Driving Member Engagement through Digital Channels

What are you doing in the digital space to drive member engagement?

I recently attended an educational seminar that spoke to this specific issue led by Melissa Harrison of Allee Creative.

Questions during the session addressed, effectiveness, lack of budget, inability to produce relative and timely content, and not willing to give content away for free.

The main message, don't think "free" but thought leadership, relationships and trust and deliver on those attributes.

A message that I did not expect is that print is back. Don't be afraid to send your members some printed pieces on your program of work.  I'm a fan of an all of the above strategize.

Digital channels are not a member benefit.  You are building awareness and building a brand through these channels.

Digital marketing is content focused.  It needs to be relevant content that provides value and you are engaging them, you ultimately want them to take an action.

Digital marketing reaches your audience on their time where they are.  The Internet is always open 24 hours a day.  So choose channels that you have the resources that you can respond to any questions or queries received from members or prospects.

You’re building relationships and trust through the digital channels.

46% of people check their phones for social media sites and their email as they get out of bed.  That might be a good time of the day to send your content marketing?

Four generations in the workplace and your membership.  Guess what, they are all on social media, albeit they use it differently.

While there are multiple digital channels, you need to focus on what you can handle and handle well.  Find out where the bulk of your members are spending their time in the digital space and plant your content in that space.

80% of the vetting process is done online so make sure your digital house is in order and easy to navigate.

Her final comment, "engage your members by creating a digital marketing plan with content that is about THEM.  Make it STICKY.  Make them see you as a RESOURCE throughout the year."

Put a content calendar together to manage your digital presence.  SPROUT SOCIAL is a great source to schedule your social media and has a robust analytics component

8 Tactics to Redefine Your Member Value Propositions and Experience

I recently attended a great session by Peggy Smith on how to redefine your member value proposition and experience.

I’ve written on that subject matter before and you can go HERE for that blog post titled What's Your Brand.

Her view on the Value Proposition is all about expectations and experience.

• Expectations - outcome driven, logical, meets needs, everyone has it, tangible. 
• Experiences - influences decisions, emotional, above and beyond, subjective, intangible.

She goes on to talk about how expectations are tied to the reason why your members join.  Traditional value propositions are the new expectations.  She states we are shifting to experience-driven value propositions.

During the session she asked each of us to share our mobile device and asked the other person to find where you can join that persons organization.  Wow!  While some organizations made it easy to join, others had a hard time finding any link anywhere on the mobile device.

Peggy talked about focusing on the following 8 Tactics to redefine your member value proposition and experience.

Meet Expectations with Mobile - everyone is on a mobile device so it's important that you have a mobile responsive website.  What that means is your website adapts automatically to the users device (i.e. desktop, iPhone, iPad, etc.). The research tells us that 4 out of 5 consumers are using their smartphone to shop.

Simplicity Meets Design - again research is telling us that your members have an 8 second attention span.  Do you have a clear navigation for your members and potential members and a clear call to action on your website. Focus on usability, accessibility and the ease of interaction as a guide.

Simplify the Onboarding Process - first impression is key, you don't get a second chance to make a first impression.  How many clicks does it take for a potential member to join?  Do you have a welcome campaign that goes beyond the thank you letter?  Do you give them a gift?  Maybe a pen with your logo, mouse pad, what do you have that you could give in addition to your plaque.

Get Social - networking is the #1 reason why members join your organization.  Do you have an online community?  Do you have a daily strategy to connect with your members, and by the way, consistency is the key with your strategy, whether it's a daily or weekly connection.  Having said that, most will tell you A daily habit is definitely the way to go!

Personalized Marketing - the ability to segment your membership by their demographics, lifestyle geographic and behavioral traits.  Are you getting them information that is important to them based on the above criteria?  Are you responding to their pain points.

Live Interaction at Events - do you have a mobile event app that allows for  ongoing interaction throughout your meeting in real-time?  Getting people to post to their Twitter and Facebook accounts is a way to get the event out to the community beyond those who are attending.  Are you using Gamification to get your attendees active in your live event?  What a great marketing tool.

Make it Easy - does your website have a member portal where it tracks the actions of your members and when they come back to your website relevant information will show up.  This is where you'll want to get your CMS provider involved to help you in this process.  The other question is are you automating your processes?  Membership renewal.  It's been stated that 29% of associations offer automatic renewals.  At the end of the day, eliminate unnecessary tasks.

Agile is the New Lean - go to strategyzer to get the business canvas for membership and the value proposition mapping.  Start on your member profile side first.

Keep in mind the above 8 tactics while your working with your membership engagement.

For more resources on membership from yourmembership go HERE.

3 Tips To Increase Member Engagement

There's a lot of discussion on the blogosphere on member engagement and how that affects your retention rate.

In fact, I wrote a previous blog post (HERE) that goes into detail with that very subject.

In this post, I want to talk about engaging your members in your program of work.

As you may know, I personally believe chambers should mainly be in the business of advocacy and helping your members run a better business.

Use these 3 simple tips 1) Ask; 2) Follow-up; and 3) Give credit.

Ask - the first step in getting your members engaged is to ask them.  It's important that you have a specific task for them with clear expectations on what it is you want them to do.

Follow-up - now that you've asked them to do a specific task on behalf of the chamber it's important to give them feedback on how they are doing. Communication is key for both parties to be winners.

Give credit - make sure you give credit where credit is due.  Publish in your communication vehicles what your members (by name) are doing on behalf of the organization and thank them.

If you keep to these 3 simple tips you will get more buy-in from your membership at large and the more buy-in you get the higher retention rate you'll get at the end of the year.

That's a win/win for all involved.

5 Must-Have Collateral Pieces in Your New Member Kits

We all know first impressions mean a lot!

Based on that premise, what are you doing with your new member kit, which will be the first impression your new member gets of your organization?

Is it professional?  Is it delivered in a timely fashion?

You should be able to answer yes to those two questions above and here are my list of 5 must-have collaterals in your new kit 1) Welcome Letter; 2) Membership Card 3) Decal or plaque; 4) Features of Membership; and 5) List of Upcoming Events.

Welcome Letter - this should come from your CEO.  Keep it short and sweet, thank them for joining, tell them what the chambers been working on, and tee-up what else is in the new member kit.

Membership Card - ideally this is attached to the letter (hint it will allow you to do a mail merge) and the end product is professional.  Make sure their member number is on the card and you instruct them to put it in their wallet.

Decal or Plaque - I think you know this one!  Ask them to prominently place their membership decal or plaque where others in the community can see it - the businesses front window or by the cash register.

Features of Membership - explain the features of membership and the benefit they will get from those features (i.e., educational program is the feature and the knowledge gained from that educational program is the benefit).

List of Upcoming Events - create a list of programs that are scheduled for the next quarter.  Put it in a form that they can post to a bulletin board or maybe put on their refrigerator that will be a constant reminder of your organizations upcoming events.

Get started on upgrading your new member kit today!

Does Your Chamber Have a Story To Tell?

Competition is everywhere!

The Internet, the chamber in the next town, even some of your members could be providing similar programs to your members.

What’s a chamber to do?

The key is you need to be able to tell your story to your members, your nonmembers and your community.

What is your chamber doing that is unique and a story you can tell to your members, nonmembers and your community?

Tell that story!  And tell it again, again and again.

I was at a conference recently and the following example was given to illustrate the story of this blog post:  An association for landscaping companies cleans up Arlington National Cemetery every year.

Who would not want to be part of that deal?

What a story, and it was suggested that many members of the association join just to be a part of that experience.

What story do you want to tell about your chamber?

New Member Welcome Kits: What's in Your Box?

Ok, you’ve signed up that new member.  Now it’s time to engage that new member.

It’s time for the “new member” kit.  First impressions are very important.  Take the time to put some thought into your first new member communication.

Many new member kits include the following:

• Thank you letter and membership card;
• Certificate of membership;
• List of upcoming events; and
• A volunteer form.

Use this communication to ask the new member to become active.  Ask them to do three things:

• Register on your website for an upcoming program;
• Put their new member certificate in a prominent place for their customers to see; and
• Tell us what issues are important to you as a small business owner.

Now it’s your turn to continue that dialogue throughout the year.  First year retention is your goal.

Engage that member.  Retain that member!

Kicking Sacred Cows To The Curb

Sacred Cows. We all have them in our organizations.

What do we call programs that lose money? A member benefit! Do not get caught in that cycle.

I speak with chamber execs all the time that share their frustration of that new project initiated by the new chairman. We’ve all been there.

When we add new programs, do we delete a program? No. Use these economic times to shed those losers.

I wrote about scorecards in a previous post. Creating a scorecard can be very effective in sun-setting those programs, products or services that: don’t make money; members don’t value anymore, or have become a sacred cow of the organization.

A scorecard to measure the value of your programs, products or services should track at least the following items as a starting point:

• Revenue
• Costs - direct and indirect (i.e., staffing costs)
• Stated goal of program, product or service
• Evaluation of program, product or service by members
• Measure the results

As a sidebar, we should be reminded of the “Hedgehog Theory” stated by Jim Collins in his book titled, Good to Great, and include the theories’ three criteria in the final analysis:

1. Do we have passion for this program, product, or service?
2. Are we, or can we be the best in delivering this program, product or service?
3. Do we make money on this program, product or service?

After you’ve implemented this assessment tool in your yearly review process, it should provide a strong argument on whether to continue a program, product, or service in the coming years – or kick that sacred cow to the curb!

For a previous blog post on program based budgeting go HERE.

Scorecards: Do You Have One For Your Board of Directors?

Do you have a scorecard for your Board?

If not, you should.

We all know our Boards are supposed to be the biggest supporters of our organizations.

What better way to showcase that by creating a scorecard for your Board of Directors!

The scorecard should be prominently displayed at every Board Meeting. It should be in every Board book produced. Peer pressure is a wonderful thing. No one wants to be a slacker.

Yes, peer pressure works!

At the very least, the following items should be included in any scorecard:

• Board Terms
• Attendance Record for Board Meetings
• Membership Level (Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze, etc.)
• Number of Members Recruited
• PAC Contribution (if you have one)

These are just a few examples of what you might want to include in your scorecard. While some board members may push back, get the backing of your current chair, incoming chair and membership chair. Let them lead the charge.

Part of your annual “Board Orientation” should include the scorecard and set the expectation up front of their role as leaders of the organization. If all your board members are on the same page, you will have a stronger chamber.

Start that scorecard today!

For a sample scorecard go HERE.