Your members may love your online community, but don’t kid yourself: They connect elsewhere too. When Digital Analytics Association Community Manager Catherine Hackney saw members increasingly talking in a popular office-chat app, DAA followed them there.

“We noticed a lot more of the conversation was happening in Slack than our own private [community] space,” she says. “It took a few years before DAA staff felt comfortable, but now we have a specific Slack channel where we monitor and post.”

The app lets users tag individuals and chat in a way that’s similar to text- ing, making the community feel more conversational and immediate, Hackney says. Here are three ways DAA uses its Slack channel, Measure Slack:

1. To monitor feedback. For better or worse, DAA members use Measure Slack to voice feedback on their membership experience. “We have had a few complaints in our channel,” Hackney says. “But that gives us a nice opportunity to address any concerns a member might have in an open way.” The key is to provide an accurate and prompt reply.
   
   
2. To share links. Slack has become a natural place to share resources that might interest members. “I usually limit it to one link per post,” Hackney says. “Usually it’s a helpful blurb that links to our site or blog.” Each share must be informative, and getting members to share increases visibility.
   
   
3. To respond to prospective members. The Measure Slack community is open to nonmembers, and Hackney regularly fields questions about how to become a member. “Some people joined DAA because of our Slack presence,” she says. 

_{This article originally appeared in the May/June print edition of Associations Now, a publication of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).}