 Hello WestShore Chamber Members, Welcome to our first 2025 edition of Membership Matters! Our monthly e-letter to help keep you informed on everything related to your membership with us: from benefits and promotional opportunities to navigating your member portal and more. Goodbye, X We've decided to focus our attention on our Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn account moving forward. We have found for some time that these are the accounts most used by our community, so we will be deactivating X at the end of February. Tag Us! Did you know that the WestShore Chamber of Commerce will share your Facebook and Instagram content with over 2000 of our followers? It's probably the easiest member benefit to take advantage of. All you have to do is tag us in your content! Tagging us directly from your posts will flag our team to share your content. @westshore.chamberofcommerce on Facebook and we'll repost your content directly in our feed. @westshorechamber on Instagram, and we'll add your content to our stories. Why share with the WestShore Chamber of Commerce? WestShore Chamber Members might want to share their Facebook and Instagram content with us for several reasons:
Overall, collaboration with the WestShore Chamber of Commerce can lead to greater community engagement and business growth. So don't forget to tag us, and ensure your marketing team and content creators are aware as well. Join us for Membership Matters on Zoom March 4th   In light of the ongoing postal strike, the WestShore Chamber of Commerce would like to remind you of the convenient payment options available to ensure you can continue accessing our services without interruption.
While the WestShore Chamber of Commerce supports collective bargaining, we cannot help but be concerned about the impact of the strike of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, coming as it does on the heels of the B.C. (and Montreal) Ports strike and at the busiest time of year for many small businesses. Canada Post is an essential service for many businesses in our province who cannot afford or don't have access to other delivery options. Is your business being impacted by the strike? Get in touch with our Executive Director Julie Lawlor.  Tag us and Extend Your ReachDid you know that the WestShore Chamber of Commerce will share your Facebook and Instagram content with over 2000 of our followers? It's probably the easiest member benefit to take advantage of. All you have to do is tag us!
Tagging us directly from your posts will flag our team to share your content. @ or # westshorechamberofcommerce on Facebook and we'll repost your content directly in our feed. @ or # westshorechamber on Instagram, and we'll add your content to our stories. Why share with the WestShore Chamber of Commerce? WestShore Chamber Members might want to share their Facebook and Instagram content with us for several reasons:
Overall, collaboration with the WestShore Chamber of Commerce can lead to greater community engagement and business growth. So don't forget to tag us, and ensure your marketing team, virtual assistant and content creators are aware as well. Happy sharing!  2025 Event Host Search on now!Looking to gain visibility, showcase your business and grow your network? We are now booking networking event hosts for 2025!
Why host a WestShore Chamber event? Hosting with us at your location is a great way to introduce your company to our community. Our event hosts will:
Coffee Talk When: typically last Tuesday of the month, 8-9:30 am What: a smaller networking event with coffee and tea service for up to 30 members and guests Cost: $199 + GST with discounts for non-profits and/or when host provides catering Applicable to: any member with sufficient accessible space Member Mixer When: typically 2nd or 3rd Wednesdays of the month What: a larger networking event with finger foods and beverages for 45+ members and guests Cost: dependent on size, but could be around $1800 Applicable to: any member with sufficient accessible space Mix & Mingle When: typically 2nd or 3rd Wednesday of the month in lieu of a Member Mixer between 5 to 7 p.m. What: an informal, happy hour style event where we invite our members to join us at our reserved section of a pub, cafe or restaurant. No speeches or door prize draws. Cost: no cost other than ensuring you have the staff and capacity. We encourage our guests to support the venue by buying food and beverages off your regular menu. Applicable to: any member with a restaurant, cafe or pub that can manage a two hour rush of 40+ people. Interest in booking events is picking up, so do not delay! Please connect with me if you would like to jump on this great promotional opportunity. Focusing on the Chambers Group Insurance PlanIt’s always a good time to leverage the benefits of your chamber membership. One of the most exclusive benefits for chamber members is Chambers of Commerce Group Insurance Plan employee benefits.
A bit of background: Chambers Plan is Canada’s number one employee benefits plan for small businesses. The Plan is also a not-for-profit, with ALL surpluses staying in the program to help control premiums and provide stability — something we could all use right about now. Protecting you and your employees is easy. The first step is to get a free quote. There are no industry restrictions or minimum company sizes, so a YES to these questions means you could benefit from Chambers Plan: 1. “Do you have 1 to 50 employees?” Chambers Plan offers guaranteed coverage for small businesses with 1 to 50 employees. 2. “Could you and your employees make use of group benefits?” When you and your employees are on Chambers Plan, you get full, free access to many health and wellness services including:
3. “Would you like me to connect you with our local advisor for a quick and easy, free quote?” Chambers Plan engages local advisors to help chamber members determine if Chambers Plan is the right fit for them. If you’re interested in getting more information about the Plan, reply to this email and we’ll get your free quote started right away. Our chamber is committed to offering businesses incredible value for their membership — that includes Chambers Plan and so many more benefits. To see how else you can take advantage of the chamber’s programs, visit our website. Membership Matters: Spring Cleaning 2024
As many are embarking on their annual Spring Clean, don't forget to add a review of your the Member Portal to the check list! It's important! A lot can happen in your organization in one year. Updates to services, locations, branding, etc. And we're popular! Our directory generated over 940,000 referrals in 2023. So you'll want to ensure your member presence is up to date. Updating your profile is simple. All you need to do is log-in to your Member Portal and click on "Edit this Profile" (if the amber Welcome bar notes you are in your personal profile, be sure to switch to your business profile before you move on.) Do go down the Profile Edit menu, but the most important sections to review are General Info, Directory Listing and Social Media as these are what the public sees if they view your listing. When reviewing your Directory Listing, you'll have a full suite of editing tools to play with including hyperlinks. If you've changed your logo or want to add pictures, return to Member Portal Home, scroll down the page to "Manage Files" to upload your new media. You can find details on how to manage your listing in the attached user guide. Related Profiles Don't forget to review the Related Profiles section from your Member Portal Home page. Ensure that former staff are removed and new teammates are added in. You can even assign other profile editors and billing contacts. Please note that there can only be one Main Profile (the primary person in charge of managing your company's membership and recipient of all WSCC direct to member communications) and one Billing Contact (the person in charge of receiving and managing WSCC invoices). The Main and Billing contact can be assigned both duties. And finally, the EXTRA IMPORTANT part We'll be using the content in our online directory when creating our 2024/25 Business Resource and Relocation Go2 Guide, which is distributed all over the WestShore, so you'll want to make sure your listing is up to date before May 31st. All member company names, addresses, phone numbers and websites are listed in this publication by category as a member benefit, and advertising sales are on now until May 16th, 2024. What do you want to learn about your membership? Every month, we provide you with a membership e-mail on a new topic. Is there anything you want to learn more about? Let me know so we can schedule it in. Or sign up for our next Membership Matters session on May 7, open to existing, new or prospective members. In the meantime, happy dusting! More than NetworkingWithout a doubt, our events are more popular than ever! We host two events at minimum a month, the Membership Mixer or Mix & Mingle are usually held mid-month on a Wednesday evening and Coffee Talk the last Tuesday morning of the month, and spaces go very fast. But did you know we offer a lot more than opportunities to network? Here's a few of your other benefits and exclusive deals available to our members and their team. Chambers of Commerce Group Insurance Plan: An employee extended health benefits plan for small businesses (even solopreneurs can qualify!) Exclusive to Chamber Members Only! Promotion, Promotion, Promotion! Member profiles are shared on our popular Business Directory - which sees A LOT of traffic - we had over 900,000 visitors to the directory in 2023 alone! Members can also increase social media post views by tagging us in them. Our hashtag is #WestShoreChamberOfCommerce. Want to take it further? With over 900 subscribers and rising, submit content you'd like us to share in the Member News section of our weekly E-News! (Some restrictions apply). Members Only Job Board: Looking to build your workforce? Let us help you spread the word. Opportunities posted in our Job Board are shared on the homepage of our website and in E-news! Member 2 Member Offers: Get in the habit of visiting this page before you shop. Many of our members are offering exclusive WestShore Chamber Members Deals for both business and personal needs and new offers are being added all the time. Share these offers with your staff too as they can also take advantage of these discounts! Can you offer a special deal to your fellow WestShore Chamber members? Posting an offer is a member benefit as well! Member 2 Member offers are shared on a rotating basis in our weekly E-News too! Build Your Brand with Exclusive Advertising Opportunities: Members get 10% off E-News advertising, and only members can advertise on our Business Directory and in the Business Resource and Go2Guide. Sponsoring a major event like Viva la WestShore or Best of the WestShore is also only available to our members as well. But that's not all:
To take advantage of any of these benefits or to learn more, just contact us! Our team is always happy to help. Araceli SmartWestShore Chamber of Commerce Membership Coordinator |
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