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The Union-Activist

News & Notes for Our Valued Clients

Unions-America.com January 2018

Happy New Year to each and all of you from us here at Unions-America! Every new year brings along its own set of unique opportunities and challenges - we look forward to working through those with you as the year unfolds.

The new year is also an excellent time to consider updating your website with a fresh look, or to add one of our integrated mobile apps. Check out a great WordPress-related option in our Featured Product section below!

Take a look at the new site we recently developed for the San Antonio Fire Fighters. Contact us today to learn about options for updating your organizations website.

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2018 CRYSTAL BALL - What's ahead in 2018 and beyond in the greater world of communications? A writer for Forbes Magazine took a shot at answering that this month, reaching out to a variety of supposed experts in the field, both educators and communications practitioners. Some of their thoughts, paraphrased:

  • Social media is important, but good communication strategy can't begin and end with Facebook. There’s an important place for other online tools such as websites and mobile apps, as well as tried-and-true methods such as newsletters and press releases.
  • Been there, done that matters. As the communications/public relations world becomes clogged with more and more newcomers with "digital journalism" degrees (yes, there is such a thing), companies with experience in the field are quickly becoming more highly valued.
  • So-called social media "influencer marketing" has plateaued, and/or is even on the downswing. Think paying a Kardashian sister to hold your brand of sunglasses in an Instagram photo, for example. Consumers are becoming smarter and noticing that said sister isn't wearing those sunglasses in any other candid photos.

The one thing everyone agrees on? That a successful media strategy must be well planned and multi-faceted. Again, you can’t put all of your eggs in just one "basket" - that is, only a Facebook page, only a website, only a newsletter, etc. In 2018, you simply must use a variety of media platforms to be effective.

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KNOW YOUR TARGET - One area of communication that’s not going anywhere is targeted marketing. With all of the "noise" out there in both traditional and especially social media, you need to zero in on your "customer." Budweiser, General Motors, AT&T and such can afford general advertising, they’re casting a wide net. You’re not, you need to key in on what will capture your members’ attention. But the customer analogy is appropriate, because more and more, unions are going to need to sell themselves to their members.

This will be particularly important for public sector unions in states impacted by the upcoming Janus Supreme Court decision, should that decision go against organized labor as is expected. No matter if you’re a fire fighter council with a handful of job classifications and one contract or an AFSCME council with dozens of contracts and hundreds of classifications, effective, efficient targeting marketing will become even more important in 2018.

We can help. At Unions-America, we have the professional expertise and modern technology tools to help your union develop a detailed, effective targeted marketing plan to your membership. If you’d like help, just use the contact information below.   

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JANUARY TECH TIP - Make sure you know who owns your domain name! The domain name is the most important part of a website. If the domain name registration expires, the website, mobile app, and email services associated with that domain name will stop working. It can then take at least 24-48 hours after a domain expires for it to be renewed and back online. If your domain is managed by us you have no need to worry. We will automatically renew your domain for you. But if you are not sure, click here to find out more.

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CONTACT US - Our customer service center is always ready to assist you. We have professional support staff trained to get you answers and/or help you through an issue as quickly as possible. E-mail us at Support@UnionActive.com or call (888) 248-5557, Ext. 3. You can also use that same e-mail address for any questions about changing or upgrading your website or mobile app.

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FEATURED PRODUCT - We get a lot of questions about WordPress, with many people erroneously thinking WordPress is not compatible with our Unions-America system. THAT IS NOT TRUE!

We build, develop and host WordPress-based websites and mobile apps for many purposes. WordPress websites are perfect for professional-looking public facing sites that don't require members-only content. You can then combine a WordPress public information site with a UnionActive member communication system for the ultimate professional portal with separate public and private areas.

You can use the WordPress site to promote public awareness of your Union local and have it serve as the central hub for public information, news media releases, links to your social media and such. But we can also incorporate a direct login that will take your union members to a UnionActive members-only portal to access members-only features and content. This allows you to keep the members-only portal secured from any public viewing or access. We style the UnionActive member portal and the public information WordPress site in a similar design for a seamless user experience. Check out our website for more information.

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Battle Ground, WA 98604
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