RELO Roundtable…a gathering place

Last spring, a new college graduate sent me a Linkedin “connection” request.

As soon as I responded, he followed up with a friendly note formally introducing himself and asked if I knew about any job opportunities in his area.

He gained his moving experience (and industry interest) while working with his Dad for three summers. His ol' man and I had worked closely together years and years ago.

Declining health and a failing economy had forced Ken to sell his trucks and get out the movin' business in 2009.

Members Only

I sent some personal and professional recommendations and a list of resource links which included some of the more popular industry Linkedin groups. Since the trade association job discussions were the most active, I suggested he join those communities first.

Several weeks later he thanked me for my help in a follow-up note but said maybe he'd join the associations if and when he got a job.

I didn't think too much about it until I shared the same Linkedin recommendations with several tenured colleagues and new social media contacts earlier this year. Like the newcomer, they were also seeking employment opportunities and/or career or business networking connections.

Each reported essentially the same thing. According to them, several industry group administrators had responded to their membership requests by either advising them admission was ONLY open to association or van line members – or they never received any acknowledgments or answers to their inquiries at all!

Self-inflicted punishment

If you're in the movin' business, all that sputterin' and clankin' you hear is an industry struggling to get up to speed to run on all eight cylinders.

Unfortunately, it's having a hard time after sitting idle so long. Not only is the motor hard to start but so is getting it into gear in the next few weeks to drive in this improving relocation environment.

It is just me or does it seem somewhat counterproductive and self defeating for an industry desperately in need of new growth to invite interested talent into the moving business from behind a locked door?

Maybe it's because the community of moving and storage professionals is so small. Perhaps TOO small!

Much of the industry jettisoned or lost their more experienced upper-level managers during the contraction and consolidation of the last few years.

Not only are phones and correspondence not being answered anymore, but neither are networking requests and job applications.

Or could it be that the current captains of the industry don't understand how to use the new technology tools and media channels to attract, recruit, and train new talent?

According to the recently released 2011 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report, the top social media platforms “officially” used by the 650 associations polled by Marketing General Incorporated include Facebook (86%), Twitter (78%), LinkedIn (Public) (55%), YouTube (55%), and LinkedIn (Private) (29%).

These results suggest that between a quarter and a third of trade associations ONLY allow “Members” assess to their professional Linkedin networking resources.

To anyone desperately looking for a job or trying to fill a position in the moving industry, that type of network protocol and social media control is not only personally frustrating but professionally scary.

Especially if you don't know what terms or service or unknown expense "membership" entails!

Linkedin … or locked out?

In padlocked, members-only Linkedin groups:

• You MUST be a LinkedIn member to join.
• Professional discussions, promotions, pertinent industry information, and polls that might be of interest to perspective customers, clients, vendors, or employees WILL NOT show up in search engine results.
• All current and archived discussion topics, member lists, job posting and career promotion announcements are ONLY visible to group members.
• ONLY the group manager has the option of establishing restrictions or allowing access to the closed Linkedin community or switching to an open group.
• Once made, the decision to switch to an open group can ONLY be made once and cannot be undone.
• If and when the switch to an open group is made, Linkedin group members ARE notified but those previously denied access ARE NOT.

In February, Linkedin reported having over 100 million members. Over 23 million of them were active users in their respective industry's professional networking talent pool.

Talk about a missed marketing opportunity!

Before it's too late, association management and their Linkedin administrators should create a public or open LinkedIn group for their organization. Capitalize on this new “open door” policy's ability to:

• spread your organization’s mission and structure
• share membership and recruiting information
• publicize relevant group content and industry discussions
• broadcast new product or service announcements
• post professional and front-line job opportunities

Trade associations and their industry members would be better served by using their primary Linkedin group (and the power and pull of the tremendous resources packed inside) to position themselves better in front of both their targeted audience and prospective partners in search engine rankings, personal social media channels and professional networking outlets.

Changing to a public venue and credible online information source would allow them to more easily direct ALL visitors back to your association's public or private facing websites or member pages.

Once a new member commits and signs up, present them with a list of subgroups that might match their professional career or business interests or networking goals. These could be either be open or closed to “members” only.

This would allow trade associations and industry groups to develop the reputation for being a valuable public information hub instead a hidden treasure.

Unlock your site and throw out the "Welcome" mat

I started RELORT as a unique online networking tool back in 2008 to find a new career opportunity in the industry I grew up in. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

While I still don't have a full-time job, the “experiment” now draws over 11,000 unique pageviews each each month from over 140 countries worldwide.

Many of the guests, admittedly, are old friends or former colleagues from around the industry, registered email subscribers or RSS followers, or new personal or professional social media fans interested in the latest relocation industry news.

Over 70% of the site's visitors, however, are individual users, corporate clients, or government entities interested in the niche content of the 500+ posted articles and fifty relocation related resource pages.

Some are also web-savvy lurkers just like me – folks whose only interest in the site is using the FREE industry career resource library to find a job.

And that's OK – the door at RELO Roundtable is ALWAYS open!

Related Resources:

Why Business Executives Fear Social Media Marketing – Chris Horton, Social Media Today

News on Social Media and Membership Marketing – Tony Rossell, Membership Marketing Blog

Why Associations Avoid Building Their Member Community in LinkedIn Groups – Joshua Paul, Socious

Recruiters Say: Avoid LinkedIn At Your Peril – Allison Cheston, Forbes

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