No amount of planning could prepare you for this. You noticed a dip in your member engagement, and it’s on you to right the ship.

So before an anomaly turns into a problem and you’re the lucky messenger your board gets to shoot, what can you do to revive your floundering member engagement?

A lot, actually. And it’s not as hard as you might think.

5 Smart Tips to Enhance Your Member Engagement Strategies

1 – Get your Team on Board

Pretty much any member experience strategy starts here, doesn’t it?

Once you’ve unearthed your downward member engagement trend, the first step is to warn your association’s staff before it becomes an issue. When you’ve got all hands on deck, it’s easier to do the following:

Isolate the root cause of your member engagement woes
Find formerly active members who’ve disconnected, and get them involved once more
Plan an email marketing or social media strategy to re-engage long-lost members

Knowledge is power. And the more people helping your member engagement cause, the more knowledge you have at your disposal.

You don't need a wall full of sticky notes to keep track of your member engagement ideas. But when an idea pops into your head, act on it! — You don’t need a wall full of sticky notes to keep track of your member engagement ideas. But when an idea pops into your head, act on it!

2 – The Simple Trick: Ask Members to Reconnect

Sometimes what’s obvious gets overlooked.

According to the American Society of Association Executives, 31 percent of association members don’t volunteer for their organization because they were never asked. 31 percent! All because no one ever bothered to help them get involved.

Imagine that. Making your members feel included is sometimes all it takes to spark their interest in coming back into the fold. And more importantly, renewing their membership.

An easy way to boost member engagement? Ask for it. Get your members in the volunteering spirit, and they'll renew their membership faster than you can say AMS. — An easy way to boost member engagement? Ask for it. Get your members in the volunteering spirit, and they’ll renew their membership faster than you can say AMS.

3 – Ask Yourself: Who Are Your Members?

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to re-engage your members. Each member wants different things, has different goals, live different lives. Their occupations differ. Their personas do, too.

If you’re not offering a variety of content for all kinds of members, this is definitely the source of your member experience woes.

Look through your association management software — your member database. Who are your members? What specifically do they do in your industry? What’s their age? Where are they from? These are important factors when creating content or outreach efforts.

You’ll also want to create a variety of content for different learning styles:

Webinars
Blog Posts
Videos

4 – Kickstart Your Community Group

If your association uses a community platform, you’re way ahead of the curve.

But even if you do, your trade or professional association can’t just let it sit around and collect dust.

According to Higher Logic, the community platform experts, 90 percent of online community participants only view content. And only 1 percent actively create content.

That leaves just 9 percent of online community participants who respond to content.

See how high your margin for success is? Start engaging with those 90 percent of members who are kicking back and avoiding participation.

How? It’s not too hard.

Ask a timely, relevant question
Throw out a provocative prompt related to your industry, and watch the responses flow in
Set up a Q&A with a high-level staffer or long-time member

5 – Spend Time with Members

Maybe this sections should be called Spend More Time with Members.

Obviously you’re hosting them at your headquarters, making phone calls and mingling at association-sponsored events. But it never hurts to increase communication. That way, members won’t forget you’re there.

Ramp up your email communication. Connect on LinkedIn — which is even easier now that LinkedIn Sales Navigator seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Dynamics 365. Or, even better, visit with members in person.

Make sure you’re tracking those member visits, though (link for members of the Protech Users Group), or it’ll be harder to prove your efforts when your board comes calling with questions.

Conclusion

Member engagement is what drives your association. And it’s the easiest way to forecast member renewal, satisfaction and your association’s overall success.

Make sure you’re doing the following to maximize your association’s potential:

Make member engagement a staff-wide priority
Reconnect with long-lost members
Learn more about your changing membership
Revitalize your association community
Spend more time in-person with members

Do those five things and you’ll be set up for success in no time.