Guest Post by Allison Rose, ASI
For associations and nonprofits alike, membership programs are a win-win situation. Your organization receives reliable revenue from membership dues and nurtures a dedicated group of supporters who engage consistently and are more likely to spread the word about your mission. Meanwhile, your members get access to various tangible and intangible benefits, from exclusive discounts and educational content to a sense of belonging within your organization.
Naturally, members have to think your program and its benefits are worthwhile to want to stay in it. If you’re looking for a new perk to boost engagement, you could turn that sense of community that comes along with membership into a virtual space where members can connect around your organization’s purpose or cause.
In this guide, we’ll discuss some tips for building and sustaining a digital member community that serves as a productive benefit for your program. Let’s dive in!
Segment Your Member Base
If you haven’t already segmented your members (i.e., divided them into groups based on shared characteristics), you should do so as you launch your digital community. That way, you can help members find peers they’d want to meet and personalize each individual’s experience within the community.
As Clowder’s member engagement guide explains, some of the best member segmentation criteria you can use include:
- Demographics such as age range, gender, location, and family status.
- Mission-related interests, whether that’s career information (role, specialization, number of years in the industry, etc.) for a professional association or relevant hobbies, values, and motivations for supporting your cause for a nonprofit.
- Membership tier (if your organization’s membership program has multiple levels) and status (new, active, potential, lapsed, etc.).
- Engagement history within your membership program and with your organization as a whole (e.g., if a nonprofit member also volunteers or if an association member attended an event that was open to non-members before they joined).
Make note of these details within each member’s profile in your association management system (AMS) or constituent relationship management (CRM) platform. Then, use them to tailor your communications inviting members into your digital community and facilitating engagement in it.
For example, eCardWidget recommends not only sending an overview of community features and login instructions to those in your new member segment, but also connecting them with an experienced member who has similar interests. That way, the experienced member can serve as the new member’s mentor or buddy and guide them as they take advantage of everything your digital community has to offer.
Take a Mobile-First Approach
Today’s nonprofits and associations operate not only in a digital-first age, but a mobile-first one. Approximately 91% of U.S. adults own smartphones, and the average American spends more than five hours per day on their phone. Given this information, creating a mobile-first community will allow you to meet your organization’s members where they are and encourage additional engagement.
Building your member community within a mobile app also allows you to access unique features that enhance participants’ experience, such as:
- News feeds that members can filter and customize to view the organizational updates that are most relevant to them.
- Discussion forums for members to share industry- or mission-related information, ask questions, and learn from each other.
- One-to-one messaging to facilitate deeper member relationships in a secure environment.
- Push notifications so members never miss a message from your organization or their peers.
To create this type of community, choose an app-building platform that aligns with your organization type (association or nonprofit) and allows you to customize the interface with little to no technical expertise required.
Integrate Other Member Benefits Into the Community
Although your member community facilitates top-down and peer-to-peer communication, it can also serve a much larger purpose: becoming a centralized hub for digital engagement opportunities. Here are some ideas for incorporating other member benefits into your community platform:
- Discounts: Provide app-only discount codes and straightforward navigation to the place where members can use them (your online store, a registration form, a ticketing solution, a sponsor’s website, etc.).
- Events: Display event schedules and descriptions within your digital community, and create forums where attendees can discuss their thoughts before, during, and after each event.
- Education: Compile a community resource library where members can access articles, videos, infographics, online courses, and other content designed by your organization and by their peers.
- Recognition: Send mobile-friendly thank-you cards, post news stories about individual and collective member accomplishments, and consider creating a digital appreciation wall for members who go above and beyond.
Whenever possible, integrate your organization’s member engagement software with other solutions (CRM, AMS, website for blog posts and news articles, online store, event planning tools, etc.) to make providing access to these member benefits in your community seamless.
Make Data-Driven Strategy Adjustments Over Time
Like with other initiatives at your association or nonprofit, tracking engagement data for your digital member community can help you understand what aspects of your approach are working and where you could still improve the member experience over time. A few metrics you might monitor for this purpose include:
- The percentage of members who have activated their online community logins
- How many members engage in the community each day, week, and month
- Participation rates in native and integrated engagement opportunities
- Satisfaction ratings provided via structured, recurring feedback surveys
In addition to this quantitative data, collect qualitative information on members’ general thoughts about your community. For instance, you may add some open-ended questions to your surveys, scan forum posts in your app and reviews of your organization on third-party sites for mentions of your member community, or even interview your most active participants individually or in small groups to get their in-depth perspectives and make decisions from there.
Not only does a digital member community provide a new benefit to add value to your memberships, but it also encourages members to take advantage of other perks. This deepens their engagement with your organization and ultimately boosts revenue. Make sure to keep members in the loop about the improvements you make to your community over time, especially if they’re based on member suggestions, so they know you value their feedback as well as their tangible contributions.
About the Author: Allison joined ASI in 2017 as Senior Trainer and has worked with associations and nonprofits since 2014. She has a Graduate Certificate in Educational Design with a Diploma of Management and Business Coaching. Allison led the initiative to create the ASI Learning Hub and manages all content development, publishing of new content, maintenance of existing content, and assisting other trainers with online course creation across all ASI products. She manages the ASI Certification programs and knowledge development of both ASI clients and partners. Allison also runs the internal education sessions and creates onboarding programs to foster continued learning within ASI.