Increasing Member Engagement Through Content: Part 1
Member engagement is the cornerstone of operations, and your association should be intentional about the content it creates to support your engagement goals.
Content is an important driver of member engagement and can help your association engage, attract and retain members. Each medium, touchpoint and channel will distribute information and learning opportunities to your members with the goal of resonating with their current needs.
In the second installment of our Increasing Member Engagement eBook series, we focus on content best practices and tips that can help you reach your member engagement goals.
The Right Content for Your Members
Are you giving members what they want or what you think they want? Every piece of content can capture and communicate a different message to every reader. It’s important to remember the many different types of content your members are looking for. These are important channels where content is produced and released on:
- Educational videos
- Infographics
- Social media
- Emails
- Career advocacy guides
- Blogs
- Newsletters
- Magazine
Inventory
Go back to the last 12 months and evaluate the content you have on file. Identify what is missing and what pieces need to be archived or updated. Your association goals will change over time, and you will need to conduct a review on which content needs to be created or adapted to new formats.
Comprehensive content plans help your association look at topics you want to cover in the future. It will help organize your planning to make the best strategic decisions moving forward. Taking a deep dive into your content on file will avoid duplicating pieces of content and allow you to create and cover new topics that have not been created yet.
Repurposing
There are plenty of opportunities to repurpose your original content into various formats across your communication channels. Your content can be repurposed into a new structure to meet and reach your members where they are.
Some examples of repurposing and reformatting content include a webinar being turned into a magazine article or social media posts that can be integrated into a discussion in an online community forum. The content from the webinar and social media posts can be repurposed in a new channel to cross-promote the content for maximum impact.
You can save time and effort by reusing old, but relevant, content and topics to reach your target audience. You cannot assume every member has seen your content. Repurposing content opens new opportunities to engage with members without building a brand-new campaign for every initiative.
Website
Content on a website can be in the form of blogs, testimonials or online communities. It is important to regularly update and offer content that is timely, accurate and engaging. Websites can be confusing to navigate; however, if you make your content easy to find on your website members will stay engaged, updated and informed.
Your members will share your content if it provides value to them. Members will typically scan the content on your website before reading the material so remember to write content that makes prolific use of headlines, images, bullet points and supporting text.
Member Communications
Magazines, newsletters, annual membership directories or buyers’ guides are publications that can be shared in both print and digital formats. These forms help members read relevant editorial content and valuable articles. Online member communications offer timely content right at members’ fingertips. Graphics receive more attention than text, so images and links online will encourage interaction.
Content relevance is important to focus on so members will not lose interest in the message. You must decide what is the right online content to engage members and drive more traffic. Call-to-action captions, reels and stories are important tools to increase your members’ engagement. Pictures and videos you post are an extension of the voice you establish online, and this will grab your members’ attention.
Stay tuned for part two, where we unpack infographics, career resources, video, events and more!
To learn more about how content can transform your association, don’t hesitate to check out our free eBook.
