20 Elements To Maximizing Member Engagement in 2020-Part 1

It’s likely that most, if not everyone reading this message today has participated in their December 2019 Board meeting. While there is always the sentimental time to reflect on all the accomplishments made this year, I’m curious to see how many Boards talked about ENGAGEMENT in 2020? How many asked what you were doing to develop a robust ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY?

Chances are, when that topic of conversation came up, a few people might have felt an ache in the pit of their stomach. Member engagement isn’t an easy, snap-your-fingers kind of thing, but when you have an engaged member base, the work is totally worth it. Achieving great engagement requires a commitment to a great member engagement strategy.
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If you're involved in community management, you've likely heard of the 90-9-1 principle. The numbers represent speculated percentages of online engagement, with 90 percent of participants only viewing content, 9 percent responding to content, and 1 percent actively participating in the creation of new content. These numbers seem pretty dismal. It's difficult not to get discouraged by such speculation when your member engagement is so critical to the success of your association as a whole.

Why Is A Member Engagement Strategy In 2020 So Important?

​We live in a digitally connected world. Your audience has more distractions and busier schedules than ever before. So making collaboration accessible on the-go and meeting the members changing needs is critical to your success in the coming year. By consistently keeping members engaged, you won't just attract and keep more members, you'll have leverage to increase your impact within the industry, the ability to promote your advocacy agenda, and an increase in event attendance and other types of revenue.

Despite its importance, member engagement is a fairly elusive concept. It's only been a focus for the past few decades and, unlike more traditional disciplines like marketing and finance, you can't go to school and major in it. Part of the reason that member engagement is such a big challenge is that there isn't a clear-cut process.

How Do You Create A 2020 Engagement Plan?

​Every organization is different. Keep the cookie cutters in the kitchen this holiday season because there is no “cookie cutter approach” to increase and maintain member engagement.
Use this framework to build out, validate, and measure your organization's member engagement strategy. Let’s start with the first 10. 

1.       Research

• An important part of setting your strategy up for success, researching your members includes everything from member preferences to your past engagement efforts.
  

 
2.       Start Now

• “First steps are always the hardest, but until they are taken the notion of progress remains only a nation and not an achievement.”- Aberjhani

 
3.       Evaluate Milestones

• Understand when events are happening and planned industry initiatives so your engagement strategy can be proactive, not reactive to the market.  

 
4.       Set Measurable Goals

• Once you know where your organization and its members are now, you should set measurable, attainable goals that you can easily revise in the future. A measurable goal is based on your metrics and will usually include numbers.

 
5.       Understand Your Member’s Pain Points

• What keeps your members up at night? How is the industry changing? What are members searching for on Google? That’s where your content initiatives need to be focused.

 
6.       Create Value

• The value your organization offers is how you will help to solve the problems and challenges your members face. Whether through quality content, connections with experts, webinar series, or networking opportunities, the value of your organization and community will give your members a reason to stay engaged.

 
7.       Develop A Content Plan

• Determine what types of content you will create, how often you will create them, and who will be responsible for each piece. Map out your content schedule and ensure that your entire team knows their responsibilities and how each piece of content will provide value to members.

 
8.       Create A Persona

• Consider developing personas to improve your targeting. Your personas will describe your members, who they are, and what they care about. Create relevant content and communication that matches each persona's needs to more effectively engage your members.

 
9.       Develop A Communications Plan

• Maximize your impact by utilizing multiple sources for delivery. Consider email, public social media posts, website popups, updates in your online community, etc.. Use the channels your members prefer, with the frequency that gets your messages the most attention.

 
10.   Determine Optimal Delivery

• Which methods of delivery would be most convenient for your members? Fewer barriers to consuming the value that you provide means more people will receive that value and come back for seconds and thirds.

As important is strong member engagement is to the success of your membership organization, developing an overall member engagement strategy is well worth your time. Before you “turn off” for the holidays, make sure that the plan you’ve been working on since that December Board meeting includes these Top 10 Elements.

Join us after the holidays as we explore the Final 10 Elements needed to maximize your member engagement strategy in 2020.