Back in September when we consolidated our many blogs into the Wild
Apricot blog, I mentioned that we were planning to complement Rebecca Leaman's NP
technology blogs with a broader range of subjects of interest to non-profits and
associations.
Lori
Halley, our "Engaging Apricot" has
joined the WA blog team as an additional resource to help us discuss issues that impact association and non-profit
membership organizations. By her own admission Lori is not a
tech guru, but she has considerable experience in membership and communications
at a number of professional and business associations as well as charities.
Rebecca Leaman will continue to provide great NP tech-focused posts, albeit with less frequency. With Lori's posts, we hope to add to that a fresh perspective on the role of web-based software in
providing solutions to association, club or non-profit organization challenges.
A recent
Socialfishing blog post by Maggie McGary has helped us frame the "new directions" we are
hoping to take with the WA blog. Maggie noted that Amy Phillips (SocialMediaClubhouse) suggests that when
hiring for social media, you "make sure to hire a talker and a listener"
because "a talker will engage your audience and spread new initiatives, and
bring your brand your market...The listener will protect your leading edge and
inform you of your opportunities because they see it before anyone else."
Listening is a huge part of what we do at Wild Apricot. Through our community forums and support interactions, we are constantly learning more about what our customers want and need. We incorporate what we learn into our product development cycle and, hopefully, help improve the lives of membership organizations who use our software. This blog and our AssociationJam social news site are also opportunities to listen to the community.
Going
forward, Lori will also be listening to
the conversation in the online non-profit world and identifying issues, researching
solutions and then talking - offering information and insight to help small
association and non-profit staff, volunteers and board members with the day-to-day
problems facing their organizations. As
the "Engaging Apricot," Lori hopes to
engage readers and promote two-way online conversations through the Wild
Apricot Blog.
I hope you'll join
me in welcoming Lori to the Wild Apricot team. Please continue talking with us to let us know what you'd like Lori to focus on.