20/20 Vision for Member Engagement

2020 has brought many things into sharp focus for many people. Whilst 2020 may have been the year of 20/20 hindsight, let’s focus on how 2020 can provide 20/20 vision for 2021 starting with member engagement.

Being needed

Many membership organisations have experienced some pretty unique phenomena in 2020 both positive and negative. To focus on the positive, members have demonstrated an almost insatiable appetite to engage, and what’s more, so have wider audiences including prospective members. If we analyse this behaviour to gain an understanding of why they’re choosing to engage we quickly stumble on a common denominator – they need what you have.

Je ne sais quoi

Some of what they need that you have should be easily identifiable:

• You should be able to provide relevant guidance for your members as the authority on the profession/industry etc.
• You may be positioned as their corporate voice, able to represent their interests to Government or other authorities
• You may be able to provide unique support and services

But alongside the known lie the unknown, the ‘je ne said quoi’ of why members engage.

Know what you don’t know

If you find yourself pondering the mysteries of member engagement, ponder no more, just ask! There has probably never been a more appropriate time to survey your membership. A focused survey around how you are meeting their needs and how you could go further can inform future activity and increase engagement now.

Questions like: ‘What’s been the most valuable aspect of your membership over 2020?’ offering answers such as:

1. a) Guidance on navigating the pandemic
   b) Access to advice
   c) Member benefits
   d) Informative monthly emails
   e) The ability to share with my peers on the organisations social media channels
   f) Access to training
   g) Ability to undertake CPD
   h) Attending webinars or
2. i) Other (please specify).

Invitation to engage further

Make sure that where there are opportunities to gain anecdotal insight you optimise these with free-text fields and ask respondents if they want to remain anonymous or whether they would be happy to provide their details so that you might contact them in regards to some of their answers, which in turn provides more engagement opportunity and insight.

The importance of digital connection

Whilst navigating the pandemic and the inability to physically connect, digital connection has become increasingly vital. Amazon enjoyed a year-on-year Q3 increase in sales of 37% and Tesco doubled delivery capacity to put their pre-tax profits at 28.7% up YOY*. Proof of that common denominator of audience engagement again, those that have succeeded have focused on delivering what their audience want.

The social surprise

Whilst many of the organisations we work with have experienced a significant uplift in website traffic (RCVS saw an increase of 80% YOY) social has largely taken organisations completely by surprise. According to Hootsuite, social media usage has seen an increase of 9% in 2020** and many of our clients have seen the proof of that as their previously somewhat token presence has exploded into a vibrant interactive community, hungry for information, resource and interaction. An example of this is The National Hair and Beauty Federation who now have 84k ‘likers’ on Facebook and a recent post (12/10) elicited 1.8k likes and over 550 comments! If you’ve not been able to engage your audience through social media, it may be worth a second look.

RCVS and NHBF have contributed interviews as part of our ‘Delivering Valuable Member Engagement’ seminar for the Membership On Track programme at 11am on 10th November, join us to hear more.

* https://econsultancy.com/stats-roundup-coronavirus-impact-on-marketing-ecommerce-advertising/

** https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/23865/13-mind-bending-social-media-marketing-statistics.aspx

NetXtra are a team of strategic, creative and digital experts who partner with organisations in the not for profit sector. Call 01787 319393 or email [email protected] for more information.