AME: Social Media, Branded Content to Grow Membership
The Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME), a non-profit organization that provides lean professionals (professionals skilled in implementing efficient practices) with the resources to improve personal and company performance, needed a way to encourage group discussion in their social network AMEConnect while rowing the association’s audience and promoting industry collaboration.
With that challenge in mind, AME partnered with Imagination to create a unique branded content strategy for AMEConnect to fit the needs of AME’s brand. Imagination created in-house discussion prompts for AMEConnect to continuously engage and grow AME’s audience of more than 6,000 members. Imagination’s plan involved initiating and training a social media council made up of AME members.
Today, through outlets such as Twitter, LinkedIn and SlideShare, council members attract both AME members and potential members to AMEConnect. Members can continue discussions, collaborate as committees and regional boards, blog and house important documents through new networking media.
AME wanted to create a platform where lean professionals could interact and engage with the organization’s resources. The unique social media plan Imagination designed for AMEConnect promotes the association and strives to attract new members. The branded content Imagination created for AMEConnect gives their membership of more than 6,000 as well as potential members a reason to participate and interact with other professionals. This social media platform provides a collaborative environment where members can interact with industry experts, as well as provide forums for business-related conversation.
AME’s goal was to engage its members in a way that was innovative and would increase website traffic. Since initiating Imagination’s plan, AMEConnect’s social media outlets have had a warm reception among users. AME’s LinkedIn group saw an impressive jump of 200 members in a week’s time. To date, the group has grown by more than 200 percent.
The social media council utilizes a presentation sharing service, Slideshare, to allow members and event keynote speakers to share documents and slideshow presentations. Members continue to use the service at an unprecedented rate for the AME organization. One slideshow (“Lean Product Development Workshop”) has been viewed 215 times in less than a month and continues to be downloaded frequently.
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“Imagination has been an integral part of our success in launching social media programs for our membership. Their creativity in maximizing our limited financial resources and expertise in helping us to launch our own social media site was first rate. We were also able to establish a presence on five public social media channels, which have successfully grown beyond our expectations. We could not have done it without them.”
-Scott E. Schiave, Director of Marketing and Communications, Association for Manufacturing Excellence
