A successful chapter program delivers valuable benefits for an association – including member engagement, member satisfaction, and overall member growth. But how do you set-up your chapters for success?
Five ways you can set your chapters up for success through technology
Provide the tools to make chapter management easy
Chapter leaders are dedicated staff and volunteers, but not all of them are association professionals. To successfully carry out operations and make informed decisions, they need access to information, data and technology.
Provide chapters with the tools they need to manage their chapter:
- Connected and shareable member data between headquarters and chapters to easily enable growth
- Private online community to help chapters to drive member engagement and loyalty
- Engagement metrics that give chapter leaders insight into the performance of their own chapter and how they measure up against other chapters
Deliver online networking opportunities
Members of professional membership organizations who were surveyed in a recent Community Brands study say that networking is one of the top 10 most important benefits that their organization provides. (Increasing seven spots from the previous year.) For those early in their career, networking ranked in the top five most important benefits.
An online community enables year-round networking. It’s a place where members can network, connect, and collaborate with headquarters, their chapter and other members. An online community takes networking beyond a one-time event and beyond the chapter.
Did you know? Nimble Communities unifies the world’s best community platform, Salesforce Community Cloud with forward-thinking association focused benefits to deliver the most powerful member networking experience.
Bring your chapter leaders closer together
One of the greatest resources for chapter leaders is other chapter leaders. Host an online discussion group exclusively for chapter leaders. Your community helps chapter leaders helps feel connected with one another and deepens their knowledge and skillsets.
Create a group in your online community for chapter leaders where they can ask questions and discuss topics with each other. Your component relations department should participate in the group to help answer questions, direct leaders to helpful resources and gather feedback on your chapter program.
Provide chapters with mobile access
As you are very aware, we live in a very digital, connected world. Is your phone in your hand right now? (It’s okay if it is.)
Today, more than half of all website traffic is done on a mobile device and we spend on average, almost 3 hours of our day on our mobile device. Needless to say, we are glued to our mobile device.
According to Community Brands Digital Evolution Study, there’s still a surprisingly large gap between what’s offered on desktop versus mobile.
Offering a great mobile experience is simply a must-do these days. Members are tied to their mobile devices. Yet, few organizations offer their benefits on a mobile device. Being mobile first will help drive chapter success with mobile at the forefront.
Eliminate data inconsistencies
It can seem nearly impossible to maintain accurate, safe and consistent data between headquarters and chapters. So, what can you do to help chapters?
First and foremost, chapters need a single place to safely keep their members’ data. As your chapters grow and collect more member data, it’s time to move away from spreadsheets. When your member data is housed in many different places and chapter leaders are sending spreadsheets back and forth, it’s tough to have consistent data that’s safely collected and shared.
With one source of data, headquarters and chapter leaders gain insights into the health of the chapter, observe trends, and identify challenges. Your chapter leaders will welcome streamlined data processes that eliminates reporting burdens. With access to real-time membership metrics and engagement activities, you’ll eliminate data inconsistencies and strength collaboration.
Did you know? Utilizing a chapter solution through HQ’s AMS, like Nimble AMS, keeps all of your member data in one, secure place. Eliminating data inconsistencies and giving your members and chapters peace of mind.
Get all your chapters on the path to success by utilizing these five ways to set your chapters up for success through technology.
