From April 7th to April 13th, we’ll all be engrossed in National Boys & Girls Club Week whether we know it or not. Boys & Girls Clubs of America will open doors to 4,000 clubs around the country to show the community how “great futures” begin right there. Continue reading
Next Tuesday, the ACTIVE World user conference commences and we’re pretty excited. On April 9th, hundreds of our customers across many markets head down to San Diego for a three-day educational experience. Specifically in our Communities division, we’re looking forward to hanging out with over 300 customers from government organizations, P&R agencies, YMCAs, and more.
Below are some highlights for the week ahead at ACTIVE World. At the end, you’ll see ways to register if you are an ACTIVE customer and ways to keep up with the happenings if you can’t make it. Continue reading
Even in 2013, ‘the cloud‘ is still confusing. I guess that’s what we get for using such a wispy term to describe what pretty much is ‘the internet’. But when people reference ‘the cloud’, it’s usually in relation to things like software, storage and computing. So it’s fair to consider ‘the cloud’ and ‘cloud computing’ to be virtually the same thing: software that is passed over the internet.
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If you’re reading this, you are probably involved with YMCAs in some capacity. And since you’re in the industry and we’re a software company, we won’t be talking about how you can better engage your members on a human level or in person. You’ve got that down.
But we do know technology, so this blog post will cover some ways you can interact with your members through newer media and tools. Here are 4 ways to improve member engagement when they aren’t at your facilities: Continue reading
Facebook is playing around with a significant Timeline redesign. The new format is being rolled out experimentally and could be live for all members soon. And to cover this change for the parks & recreation community, we turn to Josh Panzer. Josh is the founder of ParksandRecreationSocialMedia.com.
Check out his video guest blog post to learn how your agency should adjust to the pending Facebook change: Continue reading
Recreation professional: we want you. If you are on LinkedIn, we’d love to have you as a member of the “Recreation Management and Technology” group on LinkedIn. Why you may ask? Here are five reasons to join:
1. Get free resources: Members of the group post discussions about recreation tips and trends. If you join the group, you can set up email notifications to receive those updates and view the ones that appeal to you. Continue reading
When a customer registers for a program or books a facility online, what happens? Do you thank them? Do you recommend other similar programs or point them to your Facebook page? Don’t squander this opportunity to turn a new customer into a loyal one.
We covered this idea a few months ago in this article: 3 Critical Web Pages You Are Neglecting. One of the three we covered was the thank you page. To summarize, each web interaction with a customer is a great opportunity for your P&R agency to take the next step. On the thank you page, can you turn that customer into a Facebook fan? Can you point that customer to other similar programs (upsell)? Designing goal-oriented thank you pages should be a part of your marketing strategy. Continue reading
One of our biggest YMCA customers, Greater San Antonio, is migrating from Class® software to ACTIVE Net™. I know, I know. What’s the big deal, right? A customer is switching from one of our software systems to another. Although the move itself may not directly impact you today, it speaks to a much more important trend across the YMCA industry: YMCAs are moving to the cloud. Continue reading
Here’s a quick test to see if you do content marketing: Does your YMCA have a Facebook page that you post to regularly? Does it have a blog? Do you distribute flyers or program guides? If you answered yes to any, you’re officially a content marketer.
But content marketing encompasses so many channels and techniques that it is kind of vague. So let’s take a stab at understanding the goal of content marketing in order to demonstrate it’s importance for your YMCA. Content marketing is done in order to “attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action” (CMI). Translation: you want to increase participation and want more families, members, and participants. In order to attract them, you create marketing materials like articles, flyers, tweets, and brochures so your audience can find you. Continue reading
If you’re reading this article, you probably work in parks and/or recreation. Whether you’re a veteran Director, a brand-new Administrator or anywhere in between, you most likely share one common goal: to serve at your best. And one way to continually better yourself is to keep up with industry trends, tips, and resources by reading (or skimming if need be) relevant blogs.
Here are five blogs that can help you, the parks and recreation pro, stay on top of your craft: Continue reading
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