There are lots of reasons for your association to blog. And there are far fewer ways to measure your blog’s success (and even fewer blog ideas).
That may be why so many associations go without one. But that doesn’t mean your association should avoid blogging altogether.
So before we give you 10 blog ideas to chew on, let’s review why your association needs to blog to begin with. (Or, just skip below to collect your blog ideas, you busy association executive.)
Do Associations Need a Blog?
Apparently not.
Pick the first 10 associations you can think of, go to their website and hunt for their blog. Chances are good most don’t have one.
But just because associations don’t need to blog doesn’t mean they shouldn’t.
Blogs are great. You’re reading one right now. And they have tons of value for associations.
Your association’s blog is such a versatile tool. If you’re not using it, you’re losing out on a boatload of free opportunities to do any of the following:
- Say anything you want, unfiltered by the media
- Make an announcement without paying a press release distributor
- Attract new members with targeted content
- Provide free advice to current members
- Position your association as the industry’s leading expert
- Improve your association’s organic search engine results
Now all you need is content. In this blog post, we’ll run through some easy blog ideas and themes for your association. And after a few months, you might start seeing a few more members trickle in and a handful of more prompt renewals.
10 Blog Ideas for Your Association
1 – How to Start a Career in Your Association’s Industry
This one’s a blog post many of you don’t have. Why? Because your members would never ask for it. But it’s not for your members.
When people search for ways to get a foot in the door to your association’s industry, you want to show up on page one of their web search.
Why? Before even starting a career, that person already knows about your association.
Five years down the road, when they’ve finally locked down that first industry job, guess who’s infinitely more likely to join your association.
Yeah, you’re playing the long game. But you must play all the cards you’re dealt when it comes to membership growth.
2 – Share Your Industry Expertise
Why does your association matter?
If you could only answer one question on your website to attract new members, it’s this.
You could offer all the membership benefits in the world, but prospective members want to know specifically how you’ll help them.
Share your work advancing the interests of your industry on Capitol Hill. Or, show off the ways your social media strategy boosted awareness of your industry to the masses.
Even better? Show how a member in a town no one’s heard of was able to support their family or local economy with assistance from your association.
3 – Educate Consumers
If your association drives non-dues revenue through professional certifications, this one’s a must.
The objective: Convince consumers only to trust association-certified experts with their next project, purchase or service. How: Explain why that’s actually a good idea.
Walk them through the process of “How to buy…” or “How to select,” making a handful of references to your association’s certification along the way.
It doesn’t have to be subtle. The consumer is already getting value from the blog post. Just make sure to really hit home the need for association-certified expertise as they anticipate their next project.
4 – Explain the News as it Relates to Members
There’s a lot going on these days. Not really more news than ever, just more information outlets zapping info into your members’ brains.
Show your value to members — and get them to renew faster — by translating all the jargon and framing it through this lens: “How will this affect me?”
Perfect that process and members will realize why your association is so influential. And, perhaps equally important, they’ll repeatedly return to your website whenever anything exciting happens.
5 – Throwback Thursday or Flashback Friday
Want your members to understand the impact your association made long before they came around. Or, for new members to understand your role in the industry? Look no further than throwback posts.
Present a time when your association was on the front lines during an industry turning point. Did you fight an industry-killing regulation? Helped members navigate the digital transformation?
Whatever it may be, remind members that you’ve been at this for a while. And, remind them you’re here to stay.
6 – A Guide to Dealing with Industry Challenges
You might already offer these services through peer-reviewed publications or gated white papers. But if those guides are locked behind a member dues paywall, they aren’t doing you any good as far as luring new members is concerned.
Offer a few pared down versions of some of your most valuable content via your blog. Explain somewhere in the post what readers could get if they were members.
Like some other ideas on this list, it also frames you as an industry leader.
7 – Reasons to Attend You Annual Conference
Of the blog ideas listed so far, this one’s probably the easiest. And, it has the added benefit of being valuable to anyone.
Send this blog post out to current and prospective members alike via your association management software’s integrated email marketing solution. Maybe you could highlight discounted registration rates for members — showing why non-members should join.
And whether or not your annual meeting is open to non-members, this blog idea is perfect to promote what might be one of your best drivers of non-dues revenue.
8 – A CEO, Executive Director or Board President Column
What’s going on in the minds of those who are pushing your association forward?
That’s what a lot of members want to know. And a quarterly or monthly blog post from your executive director can answer that all-important question.
But don’t just write it to write it. First, make sure you have something to say.
9 – List Posts
You’re reading one…
But you see the value, right? It quickly conveys information to your prospective member’s content. The reader knows what they’ll be getting, and they know how long it’s going to take to read.
One of the easiest blog ideas for your association? A list of reasons why someone should join.
10 – Highlight Your Resources
You just released a cool webinar or e-book and want to promote it. Or, you have some other professional development tool just lying around waiting to be used.
With nothing more than a little effort, you can have a blog post live highlighting your new or unused member resources in no time.
Conclusion
A blog is an easy way to connect with both members and non-members. And since you already have a website, you may throw a few blog posts up every once in a while.
If you’re looking for other ways to engage with members and non-members, request a demo to learn how Alliance by Protech association management software can benefit your organization. And follow us on Twitter for more blog posts like this!