Content marketing is always changing in response the way users interact online and the way that sites like Google and Facebook change their algorithms, resulting in changes to the type of exposure brands can get.

Keeping up with content marketing trends can help you stay aware of the latest changes to the landscape, as well as what your competitors might be doing to reach your audience.

Here are the 2017 top 5 content marketing trends you need to know about right now:

Robots will Replace Writers

As our technology continues to advance, it seems to find a way to do everything for us.

That’s good news for brands and bad news for writers.

Robotic algorithms are now producing content about simple topics, like weather predictions for a particular city or region. That means that freelancers who pump out simple articles will likely be finding a lot less work soon, and it means that brands will start saving money on their content marketing.

Soon, industry insiders predict that the algorithms will get more sophisticated and will be able to produce lengthy and complex content.

We’re not sold on the idea that robots could ever produce the same quality content as experienced writers who know your niche, but the possibilities for limited use here are exciting.

Content will be More Visual

Images and other visual aids are already very important for promoting content.

When was the last time you saw an article without a photo? Chances are that if you did, you just kept right on clicking without reading anything.

However, the demand for visuals has only grown. In fact, much content is exclusively visual, such as gifs, vines and videos. People find this type of content easier to consume when trying to manage their busy schedule, and people are more engaged by this type of content.

Interactive Content will Grow

User engagement is at the core of any content marketing plan. One of the best ways to make users feel more engaged is to create interactive content.

Marketers are taking notice, and more brands are now producing interactive content such as surveys, quizzes, maps, and even virtual reality experiences.

Just think about all those Buzz Feed quizzes you see shared on Facebook. Do you really care if your friend is Cersei from Game of Thrones and your dad is Tyrion? Probably not. But people like to take these tests to have their self-image affirmed, and they share those results for the same reasons. Meanwhile, Buzz Feed gets a crazy amount of page views and shares, generating more ad revenue.

For more serious publishers, you can see the success of interactive content in graphs and maps that show things like the average price of real estate in each state or the living wage by area. People click on these types of content because they want to see how they compare, and they often share the content to express some personal opinion about the “state of things.”

Finding ways to create interactive content will help you get more user engagement and more shares, which will lead to more traffic for your site and more brand exposure.

Users will Aggregate Content

More people are going to be getting their content from friends and family, not from brands themselves.

Facebook just announced an algorithm change that prioritizes the content shared by friends and family shared in the news feed, which means that brand content will get the most exposure only when it is shared by someone users know.

Meanwhile, tools like Project Lightning from Twitter are aggregating content by looking at images, videos and updates to create information about trending stories.

Publishers will have to work very hard to find a way to break through these barriers and make sure that their voices are being heard by their audiences. Otherwise, they will be quickly pushed out of the picture.

Social Media will Offer More Options

Though social media is getting more restrictive in some ways, it is also offering more options for publishing content.

For example, Facebook introduced instant articles so that publishers can get more of their content in the news feed and capture the attention of more users.

Google is also introducing an instant article format for mobile users, which will give brands more visibility with that audience.

It is important that you incorporate these options into your content marketing strategy and that you find smart ways to use them. You can’t just publish an instant article and expect the traffic to come pouring in. You need to publish the type of content that these users want and that will best engage them.

Content marketing is becoming more challenging, but it still offers a valuable way to reach your audience. It is important that you look at these trends and make changes to your content marketing strategy as needed.

This article was originally sourced from Business2Community and written by Roee Ganot.

When it’s time for the administration to turn over, the president uses his farewell speech to build and reinforce his legacy. When an association leader steps down, they face the same challenge—without the benefit of a nationally televised speech.

President Obama gave his farewell address in Chicago a few days ago, warning against the dangers of economic inequality, racism, and divisiveness, as well as sharing his intention to create a smooth transition process for President-elect Trump.

Yet the question that always arises around any president’s farewell speech is: Will this speech cement his legacy? And the question of leadership legacy applies to any leader looking to step down, whether it’s a corporate or association CEO, a board president or elected leader, or an executive staff member.

For association leaders, according to Chairman and Co-CEO of Tecker International, LLC, Glenn Tecker, it’s important to remember this: “If you’re going to create a worthwhile and lasting legacy, the legacy needs to be leaving the association with the capacity to do well what it needs to do next.”

A leader’s legacy is not just about setting up a particular program or process but also leaving the association in a condition that allows the next leader to effectively carry on its mission. This includes ensuring that critical decision-making processes function effectively; establishing secure processes for research, strategy, policy, and resource allocation; and remedying any glaring problems that may exist in the association, he explained.

“An effective leader in an association uses their time at the association as their turn at the wheel and recognizes that the next person or persons that will be steering need to have the ability to pursue the direction that makes sense at their time of leadership,” Tecker said.

Association leaders probably won’t have the opportunity to make a speech on national television to help establish their legacy, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t take time to celebrate successes accomplished during their tenure. In fact, departing CEOs should remind staff of their teams’ successes, as well as show staff that they have communicated these successes to the next leader and are supportive of the next leader’s competencies to build on them.

When it’s time to hand over the reins, the most helpful thing outgoing association leaders can do is be available to incoming leaders to offer advice and consultation, but only when help is requested, Tecker said. They shouldn’t involve themselves in organizational issues or decision-making, and the best option may be to just move on.

Once the administration turns over, Vice President Biden, for instance, will carry on his work in promoting cancer research—something he did in office through the “cancer moonshot” initiative—by starting a nonprofit dedicated to promoting collaboration in cancer research and combatting high drug prices.

“What we would hope [a leader would] do at the new organization is bring the experience, the competencies, and the commitment that they developed over time in professional positions elsewhere, but to recognize the ways in which they were successful—the strategies they employed, the behaviors and approaches they used—may not necessarily be the right fit for the new organization they are joining,” Tecker said.

So when it’s time to move to the next thing, association leaders need to practice “intelligent adaptability,” adjusting their skills and insights to a new environment, ready to make a difference and establish a new legacy elsewhere.

This article was originally sourced from Associations Now and written by Alex Beall.

A list of the 45 listed companies without any female directors in 2016 contains some of the biggest names in New Zealand business.

Last week, information filed by companies on the stock exchange's main board showed 17 percent of directors last year were women.

The figure is the same as 2015.

The Institute of Directors has described the latest figures as "shocking" and "clearly not good enough".

RNZ has now obtained the full list of companies without female board members last year and it contains health giant Orion Health, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels New Zealand and the rural services company, PGG Wrightson.

The logistics company Mainfreight is also listed, although its general manager, Don Braid, said as of two weeks ago, it had appointed two new female board members.

Investment company Property For Industry has also subsequently appointed a female director since the data was compiled.

The leading poultry producer Tegel is named, as is Seeka, the largest grower of kiwifruit in New Zealand and Australia.

"We are conscious of this and it's not that we haven't actively sought female board members, we've just been unable to find someone suitable," Seeka chairman Fred Hutchings said.

"We are looking for another board member right now and will again actively try to find a woman."

His board had some diversity - with one Māori director and another from the Philippines, he said.

Tower Insurance was also without any women directors, but chairman Michael Stiassny said 55 percent of the company's workforce was female.

"Rebecca Dee-Bradbury sat on Tower's Board from 2014 to 2016 and made a valuable contribution.

"While it's disappointing that Tower has been without a female board member since her resignation four months ago, recruitment is underway for this position and an update will be made to the market in due course," Mr Stiassny said.

The list also contained Hellaby Holdings, an investment firm currently the subject of a takeover bid by Australian autoparts company Bapcor.

The worst offender in the list was TeamTalk - New Zealand's largest mobile radio company - which has an all-male board of 10 and no female officers.

Similarly, PGG Wrightson has 12 male officers and only one woman.

The figures from last year have been provided to RNZ by NZX.

They show only one listed company has a female chief executive, although there are none in the NZX50.

That will change from next month when Kate McKenzie takes over the role at Chorus.

The figures also show there are 22 companies on the NZX main board that have no female directors or officers.

Overseas issuers, debt-only issuers and AX and NXT issuers have been removed from the list.

Information from the Institute of Directors also showed New Zealand's 17 percent rate of female directorships was even worse than other western countries.

In Canada the percentage was 21 percent, in the UK 27 percent, and in the US it was 22 percent.

Social media has over the years transformed to become one of the critical business marketing tools used today. While every business is unique, there are many ways your business can benefit from creating a successful social media marketing plan. Unfortunately, many business owners and marketers don’t understand the vital steps they need to take to create social media marketing strategies that work for their businesses.

Like any other marketing strategy, all your actions on social media marketing should be geared towards achieving your business goals. That means that every comment, post, like or reply should be part of your overall marketing plan. While achieving the desired results may take some time, creating a concrete plan that you can implement, monitor and re-evaluate as your business grows is what matters most. A successful social media marketing plan should include:

• An audit of the status of your social media accounts
  
• Your social media marketing goals
  
• The strategies to implement to achieve them
  

The more specific you’re with the plan, the easier it will be to implement. It’s advisable to keep the market plan simple and clear. Below are the critical steps your should follow when creating a social media marketing plan.

Establish Your Business Goals

Clear business goals and objectives provide a platform that allows you to start off on the right path, know where you’re heading and make necessary changes along the way. Without having well-established goals, it would be impossible to achieve the desired results and measure your return on investment (ROI). Your goals must be aligned with your market strategy to ensure that your social media efforts drive your business towards its objectives.

In this initial step, it’s advisable to go beyond the basics like monitoring likes and comments alone. You should adopt innovative social media tools that help you create a more focused marketing plan. Your social media marketing goals must be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

Do a Thorough Social Media Audit

Before you create a successful social media marketing plan, you must carry out an audit of your current social media presence to understand how it’s working. This helps you determine the social media sites your target customers frequently visit and the presence of your competitors in those sites. Once you’re done with the audit, you will have a clear picture of the best social media sites to target.

You should also identify the accounts that need to be deleted or upgraded. An extensive audit would help you reorganize and establish your social media presence so that potential customers searching for your products or services online can connect with your business. At this stage, you should create a mission statement for all your the social media sites to steer your business goals.

Improve Your Online Presence

You can achieve this by establishing the social networks that best cater for your business goals and social media objectives. If you don’t have social media profiles on the major social media sites, establish them and have your audience in mind as you build your social presence. Each social media network has a distinct audience and should be treated as a promotional and interactive platform for your business. Consider optimizing your social media marketing plan by implementing the right SEO strategies. This can help you generate additional traffic to your social media accounts and improve your online presence.

Competitor Awareness

Get social media marketing inspiration from successful competitors and social media experts. If your business competitors are doing it right, there are a few things you can learn from their social media presence. Look at what they are sharing, how they promote their products and services and how they interact with their clients. Focus on distinguishing your business from competitors and develop new marketing ideas that can work for your business.

You can also consult established social media experts to help you create a successful social media marketing plan for your business. They will help you analyze your current marketing strategy and recommend changes, offer new insights and advice you on how you can take your marketing plan from one step to another.

Create a Content Plan

Every smart social media marketing strategy should include a content plan and a detailed time line. The plan and calendar will help you outline these key things:

• Identify the type of content you should post
  
• Know when you should post content and how many times
  
• How to create relevant content and promote it
  

To ensure your content posting time line is effective, you should schedule your posts in advance instead of updating them at once. Doing this ensures that you have enough time to work on the content, format and the language. Rather than being spontaneous with your social media engagement, it’s important to have a clear content plan that your social media followers will appreciate.

Constant Evaluation of the Plan

To ensure success with your social media marketing plan, you have to continuously monitor your marketing efforts and the results being achieved. Build testing capabilities in all the actions done on your social networks by taking simple steps like tracking the number of likes, re-tweets, comments and the number of times your site has been visited. By doing so, you can quickly identify areas that need adjustment in your social media marketing plan and make the necessary changes.

Conclusion

Creating a social media marketing plan alone will not guarantee you success in your business. In today’s competitive business world, businesses must take advantage of the various marketing tools and strategies available. By combining different marketing strategies like social media marketing, content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), conversion optimization, business branding and email marketing, your business can experience even higher potential returns.

This article was originally sourced from Business2Community and written by Navneet Kaushal.

Your to-do list is already a mile long and it seems to grow exponentially as the week ticks on. There are not enough conscious hours in the day to conquer the amount of stuff you have bitten off. The burning question is: How can I get more done?

Aside from cloning yourself, you aren’t sure what else you could possibly do to be more productive. The truth is you are losing precious time without even realizing it because of some not-so-productivity-friendly habits. Here is a list of four common time sucks and ways to sidestep them in the quest to be more efficient and take back your day!

1. Sorry, I need to take this. Let’s be real, people are glued to their phones. Period! You can’t go anywhere without seeing someone’s gaze cemented to their cell. Scanning emails, writing texts, or surfing the web; people walk down the hall without ever looking up from their screen. They are the most anti-social social devices in existence. When your phone is next to you or even in your eye line, you become distracted and easily lose focus on the task at hand. Don’t fall victim to the phone trap. Try putting it some place out of reach when you are working on important projects that need your undivided attention. Or better yet, put it in another room and designate specific times you can check it with an allotted time limit. You will be amazed at how much more you will get done because you won’t be constantly stopping and starting from a myriad of interruptions.

2. Save the juggling for the circus. We are a society of multi-taskers. Sadly, science has taught us that trying to tackle multiple projects at once is not beneficial and actually counterproductive. While you may feel you don’t have any other option than to juggle all your tasks at once, it will likely take you longer to complete all of them than if you divided and conquered your list. Try focusing on and knocking out one project at a time. You will notice more items being moved into the completion pile than ever before and that surge of accomplishment will fuel your desire to keep going.

3. Plan, what plan? While there are many schools of thought on what techniques lead to the most efficient output, everyone agrees having a plan of attack is the difference maker. Outline the steps you need to take to carry out your tasks. This way you will have a better understanding of what needs to be accomplished and how much time you will need to set aside. Planning out your next moves will save you time, frustration, and keep you from missing critical deadlines. Need help with forming a plan? Check out David Allen’s Getting Things Done; we like his approach and many call it a game changer.

4. Distractions are everywhere you turn. Your work environment sets the tone for how productive you can truly be. Only you know what set-up gets you in a to-do-list demolishing zone. Not everyone is sidetracked by the same situations. Identify the triggers that take you off task or get in the way of your focus. Once you know what your temptations are figure out how you can avoid or eliminate them from your work area. You are guaranteed to be more productive when distractions are removed and work is the only option.

Once you stop these productivity killers in their tracks, you will be well on your way to getting more of your checklist completed.

This article was originally sourced from Business2Community and written by Kristi Russo .

Have you ever looked at an optical illusion like the one above? (If not, you have now.) In this example, the first thing that most people see is a white vase.

However, upon closer inspection of the black areas, you notice two faces nose-to-nose. Now that you’ve seen both the vase and the faces, you can’t “un-see” either one. You can never go back to seeing a single image.

That’s the mark of an effective product, service, or strategy. Once you use it, you’re hooked on the results and can never go back.

Online member engagement falls into that category. An effective member engagement strategy gets your members participating and interacting with your association and their peers through its website, networking events, or private member community. That interaction then leads to stronger relationships that can help your association increase member satisfaction, renewals, and advocacy.

Here are three engagement tactics that every online community strategy should have to produce noticeable results. Once you try these techniques in your online community, you’ll never go back.

3 Essential Engagement Tasks to Increase Participation in Your Online Community

Task #1) Onboarding

When you have a new member, you need to do more than just welcome them to your online community by sending an email and a link. If you merely send them a short email with a link and then leave them on their own, they’ll click once and that will be the last time you see them. On the other hand, if you expand your email to introduce new members to everything your community has to offer all at once, it can be overwhelming.

So instead of creating one welcome email, develop an entire program around bringing new members into your online community. This is valuable because you want to make them feel welcome but you also want to become part of their online habit. If members get a periodic email from you, they’re more likely to remember your organization and its community. They also have more chances to take action on your emails and start engaging.

Create a drip campaign giving members fun new activities to do online each day or week. Your drip campaign can feature new members in a spotlight, interview them, or ask their opinion on something within the community. It can also point them toward blogs and discussion forums or encourage them to register for an event.

Your onboarding drip campaign can include any community activities or benefits that will appeal to new members. For higher engagement, try to personalize the campaign as much as possible. The more relevant and personalized your messages, the more likely members are to get involved.

Task #2) Empower Veteran Members

Often, veteran members who are not active in your association are busy doing their own thing. You might reach out to them with greetings and member appreciation messages, but for the most part associations don’t think about this group on a regular basis.

However, like current business customers, veteran association members can be incredibly valuable. They make excellent advocates and expert contributors, and could even be mentors for some of your newer members. All you have to do is bring their attention back to your association and online community so they start engaging again.

There are many ways you can use your online community to reach out veteran members and make them some of your most active members.

Way #1) Look for incomplete profiles

Send out emails to those who only contain skeleton information. Make sure members know that by filling out their profile completely they’ll further their personal brand and be more likely to connect with other members.

Way #2) Feature veteran members in a spotlight

Everyone wants their skills to be acknowledged, so highlight your most loyal members’ expertise in regular spotlights.

Way #3) Approach someone with a unique skillset

Ask them to post to the community about recent events or industry trends. Let them know that you place a high value on their insight.

Way #4) Remind people to update their social media links

When members’ links are updated they can stay connected and reach more people with their messages. It’s one easy way members can start building their personal brand.

Way #5) Ask for their opinion on a recent blog that relates to their job or interests

People love to share their thoughts and opinions. They’ll often feel flattered that you ask and most members will be willing to share their expertise in ways that help your association and other members.

Way #6) Create a content summary newsletter

Send the newsletter to members who haven’t logged in all month. Send it with an email that reads, “Here’s what happened while you were gone.” Provide enough content in the newsletter to spark interest but not enough that it gives away everything. Link back to your site.

Way #7) Suggest people log in to manage their communication preferences

The more personalized their preferences section, the more likely they are to get relevant, helpful information.

Way #8) Run a report on who has been absent from your community and events for the past few months

Reach out to them and encourage them to start participating again by teasing them with content on the topics they’ve engaged with in the past. Show them that they’re missing out by not participating.

Task #3) Recruit Volunteers

Your online community is the perfect place to recruit and nurture volunteers because you know community members are already interested in your association. Every time they log in and participate, they express that interest. Here are a few ideas to get more volunteers out of your private member community:

Idea #1) Post volunteer opportunities as if you’re hiring for a paid position.

That means giving potential volunteers everything they need to know to determine whether or not they’re interested in and qualified for the opportunity. Include the number of hours a month the position requires and where it would occur.

Idea #2) Add a sign-up form.

Sign-up forms are essential because your community is open all-day, every day, but your association is not. Don’t give potential volunteers a chance to change their minds before your association office opens. Get them signed up while they’re excited and follow up as soon as possible.

Idea #3) Incorporate “virtual” and microvolunteering opportunities.

It’s impossible for every member to come to your office, so create volunteer opportunities they can do from anywhere in short periods of time. Helping in your online community by moderating comments or welcoming new members is one option.

Idea #4) Tell stories about how volunteers further your association’s mission.

Your online community likely allows for public and private blogs. Use these to post about the good work your volunteers are doing. Private blogs posts can encourage recognition inside the community, and public blog posts can increase your association’s reach, highlighting how active your members are and how they’re helping to improve your industry. That type of inspiration is often infectious.

Idea #5) Showcase and celebrate your volunteers personally.

Send each volunteer an email thanking them for their hard work, then do in-depth pieces that tell your community about each volunteer. In the piece, you can thank volunteers for their efforts, but go above and beyond their work in your association. Explain how they love dogs or go mountain climbing every weekend. Personal details will help other members connect with volunteers and also shows that your association values members not just as assets, but as people.

Idea #6) Use member profiles to find people with the expertise you need.

If someone has experience in PR listed in their profile and you need help writing press releases, don’t be shy about approaching them. Most people will be flattered that you notice and appreciate their hard-earned skills. To drive this home, make sure you compliment them on their expertise as well. A verbal acknowledgement of their abilities can help volunteers feel valued and encourage them to contribute.

Engaging Members in Your Online Community Takeaway

Managing and growing an online community can seem daunting. The enormity of the task and the time it takes leads to paralysis for many organizations. However, there is a minimum you can do that will make a big difference, like the three tasks above.

Start with these three tried and tested methods to get your association members to engage. Then, break down the rest of your tasks into manageable chunks so that you’re consistently increasing member engagement and your community’s value over time.

This article was originally sourced from Socious and written by Christina Green.

Patronising and impoverished Grattan grab for attention on super objective

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) today strongly repudiated claims made by the Grattan Institute that the age pension and rent assistance would provide an adequate or acceptable retirement for Australians.

ASFA CEO Dr Martin Fahy said the Grattan Institute’s willingness to condemn hard-working Australians to a life of near poverty in retirement was patronising and represented poor public policy.

“The submission from Grattan, to the Senate Standing Economics Committee Inquiry into the Superannuation (Objective) Bill 2016, is attacking a super system internationally acknowledged as first class and one that is delivering a higher standard of living for retirees,” he said.

Dr Fahy said Grattan’s claim that annual expenditure of $43,372 for a single and $59,619* for a couple at age 65 would deliver a luxurious lifestyle suggests the think tank is out of touch with the reality of living costs in Australia.

“The ASFA comfortable standard is based on a detailed analysis of the level of spending needed to meet the realities of retirement, including: health and aged care with the associated out-of-pocket medical expenses; running a modest car; basic home maintenance; and, being able to run air conditioning in summer and heating in winter,” he said.

“The super system is working to provide more and more Australians with a comfortable retirement as the system matures. This is an excellent public policy achievement particularly when it is done at a fraction of the budgetary impost of systems in most other countries.

“ASFA projections show that those reaching a comfortable standard of living in retirement will increase from around 20 per cent now to 40 per cent of Australians by 2040, based on current settings and including the increase in Super Guarantee payments to 12 per cent.

“With increasing longevity, we want Australians to be healthier and more active in their retirement, not poorer and sicker.”

Dr Fahy said ASFA believes Australians are justifiably worried about longevity and aged and heath care costs in retirement and superannuation is a big part of the solution.

“Super makes a substantive difference to retirement incomes, including for low income earners,” he said.

Dr Fahy said Australians don’t aspire to retire on the age pension and Grattan’s aspirations fly in the face of a long tradition of a progressive improvement in living standards for successive generations.

For further information, please contact:

Teresa Mullan, Media Manager, 0451 949 300.

About ASFA

ASFA is the peak policy, research and advocacy body for Australia's superannuation industry. It is a not-for-profit, sector-neutral, and non-party political national organisation, which aims to advance effective retirement outcomes for members of funds through research, advocacy and the development of policy and industry best practice.

This Media Release was originally sourced from Superannuation.asn.

Internet Australia, the NFP peak body representing Internet users, has called for a new parliamentary inquiry into the Data Retention Act.

Appearing on the ABC’s 730 program, CEO Laurie Patton was one of a number of commentators critical of a Government call for submissions for a radical expansion of the controversial scheme.

Under the proposal, what was initially designed for criminal investigations could be used in civil court cases.

IA wants a fresh inquiry into the entire scheme, with Mr Patton noting that he told the original inquiry by the Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Intelligence and Security that the legislation was "fundamentally flawed" and had clearly been drafted by lawyers who don't understand how the Internet actually works.

"It is a mess," Patton told the ABC. "The only way out of it now is to go back to the beginning, back to the parliamentary inquiry that looked into it in the first place and get them to run the ruler over it."

IA is particularly concerned about the privacy implications if the scheme is expanded to include civil matters. “This takes us into uncharted waters when it comes to using communications technology and personal data in court cases involving private individuals and which have nothing necessarily to do with criminality”.

Noting that there is little information coming from the Government in relation to the proposed expansion of the scheme, Mr Patton told the 730 program “It’s concerning because we don’t know who’s after it and why”.

IA has long been critical of the data retention scheme, previously pointing out that the legislation was passed nearly two years ago on the grounds of an urgent need to combat terrorism. “It hasn’t even come into effect and yet the Attorney-General’s Department apparently wants to see it expanded”.

ISP’s are required to have systems in place by April 2017 to retain their customers’ metadata for a two-year period. However, IA points out that only a minority of ISP’s will be compliant and this makes the whole scheme of dubious benefit for its stated purpose of combating terrorism. The Attorney General’s Department received applications from 210 ISP‘s seeking funding to help them meet the costs of compliance, of which 180 were approved. However, industry estimates of the total number of Australian ISP’s ranges from 250 to more than 400.

“So there are potentially hundreds of ISPs not known to the Attorney General’s Department, and not all of them will necessarily be collecting and storing the metadata they are required to keep.

We really don’t know how many. It’s extraordinary that the Government didn’t ask the obvious question right upfront: how many ISP’s are we talking about?”

IA has warned that the costs of the data retention scheme will inevitably be passed onto consumers. PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated the cost of compliance to the industry at $738m over the first 10 years. IA believes that this underestimates the likely total given that the figure was based on an incomplete list of ISP’s.

“Adding civil litigation to the uses of the scheme can only increase the costs borne by ISP’s in complying”.

“The government funding is already nowhere near enough. ISP’s are out of pocket and they’re unhappy. This exercise has been a disaster from the start and by the looks of it things are only going to become more controversial”.

This media release was originally sourced from Internet Australia. 

Charity op-shops and the NSW environment minister are urging the public to help prevent turning charities into a “dumping ground” for unusable goods in the wake of the Christmas period.

Each year charities in Australia receive almost 800,000 tonnes of goods, of which almost a third cannot be reused or recycled, leaving charities to foot a multi-million dollar bill for disposing the unwanted goods.

On Tuesday, Minister Mark Speakman said the Christmas and New Year period saw a peak in the number of unusable donations and he called on the public to donate responsibly.

“During the holiday season, charities see a spike in unusable donations and even some unscrupulous behaviour of people using street-side clothing bins as dumping grounds for food waste and other rubbish,” Speakman said.

“Donating unwanted goods is a great way to help those less fortunate, but as a rule of thumb if it ain’t fit for a mate, then don’t donate.”

The NSW government is working with the National Association of Charitable Recycling Organisations (NACRO), the peak organisation representing Australia’s charities and charity op shops, to create awareness about responsible donations.

NACRO chief executive officer Kerryn Caulfield said this time of year was “heartbreaking” for the volunteers and staff who return after the break to be faced with sorting through “piles of dirty, broken household rubbish dumped amongst the donations”.

“The summer holiday season is a hard time of year for many Australian families struggling with poverty, so donations of good quality goods are needed by the charities to raise funds so they can deliver their services,” Caulfield said.

“But giving unusable or broken goods to a charity bin or op shop is not a donation – it is dumping waste and the cost of disposal of this rubbish takes away funds needed for the charities’ community programs.”

Caulfield said Australia’s charity recyclers stand to lose millions of dollars this holiday season disposing of rubbish and unusable donations.

“Our research in 2016, showed that NSW charitable recyclers spent around $7 million per year disposing of this waste: inappropriate and unusable donations, soiled, damaged and dumped items,” Caulfield said.

“That money should be going to help others.

“We hope that by educating people on how to make their donation count we can eliminate this drain on charity resources and the volunteers and staff who have the unpleasant job of dealing with the rubbish.”

NACRO has issued three tips for those wanting to make donations of secondhand goods:

• Ask yourself, would you give this item to a friend in need (ie it’s clean, undamaged, good quality).
  
• Donate direct to the op shop during operating hours or call to arrange pick-up for larger items.
  
• Put rubbish and damaged items in your rubbish bin, not a charity donation bin.
  

Anglicare operations manager for shops and factories Julie McAuley said there were a lot of ways a considered donation could assist the community.

“We are always grateful for the many people who donate generously and thoughtfully. As profits from our shops fund our community programs in Sydney and the Illawarra, their contribution not only helps the environment, but also assists our work,” McAuley said.

“A simple piece of clothing that one person may no longer need can also be loved again by others and put to good use. There are a lot of ways a considered donation can assist the community.”

The Environment Protection Authority’s Reducing Dumping on Charitable Recyclers project, part of the NSW government’s $65 million commitment to addressing illegal dumping, offers charities grants to install surveillance equipment, lighting, fencing and gates to get donors “to do the right thing”.

This article was originally sourced from Probono Australia and written by Wendy Williams.

A new report says that busyness is a common mark of social status. While we all say we’re too busy, chances are good that you and your members have five minutes to spare.

This weekend I have to move, so I’m spending a lot of time packing. I hate moving, but I’m also frugal, so I do a lot of the work myself.

But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been tempted to search for help that is just a click away. A popular service called TaskRabbit tells me that I can “live smarter by outsourcing household errands.” That sounds lovely. Meanwhile, another service, called Thumbtack, offers me several reasonably priced quotes for experienced movers. Maybe, just maybe, I will break the bank this one time.

In the 21st-century service economy, time is an ultimate luxury. Not only do we say we’re too busy, but we also use being busy as a mark of social status, according to new research published last month in the Harvard Business Review. Busyness is both marketable and fashionable.

Associations are also realizing that busyness is a common response from members. You’ve probably heard these before:

I was too busy to renew.

Your message got lost in my inbox.

Can you help me find something?

These common refrains come from your “five-minute members.”

In a recent article, Alexandra Mouw, CAE, senior consultant at the web and mobile services firm Results Direct, Inc., airs grievances and explains who are five-minute members. Membership directors and managers can probably relate too.

Regardless of how you feel about them, these members are very much a growing segment in the association space. They’re known for dipping in and out of touch, but most days they can probably spare just a few minutes.

“You hear members say, ‘I’m too busy,’” Mouw says. “But what they mean is, ‘I only have a moment to spare.’”

BUST THROUGH THE BUSYNESS

It’s a tough problem. How do you engage people when attention spans are shorter and information rains down like an avalanche? It’s a question that Nora Weiser, executive director of the American Cheese Society (ACS), ponders almost daily.

“Busyness is not a badge of honor for our members. Busyness means that we need to be doing more for them,” she says. “We try to be a tool for our members to get them off the hamster wheel.”

ACS members are not your typical 9-to-5 employees. They wake up before dawn to milk the cows, and many of them are small-business owners who might have only a few seconds to check email sporadically.

“We can’t expect them to read everything, so we use technology to our advantage,” Weiser says. “We’re looking to use a year-round mobile app that will allow members to use our services directly from a mobile device.”

In addition, ACS just hired its eighth employee, a content manager. Weiser says this new staffer will create relevant membership news and information while serving as a resource librarian, connecting members to archive materials upon request.

“What good is the information if your member can’t reach it?” she says. “There’s really just a five-minute window for you to get them there.”

LESSONS LEARNED

Companies like TaskRabbit and Thumbtack thrive because they alleviate busyness quickly. In the time it takes to fill out an online form, users get names and bids from providers who can supply the help they’re looking for. Associations should be thinking about membership in a similar way. The primary benefit is saving time, Mouw says.

Start by looking at the time it takes to renew a membership. The American Cheese Society limits member renewals to just five steps. When Mouw consults with associations, she recommends making the renewal process responsive and mobile.

“I’m rarely sitting in front of my desk,” Mouw says. “My day is filled with little snippets of time that I need to fill, and I think that is increasingly the same for most people. Your member engagement should fit those moments of time.”

As a rule of thumb, assume that most of your members have just a few minutes to spare. If you need proof that these members exist, Mouw recommends looking at engagement metrics, data points like email open and click-through rates, to determine when and how members access your information. If you’re noticing high open rates on nights or weekends, or lower than normal click-through rates, then you might be dealing with a lot of five-minute members.

While it may seem easier to write off certain members as just too busy to reach, it’s better to shift your mindset. What strategies or tactics are you using to reach five-minute members? How might it impact your message and communication channels directly?

This article was originally sourced from Associations Now and written by Tim Ebner.