Our lives were becoming increasingly atomized before Covid-19 came along and stopped us travelling and attending meetings and events, which is why associations that have a thriving online community will find it much easier to make new members feel welcome. But, writes Marjorie Anderson, ensuring newbies feel wanted needs a bit of thinking about….
For new members who join an association, the excitement is high. They are eager to dig in and find the information and resources that are going to help them be more successful, get the most out of their membership, and find ways to connect to others who share common interests or who are facing the same challenges that they are. To aid them in that discovery, we push emails and send swag that may expose them to additional products and experiences that we hope will provide them value and keep them engaged with us for the life of their membership.
In the quest for engagement, we sometimes fail to remember that these members aren’t just looking for resources or discounts. While we all benefit from engagement with our association, we must also account for how connected they feel to other members and to the association as a whole. That said, using your online community as an onboarding tool is a smart idea when welcoming new members to your association. The New Member Engagement Study, published by Dynamic Benchmarking and Kaiser Insights, LLC, speaks to this a bit in their findings. According to the report, 48 per cent of associations use their online communities in different ways to welcome new members. While a considerable number, this is low hanging fruit in that online communities can easily be coupled with membership onboarding tactics to help your new members get connected to their peers and feel the sense of belonging they desire from your association. Below are three ways you can utilize your online community for this.
Include a call to action in your onboarding emails
Often in onboarding emails we include information that tells our members where to download the latest thought leadership or where they can go to update their email and communication preferences. We even tell them how to join the local chapter. But what if the local chapter isn’t so local? Getting your new members connected to the online community is a great way to introduce them to a network of their peers as an added incentive to their membership. I like to think of community as the welcome reception. Invite people in, allow them to mingle, and when they ask where they can get some more of that fabulous dip (or access to content or find a local chapter meeting), they will have a whole community armed with the information to help them find their way. These types of experiences can create loyalty and make new members feel like you’ve rolled out the red carpet.
Introduce them to premium community benefits
Member benefits are usually reserved for things like special event pricing or reports that can only be accessed with membership. However, there are other ways that you can deliver benefits through online community. Some association community models are for members only, which means the content and all of the interaction there is reserved just for members. But what if your community is open to everyone? How do you deliver member value in that instance? The answer is to provide premium, member‐only content and experiences within the online community. That can show up as exclusive AMA (Ask Me Anything) webinars with association staff or industry experts, new member community welcome and onboarding videos that show up in their inbox once they join, or member‐only networking calls for those who are attending your live/virtual events. These are special perks that members don’t necessarily expect to get that help them experience your association in a totally different way. Leverage the relationship that you build with the community team to help strategize for the member experience as part of the online community experience. It can make a big difference in how your members feel about joining.
Personalize their experience
While this tactic is not reserved for online community, it’s a great way to show that you have taken the time to ensure that their interactions and communications have been given some thought and care. We’ve all been in situations where we’ve gotten blanket emails from organizations offering the same information, the same events, the same content where much of it doesn’t pertain to our interests. Or as you navigate the site, the suggested content has nothing to do with your preferences or content you normally consume. This takes some collaboration with your user experience design team to try figure out the implementation but knowing that deliberate thought went into providing a great experience as your new members engage within your online community and beyond goes a long way in making your association a valuable asset to your members.
At the end of the day, the online community is an amazing beginning for member engagement. Not only is it an introduction to your association, but it’s an introduction to what makes your association special because of the people who are already engaging there and the experiences that can be created from that engagement. Working with your association’s online community manager is key to making sure that the new member experience is welcoming. It doesn’t require that members wait for your annual meeting nor does it require that they travel. It’s a special way of saying “thank you for being a part of our association – you belong here.” Your members will appreciate that.
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About the author: Marjorie Anderson is the owner of www.communitybyassociation.com and an AMI Expert Contributor. She is Community Manager for the Project Management Institute.
Written By
James Lancaster
AMI editor James
Lancaster is a familiar face in the meetings industry and international
association community. Since joining AMI in 2010, he has gained a reputation
for asking difficult questions and getting lost in convention centres. Proofer, podcaster, and panellist - in his spare time, James likes to walk,
read, listen to music, and drink beer.
