Member engagement is a buzzword in the association space you hear about on a constant basis, and it’s a word you see pretty frequently in our blog too. But unlike some buzzwords, it’s one that will not be going anywhere because at the end of the day, your members are critical to your organization’s survival. Yes, that might sound a little dramatic, but it’s true.
Member engagement strategies vary at every organization, and what might work for one association may not necessarily be as effective at yours. There is no universal playbook that has the “right” and “wrong” way to actively engage with your membership because your members are unique and each person has their own defintion of engagement and how much (or how little) they want to be involved.
It’s not always easy trying to engage with your members. They’re equally as busy as you are, and if you’re sending them irrevelant info, then you’ll quickly find them losing interest in you, and thus, questioning why they even joined in the first place. It helps to have a strategy in place before your start flooding their inbox with newsletters and emails in order to get their attention.
Here are 4 secrets to seeing better member engagement at your association.
The following is an excerpt from Jennifer Barrell’s blog post “9 Nifty Ways to Magnify Member Engagement This Year”from the Aptify blog.
1) Set SMART goals for engagement.
Define goals for member engagement that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. Let those shape your retention and engagement efforts.
2) Determine what engagement metrics you’ll use.
The “M” in smart lives here—if you can’t measure engagement effectively, how will you know if you’re meeting your goals? Here’s a great resource for measuring engagement.
3) Segment members into groups and develop buyer (member) personas.
Are there a few different kinds of people that tend to join your association? Get to know as much as you can about them, and use these carefully curated personas to shape everything you do. Learn more about buyer personas here.
4) Determine what problems your members depend on you to solve.
This step should coincide with developing your buyer (member) personas. If you know what problems your members need solutions to, you can create content specifically for that, much to the delight of your members!
We have many more ideas for you to help you better engage with your members at your organization. Get access to our 50 Ways to Boost Association Membership eBook!
