Vince Talucci of the International Association of Chiefs of Police went on a listening tour to solicit deep member feedback. The Pet Advocacy Network meets members at industry events to solicit feedback and share what Pet Advocacy is doing to showcase the industry and its issues. Then, they act.
Successful organizations are committed to making their member journeys amazing. For example, NVAR revamped the physical space at their HQ, created a member experience team that can answer any and all member questions, and even created a digital studio to help members navigate social media, and record audio and video.
What a pleasure and an honor to learn about these successful association leaders and their organizations. I hope you’ll give Associations Thrive a listen and give me feedback on the content, format and guests. And if your organization has added member services, updated its governance, or launched new services and are seeing great results, I want to hear your story! Please ask your chief executive (or their assistant, most likely) to visit https://podcast.matrixgroup.net to apply to be on Associations Thrive!
Struggling to find the perfect gift for the techies in your life? With technology continuing to evolve at a breakneck speed and the fact that techies can be so particular (we can say this because we know: we are them!), it can be tough to know what gift to give that will be a joy and delight, and not outdated.
To give you a few great ideas, I polled my staff to see what gadgets they’re loving and what’s on their holiday wishlist. Here are the hottest tech gifts for this holiday season according to the Matrix Group staff:
For everyone who enjoys hot beverages throughout the day, enjoying it at the right temperature has always been a minor inconvenience. It’s usually too hot when it’s first made. But if you wait too long to let it cool off, then it’s too cold.
With this handy gift, you can set the ideal temperature for you with a phone app and always enjoy your beverage at the right temperature! It even has a sleep functionality that will turn off and turn back on as soon as the mug detects movement of the liquid inside.
Have a significant other that loves spending time outdoors or is someone that’s just cold all the time? This heated vest could be a game changer! With 3 different heat levels and a run time of 1, 2 or 3 hours for each level, this makes for a great gift that’s useful year round!
One of the greatest gifts you can give your child or a friend’s child is the gift of coding. As one of the highest paid professions and a guaranteed study that can lead to a career in video games, the Osmo coding family bundle is designed for kids 5-10 that teaches coding via connecting colorful blocks and seeing the results on an Ipad. The other great part? You can learn to code as you help out!
Got a significant other with an artistic streak that could use a device to take it to the next level? The Cricut Maker will let them take all kinds of different artist patterns or designs and have a computer cut them out on hundreds of different material types! With 13 tools to cut, emboss engrave, etc., this gift will provide endless hours of creative fun and is powerful enough for those who create art on a professional level!
For those who love organization, the P-Touch Smartphone label maker provides an extremely portable and convenient solution for those who need labels on a daily basis. Simply download the P-Touch app and connect to it wirelessly to print labels using over 450 symbols and a variety of font styles.
What’s on your tech wish list this holiday season?
Looking for a few easy upgrades that are light on the budget but will start you off strong in 2023? Matrix Group Creative Director Alex Pineda and Lead Front-End Developer Jaime Quiroz have suggestions for a few simple upgrades and updates you can make that will improve your user experience, give you more accurate data, and help you better serve your members.
1. Pick one template that you use often, and update it.
We live in an era where new and fresh is not just preferred but expected. Keep your brand and assets fresh by auditing and updating one or more of your most-used templates. This could be a template for your: newsletter, PowerPoint presentations, meeting pages, PDFs, press releases, or social media posts. Little tweaks like this can make a big difference, and good designers should be able to do this work fairly quickly.
2. Refresh the most visited page on your website.
Google loves it when you update your pages, and your users do, too! Take a look at your most visited page, and ask yourself:
What images could we replace to make this page more high-impact?
What can we reduce to increase clarity on this page?
Is the page too cluttered; what can we do to make it simpler?
What is the goal of the page? Is there a clear flow to the call-to-action to meet that goal?
Why is this page so popular? What other content can we feature that is connected to the popularity of this page?
Is there any industry jargon on the page that needs to be reworded?
Even updating two or three little things can make a big impact!
Not sure which page is your most-visited page? Take a look at your analytics. If you’re not sure how to do that and need help, maybe now is also a good time to invest in some Analytics training. Speaking of Analytics….
3. Upgrade to Google Analytics 4
If you haven’t upgraded to Google Analytics 4 (GA4), you need to upgrade as soon as possible! Google is sunsetting Universal Analytics on July 1, 2023. Due to the new data model in GA4, you won’t be able to move your data from UA to GA4 and data between UA and GA4 won’t be comparable. You need to start collecting your data in GA4 yesterday to have the comparative reports you’ll need next year. (Psst, if you need help getting GA4 installed on your site or want training on the new interface, we can help!)
If you already have GA4 installed on your site (bravo!) we recommend investing in one Google Data Studio custom report. Google Data Studio lets you create beautiful dashboard reports that aggregate data and reports so you can see and understand your data more clearly.
4. Update link text and button text on your website to improve accessibility and usability.
It’s important to make your link text and button text as descriptive as possible on your website. This is important for usability, but even more important for accessibility. People who use screen readers (e.g., people who are blind or low vision) need descriptive links or button text so that they know how to execute an action. For example, a link that says Click here is not useful to screen readers; “Register now” or “Read our annual report” is more helpful.
The icing on the cake: this practice is also great for search engine optimization. When you link the whole phrase, your sites gives Google and other search engines better clues about what your content, page, and links are about; this can help boost your authority and ranking.
5. Take your most important PDF and turn it into an HTML page.
Why? For so many reasons. Search engines can’t tell from a PDF what your content is really all about because all of the text is treated equally; PDF pages are lacking H tags that provide a hierarchy for what the page is all about. In addition, PDFs are not good for accessibility, they’re not mobile friendly, and they’re not easy to update. Yes, you have more design control with a PDF, but you need to consider all of the other factors at play. Converting your most important PDFs to HTML pages will drastically improve usability, accessibility, and SEO.
6. Increase security by using and requiring 2-factor authentication
If you haven’t already, we beg of you: install 2-factor authentication for EVERYTHING that you can, and update your security policy to require it. Yes, it can create a minor inconvenience – maybe add 15 seconds to a log-in process – but those few seconds might be the very thing that saves your organization from being completely compromised, which would cost you a lot more time.
7. Improve your search by adding 10 more best bets
For your top 10 most searched queries on your site, are your users getting to where they need to go? One way to make sure they get where they want to go, or where you want them to go, is to update your best bets to serve better results. Best bets, or featured results, tell your search engine that for specific keywords or phrases, you want X and Y pages to be at the top. For example, if someone types the word “awards” into your site search, they might get a jillion results, but what they probably want is your awards landing page, so set up a best bet for the awards landing page. Start by looking at your search analytics, determining the top 10-15 searched words or phrases, and adding best bets for those words and phrases. This is a quick and easy thing to do, but has the potential to drastically improve your users’ experience with your site.
BONUS: Update your 404 page
Your 404 page is a great place to have a little fun on your website, and provides a low-stakes opportunity to show a little personality and reinforce your branding in a new and different way. For example, FMI – The Food Industry Association’s 404 page says “Clean up on Aisle 4!” something often said in their grocery store members’ day-to-day. At Matrix Group we’re big Star Wars fans, so check this out: https://matrixgroup-wp-new.matrixdev.net/whoops
If you have some extra budget left to spend in 2022 or are looking for quick wins for the start of 2023, we hope these suggestions help! If you want to dive deeper into any of these ideas, you can watch the recording of the webinar we held last week on this topic or reach out to our team, who would be happy to continue the conversation.
Remember, little things add up and can make a big impact!
What projects are you planning to tackle in 2023, big or small?
A couple of weeks ago, I attended Non Dues-A-Palooza, a conference about generating non dues revenue hosted by 100 Reviews. The event had about 125 attendees and was held at City Winery in Nashville, TN. I’ve been attending conferences since the Fall of 2021, so this wasn’t my first foray back to in person conferences. I’ve attended large and small conferences around the country. Here’s what I loved about Non Dues-A-Palooza.
The scale of the meeting wasn’t threatening. With 125 people, the meeting felt intimate and very manageable. I’ve spoken with people who say they are still nervous about attending conferences with thousands of people and I get it. Every time I get on a plane or attend a gathering with a large number of people, I’m taking calculated risks.
The venue was lovely. City Winery is a winery, tasting room, restaurant, and music hall. Its wood interior was warm, the music hall was a terrific space for the presentations, and the upstairs gallery was wonderful for the end of day gathering. The venue was a welcome change from the cavernous, stark and cold convention centers of large conferences.
It felt like I could really meet people. All the sessions took place in one room, with breaks and lunch in the next room. It was easy to bump into people. There was even a cute networking gimmick where attendees picked up goodies from a basket. But instead of keeping the goodies for ourselves, we were tasked with gifting the goodie to the person named on the goodie. It was awesome when Mary Baehr approached me and gave me a purple stress ball! Awesome networking idea!
United for a common purpose. Teri Carden, the Non Dues-A-Palooza organizer, specifically eschewed colors or ribbons that marked attendees as association execs or consultants or (the dreaded) vendors (or industry partners, as some like to call us). The conference organizers took great pains to announce that everyone attending NDAP was there to talk about non-dues revenue.
The event felt one of a kind. Because Non Dues-A-Palooza is held in a different place each year AND the format is transformed each time, the event felt fresh AND I’m excited to see what next year will look like. The FOMO is strong when it comes to this event!
If your organization holds small scale conferences, take a page (or two!) from the Non Dues-A-Palooza playbook. Create something unique, make it intimate, create ample opportunities for really connecting with other attendees, and have amazing content.
I’m part of the Mission Matters author network and they’ve been hosting discussions about different business topics on Twitter Spaces. What is Twitter Spaces?
Twitter Spaces are live, audio-only conversations that happen in Twitter. Twitter Spaces is a direct competitor to Clubhouse, which was the first tech firm to offer audio-only discussions back in April 2020. Here’s how it works:
Any individual or organization with at least 600 followers can host a Twitter Space discussion.
All Spaces are public, but the host can designate who can speak.
Individuals can be invited as speakers and attendees can be promoted to the role of speaker.
Hosts and speakers must use the Twitter app on their mobile phone to participate in the discussion. People who simply want to listen can do so from desktop.
Hosts, speakers and attendees can tweet out the Space so others can join.
When I first heard of Clubhouse and then Twitter Spaces, my first reaction was, “Oh great, another network. But why audio only when video is THE thing?” But as both services got going AND as I joined more of these audio-only conversations, I realized that audio has its own power. I can see organizations hosting discussions on Twitter Spaces to:
Discuss a hot, trending topic.
Encourage deeper and ongoing conversations about specific topics.
Engage members and customers who may be reluctant to get on a video call (yes, you can always turn off your camera, but some people will be on video and then it gets awkward).
So how do you get started with Twitter Spaces? This blog post is not meant to be a full-on tutorial or guide, but here are the basics:
Decide which account (individual or organization) should host your Twitter Spaces.
To start or schedule a Twitter Space, on the Twitter mobile app, click the + to start a new Tweet, then, in the left corner, click on the Spaces icon.
Name your Space, and then start it immediately, or schedule it. Personally, I like to schedule things in advance.
You can also record the conversation.
Once your Space is created or scheduled, Twitter will give you a Share link. Don’t forget to add topics so people can find your Space.
Invite speakers with a calendar invite. Be sure to include the Share link and remind them that they must use the Twitter mobile app to participate as a speaker.
During the actual Space, remember that you can’t see anyone, so as host, you’ll probably need to call on people or otherwise assign an order of speaking.
As with video calls, remind speakers to go on mute when they’re not speaking so that their backgrounds and side conversations don’t interfere with the discussion.
Twitter will notify your followers that you have a Space live, but as with anything else, best to use other means to promote your Space event.
I have participated in, and listened to, many Spaces over the past few months. I love them because I can be mobile while listening. I can be making dinner, feeding the cats, or even checking my email. I love the variety of topics. And I love how accessible these Spaces are.
I haven’t actually hosted a Twitter Space yet, but maybe soon! How about you? Are you ready to host a Twitter Space event?
Last week, I attended and spoke at the International Foundation’s Technology and Benefit Communications Conference, held in Boston, MA. I spoke on the topic of “Next-Generation Tools to Enhance Your Communications,” or next-gen tools to communicate benefits to employees.
At the end of the conference, there was an Open Forum, during which select speakers took questions from the in person and virtual attendees. The final question of the Open Forum was “what is one thing you would recommend to communications professionals?” I was really impressed with the advice from Megan Yost, Senior Vice President and Engagement Strategist at Segal Benz. Her advice? When proposing new initiatives, include the marketing and communications plan in the project budget.
Megan’s advice is brilliant. Most professionals budget for whatever technical or operational project they are proposing, e.g., a custom database application, a website redesign, etc. But few include all of the costs needed to properly promote the new initiative, costs like copywriting, email drip campaigns, travel, presentation costs, etc. Instead, these communications costs get rolled into the overall comms budget or request separately once the project is ready to launch.
If you think about it, a project is more likely to succeed when ALL project components are properly funded, including the marketing needed to promote the new initiative to the proper audiences. I love this advice from Megan, which is why I’m blogging about it.
The next time you’re working on your digital budget for the coming year, be sure to consider all comms costs and included them in the budgets for individual projects. Don’t risk not having the budget needed to promote your amazing, new initiatives.
As you may well know, Google Analytics is a digital analytics service from Google that helps you track and analyze your website traffic. It is the most widely used analytics platform on the web, and most of us would be completely lost without it. It allows us to see where our site visitors are coming from, how they move about and interact with our site and content, what marketing efforts are working or not working, and so much more.
Essentially, Google Analytics is the Holy Grail for most organizations, giving them the data they need to make more informed and strategic business decisions.
What is Google Analytics 4?
Google Analytics 4, commonly referred to as GA4, is Google’s 4th and newest version of their analytics platform. Pretty clever naming convention, huh?
While GA4 is not technically new – it officially launched in October of 2020 – Google has continued development on the live product over the last 18 months. While there have been some bumps and bruises along the way for early adopters, this version is now ready for prime time. So ready, in fact, that Google has announced that they will deprecate Universal Analytics on July 1, 2023. This means, and this is really, really important, ALL of your analytics tracked under Universal Analytics will disappear in July 2023. Which means you’ll only have data for comparison starting from when you converted to GA4.
How is Google Analytics 4 different from Universal Analytics?
GA4 has turned Google Analytics, as we know it, on its head. While we could write a short novel about all of the differences between Universal Analytics and GA4, here are the biggest changes you need to know about:
The Data Model
GA4 shifts the way that data is collected, putting the focus on tracking individual user journeys, so you can more easily glean data about how a user flows through and interacts with your web properties.
Universal Analytics was based on a sessions model. User interactions were grouped together based on a time-frame, or session. GA4 employs a very different approach to data collocation and data structure, focusing on users and events. Now, each user interaction is tracked as a standalone event under the events model. This means Google Analytics is better able to de-dupe users. Ultimately, GA4 wants you to focus on conversions, rather than traffic.
User Interface Changes
GA4 touts a simplified reporting interface with a goal of making it easier for users to spot trends and irregularities in data than was possible in Universal Analytics.
While we’re all about the idea of this, we must warn you: the new interface has a steep learning curve. Since your data is now tracked differently, the reporting is different. The reports that you’re used to viewing are now in different formats and different areas within your Google Analytics dashboard.
Enhanced Event Tracking (More Granular Reporting)
In Universal Analytics, Google Tag Manager was needed if you wanted to track specific user behavior within a given page on your website. Without Google Tag Manager, Universal Analytics would only tell you that someone viewed a particular page on your website, but wouldn’t tell you if they clicked on a button, how far they scrolled, or clicked through a carousel, for example. You had to implement Google Tag Manager to collect the data about those specific events.
In GA4, events like file downloads, scroll depth, and external link clicks are now tracked natively. While you’ll still need Google Tag Manager to track custom events specific to your organization and data collection needs, it’s great to have more enhanced event tracking out of the box in GA4.
Finally, GA4 allows you to mix data from your apps and website. This happens through a single property and Google Analytics’ data streams. So yay, now you can have comprehensive reporting of usage on your digital properties.
Should I upgrade from Universal Analytics to GA4?
Yes. Today. Why?
Because you’ll have to, eventually. Google recently announced that they will deprecate Universal Analytics on July 1, 2023. Come July of next year, analytics in Universal Analytics will disappear, so if you want at least a year’s worth of data, you need to upgrade now.
Because it will take time to redo your event tracking, update your Google Data Studio reports, and develop your new reports.
The more data you have in GA4, the better, even if you don’t have all of the reports you need set up. You won’t be able to move your data from UA to GA4, so you need to start collecting it in GA4 now!
How to Transition from Universal Analytics to GA4
Transitioning to GA4 could be as simple as updating the Google Analytics javascript code on your site. In fact, you can run both Google Analytics codes on your site at the same time, so that you have access to both reports. But really, transitioning alone won’t be enough. Here are some other things you’ll need to do:
Rebuild your custom Google Analytics reports or Google Data Studio reports, if you have them. Know that this can get a little complicated. If you need help, Matrix Group can assist, as can your Google Analytics partner, if you have one. (If you don’t, call us!)
Get trained up. Google has a whole Academy devoted to GA4. The more you know about this new analytics platform, the better for your and your organization.
Make a plan to download and archive your Universal Analytics data because this data will go poof! come July 2023. Download raw data, download reports, and take screenshots of your favorite reports. Even if you can’t integrate old data and reports into GA4, at least you’ll have the data for reference and comparison.
Once again, Google is making free, powerful tools available to the world. You might faint the first time you see the GA4 interface, but in time, you’ll come to appreciate the power that Google is now making available to all of us.
Need help making the transition to Google Analytics 4 or looking for a partner to help you make better sense of your Google Analytics? Matrix Group has a talented team of Google Analytics experts who can help. Fill out our contact us form, and someone from our team will be in touch!
But what do we do about the tech debt we’ve got and how do we prevent it from happening in the future?
My number one piece of advice is to STOP piling on the tech debt by continuing to develop in your old software or platform. Think you’re not doing it? Here are some examples:
You have an old version of your content management system. You don’t have budget to upgrade to the latest version, but you really need new functionality that won’t cost very much to implement, so you go ahead and approve the work. Why this is bad: When it comes time to upgrade your CMS, this new functionality will likely need to be redeveloped, thereby adding to the upgrade cost.
You have an old version of your membership database and it’s not in your budget to upgrade this year. You need to bring a new Learning Management System ( LMS) online and you want to implement single sign-on between the membership database and the LMS, so you approve the project to integrate with the old membership database. Why this is bad: You’re probably not using the latest SSO protocols, and you’ll need to upgrade the SSO when you upgrade your membership database.
I know that in the real world, we can’t keep everything upgraded. But we should be upgrading and maintaining our mission-critical systems since they are the most dynamic and most used.
