kellen report on social media 04262013

Social Media for Associations Status Report 2013

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iiSocial Media for Associations Status Report 2013 www.kelleneurope.com

iiiSocial Media for Associations

Status Report 2013 www.kelleneurope.com

Contents

About the Report

Foreword ......................................................................................................................................... 1

Kellen Europe and Kellen Company ............................................................................................2

Social Media and Associations

Introduction ...................................................................................................................................3

Results of Online Survey ..............................................................................................................5

Status Report 2013 ....................................................................................................................... 11

10 Steps to Successful Social Media for Associations ............................................................ 17

Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................18

11Social Media for Associations Status Report 2013 www.kelleneurope.com

About the Report

ForewordAs a leader in association management and strategic advice worldwide, Kellen Europe seeks to keep its clients on the leading edge of new technologies, opportunities and tactics. Social media has proliferated quickly across all levels of society around the world, with businesses increasingly incorporating it into their activities. Social media is not a temporary trend, it is a new method of communication, which will not go away — hence associations cannot afford to ignore it!

Associations have different governance and decision making structures compared to corporations, and association communication also requires a tailored approach. Kellen Europe therefore engaged the research firm ComRes to conduct a benchmark survey of social media use and influence in European associations. The results of this online survey indicate that associations are implementing social media programmes, but may still be challenged to develop effective strategies and to measure results against goals. Facebook is perceived to have the greatest potential for negative impact on organisations, whilst Twitter is viewed as the platform

with the greatest potential for positive influence and perhaps for that reason, is the most popular social media vehicle. Communication Directors from 10 European associations active in a variety of industries discussed the key findings of the survey in two focus groups run by Kellen Europe.

Finally, Kellen added recommendations based on its extensive experience with associations and expertise in communications; resulting in this 2013 Status Report, which focuses on four main areas: strategy & governance, social media channels or technologies, measurement of social media efforts, and trends.

With this Report we tackle the new opportunities and challenges that many associations face when engaging with social media. We plan to conduct this research on a yearly basis to showcase how associations are adopting social media, as well as to provide trends and insights on this fast moving area.

I would like to thank all individuals who took the online survey in collaboration with ComRes and association executives that took time to contribute to our focus groups. A very special thanks goes to the authors of this Report Nele Devolder and Dani Kolb; and advisor Joan Cear in New York.

We look forward to discuss the Report and its findings with you!

Alfons Westgeest Managing Partner, Kellen Europe Group Vice President, Kellen Company

Twitter is viewed as the platform with the greatestpotential for positive influence

Social Media for Associations Status Report 2013

www.kelleneurope.com2

About the Report

Kellen CompanyKellen Europe is the European office of the Kellen Company, a professional services firm that has been a trusted advisor to the association industry for almost 50 years. We provide consulting, management, marketing communications and other professional services to more than 80 regional, national, international and global trade associations and professional societies. Our staff of 200 association professionals operates from our offices in Atlanta, Brussels, Beijing, Chicago, New York City, and Washington, DC. Kellen Company is a charter-accredited association management company by the Association Management Company Institute.

Kellen EuropeOver the past 25 years Kellen Europe has gathered considerable expertise that enables it to rapidly anticipate the needs of emerging or existing associations and to provide tailored organisational solutions. These solutions are designed to ensure that our clients hold the position they should within the association environment. In the current climate, more than ever before, it is essential that associations remain relevant. Through strategic advice and management services we work toward ensuring that our client associations remain relevant, forward looking and add value to their membership. The Europe-based Kellen team includes 20 experienced professionals with a variety of complementary backgrounds, industry knowledge and skills, each of whom has extensive experience in the management and representation of national, European and global associations and is competent in at least three European languages.

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Introduction Before we dive into the specifics of social media in relation to associations, let’s clarify the term social media.

Defining Social Media

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest; these are the words you hear when people talk about social media, so one could easily think that social media is all about Facebook, Twitter, etc. But it is not! These are only tools and channels; the software and technology.

Social media is more expansively “what people do with the technology, the software, the tools and channels: sharing pictures and video, writing product reviews, collecting content, connecting with old friends, sharing with new friends, collaborating in the workplace. Social media is a collective term that describes the means of communicating and engaging with people.”1

Throughout this Report this is the definition of social media we will use.


Social media has changed the way people communicate and how they connect with others. The numbers speak for themselves: in March 2013 Facebook had 1.06 billion active monthly users including 680 million mobile users, more than 50 million pages and 10 million apps. YouTube now has more than a billion unique users every single month and Twitter has 500 million total users, with more than 200 million active users.2 These are just a few statistics to demonstrate the reach of social media, and some data will be already outdated when you read this Report. Social media is a trend that has increased dramatically over the years, and it’s clear it won’t be disappearing overnight!

Some association executives question the effectiveness of using social media for their organisation, by saying that social media is “just something for young people”, or is not relevant for their membership. But the fact that the fastest growing demographics on Facebook and other social networking sites are individuals over the age of 50 clearly demonstrates that

this is a false assumption3. Today, social media is part of everyday life and associations cannot afford to shy away and miss this trend by assuming it does not apply to them.

1 Holloman “The Social Media MBA“ 2012.2 http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/resource-how-many-people-use-the-top-social-media/3 Holloman “The Social Media MBA“ 2012.

Fastest growing demographics on Facebook and other social networking sites are individuals over the age of 50

43Social Media for Associations



Most importantly, association executives should see the full potential of social media: not only can it be used to communicate with members, but also with other stakeholders such as policy makers, other associations and the wider public in general. Social media can strengthen communication with these target audiences, enabling association executives to share positions on relevant topics, follow debates that are important for their sector, and engage with different communities.

Methodology

With this Report we want to give an insight into how associations are currently using social media. We begin by providing the results from the online survey undertaken in cooperation with ComRes. In total, 123 association executives from different industries answered. In ad-dition Kellen Europe conducted two focus groups with in total 10 communication directors from different industries and with different levels of social media engagement. Based on the feedback from these focus groups and our expertise in house, we prepared a Status Report 2013 and highlight the findings with regard to governance and strategy, channels, measure-ment and trends & focus. Based on this analysis, we then derive a set of 10 recommendations associations should follow when thinking about developing their own social media strategy.


Results of the Online Survey In February 2013 ComRes, on behalf of Kellen Europe, conducted an online survey amongst association executives in Europe to better understand how associations are currently using social media. In total, 123 people responded to the survey, and the key findings are summarised below.

Responsibility of Managing Social Media Activities

The results show that almost half of all respondents say that the person responsible for managing social media activities is a communications manager. Just 17% say that the staff member with departmental responsibility (i.e. Public Affairs, Meetings Management) is responsible, while 11% say that a dedicated social media manager is responsible.

Time Dedicated to Social Media Activities

The vast majority of respondents (88%) say that the dedicated person in their organisation spends 10 hours or fewer on social media activity each week. Just 9% say that the dedicated person spends more than 10 hours.


49%

14%

8%

2%

17%

11%

Communications manager

Staff member with departmental responsibility

Dedicated social media manager

Assistant (office manager, intern)

Other

Don’t know

21%

48%

19%

7% 2%2%

0% More than 40 hours per week

Less than one hour per week

1-5 hours per week

6-10 hours per week

11-20 hours per week

21-40 hours per week

Don’t know

Results



Reasons to Use Social Media

Respondents say that their organisation was most likely to use social media to communicate and engage with site users (67%), or to gather information (60%).

Few respondents (11%) say that their organisation uses social media for crisis communications, while a similar proportion (12%) say that their organisation’s social media activities have no specific objective.

Social Media Channels Used

The majority of respondents say that their organisation has an account with either Twitter (76%), Facebook (59%) or LinkedIn (59%). Only a third of all respondents (33%) say that their organisation has a blog.

01020304050607080 76%

59%59%

37%

3% 8%

NONE OF THE ABOVE

TWITTER FACEBOOK LINKEDIN YOUTUBE PINTEREST

01020304050607080 76%

59%59%

37%

3% 8%

NONE OF THE ABOVE


67%12%11%

60%

44%

28%

46%

Communication and engagement with site users

Information gathering

Influencing key opinion formers through their social media accounts

To take part in the online debate on specific issues

Recruitment of new members for your organisation

Crisis communication

We have no specific objective




Frequency of Content Update and Response to Communication

Out of the social media channels we tested, organisations are most likely to frequently post new content or respond to communications on Facebook (69%) or Twitter (66%). Organisations are most likely to actively use Twitter on a daily basis (24%).

Organisations are most likely to actively use Twitter on a daily basis

More frequently than once a day 21% 24% 5% 10% 2%

Less than once a day but more than once a week 49% 41% 35% 29% 11%

Less than once a week but more than once a month 19% 19% 43% 28% 24%

Less than once a month 6% 9% 18% 26% 63%

Frequently 69% 66% 40% 39% 13%

Infrequently 25% 28% 60% 54% 87%

Never 6% 6% 0% 7% 0%

01020304050607080 76%

59%59%

37%

3% 8%

NONE OF THE ABOVE


01020304050607080 76%

59%59%

37%

3% 8%

NONE OF THE ABOVE


01020304050607080 76%

59%59%

37%

3% 8%

NONE OF THE ABOVE


01020304050607080 76%

59%59%

37%

3% 8%

NONE OF THE ABOVE


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

LINKEDIN

0

5

10

15

20

25

3026%

23%

FACEBOOK BLOGS

28%24%

TWITTER

Results




Impact of Social Media

Respondents are most likely to say that Facebook (26%) is the social media platform that has the potential to have the greatest negative impact on their organisation. This is closely followed by blogs (23%).

Respondents are most likely to say that Twitter (28%) is the social media platform that has the potential to have the greatest positive impact on their organisation. This is closely followed by LinkedIn (24%).


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

LINKEDIN

0

5

10

15

20

25

3026%

23%

FACEBOOK BLOGS

28%24%

TWITTER

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

LINKEDIN

0

5

10

15

20

25

3026%

23%

FACEBOOK BLOGS

28%24%

TWITTER

Negative Impact Positive Impact

Facebook is most likely to be perceived as the platform with the greatest potential for negative impact, whereas Twitter is considered to have the greatest potential for positive influence


Measurement of Social Media Impact

Two in five respondents (41%) say that their organisation measures its social media efforts, while (51%) half say that their organisation does not measure its impact. A small proportion of respondents (7%) says that they do not know.

The amount of fans or followers that an organisation has (73%) is seen as the most common form of measuring the impact of its social media efforts. Around half of respondents say that their organisation measures the impact of its social media efforts by the response from a target audience (53%), or through the analysis of comments made by social media users (47%). Few (14%) say that they conduct social listening research by an independent company.


73%

14% 10%

53%

47%

Amount of followers or fans

Response from target audience (e.g. to the announcement of specific events or press releases)

Analysis of comments made by other social media users

Social listening research by an independent company

Other

51%41%

7%

Organisation does not measure the impact of its social media efforts

Organisation measures the impact of its social media efforts

Respondents do not know if the organisation measures the impact of its social media efforts




Social Media’s Contribution to Achieve Business Objectives

Certain respondents indicated that they do not consider their organisation’s social media efforts to have been particularly helpful in achieving their own business objectives in the last 12 months. Just 18% say that they consider their organisation’s social media activity to be effective, while more than a quarter (29%) say that it is ineffective in meeting their business goals.

On a scale from 1 (not at all effective) to 5 (very effective) respondents are most likely to give their organisation’s social media activities a score of ‘3’ out of ‘5’ (34%), suggesting that its activities have been neither effective nor ineffective.

Value of Social Media Activities

Respondents believe that there is a value in their organisation’s social media activities. More than half of respondents (56%) say that the amount of resources their organisation invests in social media is worthwhile, while just 4% say that it is not worthwhile.

However, three in ten (31%) say that it is too soon to tell if the resource that they invest is worthwhile or not.


More than half of respondents (56%) say that the amount of resources their organisation invests in social media is worthwhile

1 = Not at all effective 8%

2 21%

3 34%

4 14%

5 = Very effective 4%

Don’t know 19%

Ineffective 29%

Effective 18%

Just 18% say that they consider their organisation’s social media activity to be effective


Status Report 2013Kellen Europe organized two focus groups with communication directors from 10 European trade associations. The main results of the online survey served as a starting point for the discussion and then the communications directors shared their experiences, practical considerations and recommendations. The key findings of the focus groups combined with our expertise in communications are summarized below.

How to fit social media in the association’s strategy and governance?

Any association that wants to use social media for its internal or external communications needs to take a few initial but essential steps before “going live” and may start by asking: “Why do we want to use social media and what do we want to achieve?”

Clear objectives, a concrete strategy and implementation plan and tangible goals will make it easier to get the association leadership onboard. In setting your objectives, outline a sound strategy that fits in with the overall association mission. Draft a clear implementation plan that includes defined measurements and ensure that the necessary resources for execution of the strategy are available. Resources will include staff time, which for

most associations surveyed was ten hours per week or less, and internal or external social media monitoring tools and metrics. Aligning social media goals with measurable outcomes should be a key factor in your strategy.

Before embarking on a social media program, establish a clear policy that all involved in representing the association online can act upon. This will ensure trust and a mandate to work independently, without having to seek approval from the association leadership. Clear guidelines, including anti-trust rules, will guarantee clarity for all involved.

Be prepared: make sure that you have clear guidelines on the content that you want to share and establish a link between the communications people and the policy advisors within your organisation to ensure that all social media activities support the political message you want to send. Consider who will be the voice and social media gatekeeper for the association. Define the core messages you seek to communicate and those issues of concern that must be handled with care. As your organisation prepares its social media strategy, it is important to know exactly how each channel works, not only in terms of technology but also to ensure that you have a good understanding of the environment and atmosphere, which can vary from one channel to another. To ensure that you are comfortable and well acquainted with each of the specific channels, it is useful to explore them with a personal account first. You may also want to scope out how member companies or other associations are using social media.


Aligning social media goals with measurable outcomes should be a key factor in your strategy



Which type of social media channel should be used for each type of communication?

The leading mainstream social networking channels, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and blogs, are well known and widely used by associations in their communication activities and outreach to members, stakeholders and the general public. However, it is clear that associations are well aware of the fact that they need to select the right channel to get their message to the audience they want to reach.

Overall, associations are very active on Twitter because that is the platform where the debate is going on “live” and where key discussions take place. For many associations, Twitter also serves as an excellent “early warning system” about issues of concern and a source of information and a valuable data stream: If you

follow the right people and ask questions, you will get answers from experts in the field and get directed to other relevant channels with more relevant information.

Associations use Twitter to generate traffic to other, more text heavy sources of information such as the association’s website or blog by tweeting about topics they are covering. Your organisation can become an influencer by investing time to engage and take part in the debate with stakeholders, ally associations, journalists, academia and anyone that plays a role in the field.

In general, Facebook works very well for a Business-to-Customer (B2C) environment, not for the Business-to-Business (B2B) environment in which most trade associations are operating. This, however, will be different for professional societies or for trade associations that target the end consumer. Facebook also works very well for specific events or as part of a larger advocacy campaign and whenever the association needs to reach out to the general public.

Associations and blogging: is it worth the investment? Indeed, blogging for associations requires a strong commitment and investment in terms of human resources. Associations should know, however, that they do not have to blog all by themselves. You may engage academia or journalists to ghost write blog articles or to post occasional guest blogs to supplement your own content. Several associations also try to engage members to commit to write blog posts, however this tactic can prove challenging for two reasons:

members may present a point-of-view that infringes on an association’s desire to maintain neutrality and objectivity, and chasing members and editing their contributions can be very time consuming.

Blogging for associations requires a strong commitment

Twitter also serves as an excellent “early warning system” about issues of concern



Nevertheless, an association blog is a constant flow of information toward members and the overall community in which your association is operating. The association blog could serve as an excellent platform to provide more in-depth information to support your social media content, press releases and industry news and is the perfect vehicle to position your association and its executives as industry thought leaders.

LinkedIn can be very effective in reaching a targeted B2B community and many associations use LinkedIn profiles and groups for specific purposes such as member engagement, member recruitment and events. It is an easy tool to engage with the key people operating in the association’s industry or field, and has proven its value for reaching to the wider community and starting a debate. If your goal is to establish a LinkedIn group, it should be noted that it is not possible to directly recruit LinkedIn members to join a group. One tactic suggested by our social media strategists within the Kellen Communications division is first establishing a LinkedIn profile for your organisation so that you can reach out and make a number of connections within your industry or related areas. Once you have an established group of connections, then create a group and recommend to your connections that they join your group. One of the benefits of a LinkedIn group over other social media platforms is that you can still keep the group “locked” for members only. This requires you to review and approve new group members which helps to assure that incompatible individuals — such as those seeking to sell goods or services to your members — cannot join the group. groups can also be set up so that new posts must be approved by the LinkedIn group administrator before they become live, ensuring that the content associated with your group is in keeping with the association’s mission and values.

Social media experts agree that dialogue on any of the channels — from Twitter to Facebook to LinkedIn — should be authentic. This relates to not only your own association’s posts, but those of fans, followers or connections. So while your association may wish to avoid “hot topics” and controversy, rather than deleting

those type of remarks from Facebook or LinkedIn, view them as an opportunity to educate, express your association’s position or disseminate factual information. Constant monitoring and prompt response are key to effective message management.

The use of video has gained significant importance in the different fields of communications in general over the past years. European trade associations have understood this growing importance and are making use of the tool for specific purposes such as event reporting, short messaging on the association’s website and as part of advocacy campaigns. Although it is proven that video is extremely effective, most associations currently use it only as a support tool to get their messages across. In combination with Twitter or Facebook, linking to the association’s YouTube channel or website, video can be very effective.


Dialogue on any of the channels — from Twitter to Facebook to LinkedIn — should be authentic



In conclusion, it is clear that not all channels work for each form of communication or for every association. Try to assess what works for your association and the audience you want to reach out to, or where you want to get your information from. Social media channels should not be used for the sake of using them, but should act as a means of support for any form of communication your association

undertakes, and have defined objectives. All of the above tools and channels should interact with each other. An integrated approach across social media channels and traditional media vehicles will help to generate more traffic to all communication tools used, which will increase visibility and ensure omni-presence of your association’s message.

Finally, content quality and consistency are essential. Make sure your message is clear and that you update posts and engage frequently with followers, no matter which tools you are using.

How should social media efforts be measured?

For the majority of associations, the assessment of their activities on social media is done on a quantitative basis. The easiest and first step is often: “how many followers, likes, and views do we have?” This step is easy to grasp and cost effective, with the information readily available on each of the specific tools. However this is very limited quantitative information, which doesn’t give any qualitative context on the profile of your support base, and their reasons for following, liking or viewing your association’s account, page or posts.

Taking it a step further, some associations evaluate their presence on social media by analysing their followers (mainly on Twitter), as well as the amount of re-tweets and shares the posted information receives, especially from influential followers such as a Member of the European Parliament. Finally, an increasing number of associations are subscribing to online and paying monitoring tools that measure their social impact, track activity around their posts, and make comparative analyses in the industry or sector in which their association is active.

The more qualitative way of measuring, in combination with quantitative figures and comparisons with ally associations are powerful tools to demonstrate the effectiveness and need to use social media to an association’s leadership — who often focus on the question: “Why do we need social media and more specifically, what is the return on investment (ROI) for the efforts we spent in social media?”

However, we might want to take a different approach and ask whether too much attention is given to the need to measure an association’s social media efforts.

Social media channels should not be used for the sake of using them, but should act as means of support for any form of communication your association undertakes



Association staff often need to justify the efforts and investments put into their social media outreach more than investments made through other channels of communication. When compared to other tools and channels associations use in their communication plan, such as events, it is equally difficult to collect qualitative results. Although the number of attendees can be checked along with their feedback on the event, it is difficult to know whether it was able to bring added value to the community or had direct influence on policy makers.

The same is true for advertising; unless advertising efforts are part of a membership recruitment campaign, you can’t really assess the direct value of these efforts. Associations need to consider social media as a fully accepted and integrated part of the overall communication strategy and budget; thereby putting it on the same level as tools that have been used for years without their ROI being continually questioned.

How to keep on top of new trends and technologies?

Social media is becoming more and more complex and new technologies and applications are being launched on a regular basis. How can associations stay abreast of these latest technologies, new tools and channels and how to make sure to pick the right channel for the association’s message and audience?

Be alert, well informed, test and evaluate! Assess new technologies or channels by trying them out for a certain period. Analyze the efforts made, the investments done and the objectives to be reached and decide on whether to continue or not.

An association should not follow blindly what is available on the market but make use of what is relevant for them and what works for the association and the environment in which they operate. A good example is the photo sharing platform Instagram, which, according to comScore.com surpassed Twitter in terms of mobile web traffic in 2012 and currently has more than 80 million users and a very committed audience. However, hardly any European trade association is using it, because it doesn’t fit with their environment and activities unless used for specific campaigns with a visual purpose. Social media activity is not all about the largest number of possible users or potential outreach. Associations need to know their audience, adapt to what channels work for them and most importantly, recognise what information their audience is looking for or is of interest to them — content is essential!

How to stay up-to-date on the latest in social media? Use social media! Visit expert blogs, podcasts, follow the right individuals on Twitter and engage with LinkedIn groups to learn from experiences and exchange best practices with peers. The people in your association staff that are responsible for social media obviously need to have the right skills and have a genuine interest in the subject. Some associations will take this also into account when hiring new people outside of the communications department, and would engage for instance a policy advisor with strong communication skills who can combine and maximise from being knowledgeable on the policy topic and being able to get the message across by using all relevant social media channels.




What about traditional media? Will social media replace some traditional forms of communication? Most likely yes in cases where communication becomes more effective and a bigger outreach can be reached more easily: several associations already use applications such as ‘What’s app’ to communicate with members, while press releases are being replaced by blog posts that are linked with other technologies such as Twitter, which allows an association to reach a broader audience in a faster and more efficient way and with less resources. Now, only one piece of information needs to be created, and then adapted to the type of channels it is sent through.

In today’s fast moving environment it is essential to get people’s attention and to communicate in a clear and focused manner. Video is an excellent tool: summarise your key message in a video not longer than two minutes and direct people to your website or blog for more specific and in-depth information. Same with Twitter: put the essentials of your message in 140 characters and connect with people via LinkedIn, e-mail, or website; all the while generating traffic to all other channels on which your organisation is represented.

Our advice is to try new technologies and assess them for a while, and only continue investment in what works for your association and its specific audience.

Conclusion

Social media is not a “one-size-fits-all” communications tool for associations. Associations should take the time to analyze what they want to achieve through social media and then select the channels that will help them to best reach those goals. Associations should also assess where social media fits into their portfolio of communications initiatives. For example, organisations that seek to use social media to drive individuals to their website, should consider first, whether their website makes a positive first impression.

Social media is dynamic; constantly changing, expanding or contracting, growing louder or softer based upon the engagement not only of the community manager, but also of the participants. And, like a garden, you cannot just plant a seed on Twitter or Facebook and hope that it will grow, you must cultivate it.

Finally, social media may not be the right solution for every application. Other electronic communications such as email, text messaging or webinars might be better solutions for specific needs. And let us not forget the impact and effectiveness of a phone call, an in-person meeting or a personal letter. Today there are more options for communicating than ever before and surely, there are others that have yet to be discovered.



1 Ten Steps to Successful Social Media for Associations

2

10

3 4

9 8 7 6 5

Clearly define your association’s objectives for using social media

Outline a social media strategy that fits in with your association’s overall strategy

Set out clear guidelines and policies for the use of social media within your association

Pick the right channels and get acquainted with them

Be transparent and ready to react

Mandate and trust those responsible for social media in your association

Provide meaningful content

Be clear, focused and adapt your message to the channels

Monitor and measure your effort through both quantitative and qualitative tools

Dive into it — explore, evaluate and continue investment only in channels that work for your association!




Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the individuals, who kindly took the time to provide their views and input by participating in our Focus Group meetings.

Alexandrine Gauvin, Communications Officer, AmCham EU

Bénédicte Blondel, Communications Manager, IAB Europe

Catherine Piana, Director General, European Vending Association

Colin MacKay, Communications Director (interim), Cosmetics Europe

Florence Ranson, Head of Communications, European Banking Federation

Lisa McCooey, Deputy Director General/Director of Communications, Food Drink Europe

Magali Merindol, Marketing & Events Manager, Digital Europe

Patricia Mobbs, Communications Manager, APEAL

Thierry Dieu, Director for Communications and Public Policy, ETNO

Thomas Lindemans, Communications Manager, EUCOMED


Acknowledgements

About the AuthorsNele Devolder, is responsible for Kellen Europe’s external relations and marketing activities. She works on communication and strategic advice projects for associations in different industries. Nele has over 10 years of experience in the management of European and international trade associations and professional societies, specifically in the field of healthcare.

Dani Kolb, Manager Kellen Europe, is responsible for the communication activities of associations from various industries and professions. This includes defining the overall communication strategy, choosing the right channels and overseeing the implementation of the communication activities. Dani has 10 years of experience working in Brussels with European and International associations and more specifically implementing advocacy and communications campaigns for them.

About the Advisor Joan Cear, Vice President Kellen Communications, New York, develops and oversees the implementation of integrated marketing communications programs for associations, not-for-profit organisations and corporate clients. This includes proactive initiatives designed to support clients’ strategic goals as well as issues management and crisis communications programs. She also supervises the company’s Washington, DC public affairs group, KellenAdams. Joan has 25 years of public relations experience, has served on the boards of several not-for-profit organisations and is a former journalist.



Acknowledgements

We would also like to thank Comres for supporting the production of this Report

About ComResComRes is a leading market and opinion research agency with a specialism in conducting reputation, public policy and communications research. ComRes runs the Europoll™ omni-bus panel of MEPs which is the largest commercially available survey of MEPs as well as an omnibus survey of wider stakeholders in Brussels.

ComRes also offers bespoke quantitative and qualitative research amongst difficult to reach EU stakeholders as well as research among legislators and the public in individual EU countries.

ComRes’s clients include high profile corporate companies, charities, trade associations, NGOs, international organisations and national governments.

ComRes opinion research is used by clients to shed light on the reputation of individual organisations and industries as well as to understand the opinion landscape on key policy issues of interest to the client.

This information can be utilised to inform clients’ communications and public affairs strate-gies and evaluate the success of communications activity. Our research is also often used externally to provide the content for events and publications which demonstrate an under-standing of opinion among key stakeholders.

ComRes follows the ICC/ESOMAR Code on Market and Social Research.

Contact us

About Comres ComRes Brussels Rond Point Schuman 6 Box 5 1040 Bruxelles T +32 (0)2 234 63 82 F +32 (0)2 234 79 11 [email protected]

Acknowledgements

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