Social media is more than just online networking. It can be a powerful part of your Chamber's advocacy agenda. Whether "blogging" about your Chamber or "tweeting" about policies, social networking tools can help drive impactful grassroots advocacy campaigns in a time and cost-effective manner.

Every day a quarter of a million people set up Facebook accounts, and in January 2009 alone Twitter registered 7 million visitors, a 50% increase over the previous month. Social media has the potential to revolutionize the way Chambers of Commerce operate or they can threaten the value they provide to their members.

Having spent the last 25 years in the Human Resources industry, I spent years writing policies and procedures against using the internet at the office. It was all about "remembering who you work for" and "what you do" and we have seen a huge paradigm shift over the last few years with the onset of social media sites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.There is no question that these types of social media drive your influence and in turn, the influence of your Chamber.

One of the major challenges with Chamber of Commerce is attraction and retention of membership. As the "Boomers" retire and/or sell their businesses, they are being replaced with an entrepreneurial type of "Gen Y" that use social media to communicate. Knowing that this is where you will see growth in your Chamber, we must realize and communicate with them in the way that they communicate between each other.

Statistics show that 77% of all organizations believe that workers under the age of 25 have significantly different learning styles, particularly in the area of collaborative learning compared to older workers, and that 25% of larger companies are using some form of e-learning or learning on demand. And social networking software companies are sprouting up like weeds with a significant number focusing on collaborative learning and lateral networks.

Raleigh NC was the venue for the 2009 American Chamber of Commerce Executives conference and over 1200 Chambers of Commerce from across Canada and the US were in attendance and there was one lesson that was loud and clear that came out of the conference. If YOUR Chamber has not embraced social media…..you will be left behind in an "e"-conomy where none of us can afford to miss the boat.....get on board...or get out of the way!

By Laurie Nadeau – General Manager – Commerce Advertising &Marketing