Tim Ebner
Tim Ebner is communications director and press secretary at the American Forest & Paper Association in Washington, DC. He is a member of ASAE’s Communication Professionals Advisory Council and a former Associations Now senior editor.
The office collaboration tool Slack can double as a way to reach members online. But first, it helps to know a few techniques for how to engage effectively.
Your members may love your online community, but don’t kid yourself: They connect elsewhere too. When Digital Analytics Association Community Manager Catherine Hackney saw members increasingly talking in a popular office-chat app, DAA followed them there.
“We noticed a lot more of the conversation was happening in Slack than our own private [community] space,” she says. “It took a few years before DAA staff felt comfortable, but now we have a specific Slack channel where we monitor and post.”
The app lets users tag individuals and chat in a way that’s similar to text- ing, making the community feel more conversational and immediate, Hackney says. Here are three ways DAA uses its Slack channel, Measure Slack: