You get to work at 8:00 and don’t finish reading and replying to emails until 9:15. You sprint to the conference room for the 9:30 meeting by way of the coffee machine, and don’t break free until 10:15 (Sally can’t wrap up by 10:00 to save her life). You work at your desk until lunchtime, at which point your email begins pinging incessantly until well into the afternoon. Another round of meetings, an interruption or ten from your coworkers, and you’re left wondering where did the time go? Now it’s 6:45, your stomach is gnawing through your waistband, and you haven’t even started your top priority for the day. Who has time to actually work on member retention when the workdays go like this?
Could you use a few hacks so that you can increase member retention and engagement while adding more minutes to your day? Relax, we’ve got you covered.
1. Survey Says ….
In just a few moments (perhaps while you’re on the phone listening to your vendor drone on about why the shipment is late AGAIN) you can write up and post a brief survey for your email and/or social media audience. Members love to give you their thoughts and opinions, and when they feel like you’re actually listening to them, it’s likely to help increase member engagement and retention while improving your overall association management success.
2. Pop Quiz!
Like the survey, this is a fun break from everyone’s hectic workday. There are lots of directions you can take with an online quiz. Make it funny, challenging, interesting, or nostalgic. Your members will love taking the quizzes because it’s a nice reprieve from boring board meetings and endless email onslaughts. Just please make it more fun than Ms. Ledbetter’s pop quizzes in freshman physics.
3. Say Cheese!
Another thing everyone loves is getting a behind-the-scenes peek of, well, of most anything. Plus, pictures add that pizzazz to boring social media posts (or even emails, if that’s what your association management prefers) and help you generate lots more likes, shares, and comments. Snap a picture of whatever goes on around your association offices, both the mundane and the exciting. Birthday parties and other celebrations are excellent picture fodder, but even your CEO bumbling around trying to get the copy machine to work is likely to be a goldmine online. (And never underestimate the power of puppies to attract attention.)
4. Brilliant Industry Hacks
There’s a very high probability that at least part of the reason you’re reading this article (aside from our brilliance, wit, charm, and modesty, of course) is the word “hacks.” People are way into hacks. Life hacks, work hacks, raising kid hacks, car hacks—okay maybe that isn’t the same thing. But the point is, everyone is looking for stellar ideas on doing things faster, easier, cheaper, or better. Prattle off a few helpful hacks and use your membership software to distribute those via email, social media, or both.
5. Best Tools of the Trade
Another popular item is “best of” lists. What are the best apps for your members? What are the best software solutions? What tools or equipment are most popular, most affordable, or the highest quality? Sometimes you can even rattle these lists off in your head if you do much reading in the industry blogs and tech journals. You can often assemble such a list and distribute it while you’re waiting for your coworker to show up for your lunch appointment.
Are you ready to use association management software to better engage with your members? That’s probably the best hack we have to offer. Check out the eBook on how you can use big data to drive member engagement, increase retention, and make your life easier.
