identify your ideal clients and engage them to maintain and boost membership

Boost Your Membership!

Identify Your Ideal Clients and Engage Them to Maintain and Boost Your Membership

Agenda

• Welcome and Introductions – Francis Liska

• 2014 Pulse Report Key Findings – Meagan Rockett

• Identifying Your Ideal Member & Boosting Engagement – Pat den Boer

• Using Social Media to Reach Your Members – Robert Fraser

• Q & A

2014 Pulse Report Key Findings

• 3rd instalment• 178 respondents• 5 Key Areas


Membership growth, higher visibility in industry or field, and increased member participation - top priorities for respondents


For the third consecutive year, member relationship priorities have focused on member retention


• Word of Mouth - 76.8% • Website - 70.4% • Conference Attendance - 34.4%


• 31.3% have a marketing plan in place • 25.2% are working it (2014)• 43.5% are either developing a

plan in 2015 or have not done anything about this.


• 30.3% have indicated market penetration rates of 50% or less; • 21.7% said they have don’t know

what their market penetration is


What can you do?

• Perfect Customer• Be Strategic• Segment Your Marketing• Vary efforts


Only 6.1% of respondents indicated that over 50% of members are engaging with them through social media


• Building general/public awareness• Engagement/attendance at

events • News dissemination/starting

discussions


• 26.4% - member recruitment• 20.8% - member retention


The largest share of social media staffing was in the range of five to nine hours per week or less.


52.8% think their social media programming is somewhat successful, but more could be done with strategic planning


• What can you do?• Devote more time• Be Strategic• Don’t just promote; inform!

Identifying Your Ideal Client

Augment recruitment

Improve retention performance


Start with the “why”

Operations staffed,

organized and

engaged to deliver on

the promise?

How much do you

know about what

members think?

What competes for

members’ attention?

What gap do you fill for members?

Identifying Your Ideal Clientwith the “why”

Measure member satisfaction, don’t just track numbers:

• What members care about

• Why do they show up / or not

• What keeps them up at night

• What would put you in the top 3

• What can only you provide


• Be the go-to source for unique information

• Make it relevant (segment your members)

• Make it personal

• Celebrate member achievements & share stories


Sharpen Engagement Culture

• Staff engagement

• Board and committee engagement

• Target member communication


Organizational Engagement = Member Engagement

A small increase in engagement can increase member growth by as much as 25%


Contribute more:

• Find purpose in work

• Increased focus on the member or client

This means team:

• Works smarter

• Produces better

• Grows members


• Know members’ communication preferences

• Make follow-up part of your culture

• Never take for granted member input

• Make them proud!


• Establish clear messages about why your organization matters

• You can never over-communicate #2!

• Customize the message in member termsIdentify key people to be ambassadors

• Make it easy for members to reach you

M Identifying Your Ideal Client embr Communication


Core to most strategies

Measurement comes first

and last

Track trends, and build into

communications

Make a plan, no matter how

simple

Scale plan to operational

capacity

Make it a must-read

Make them proud

Don't let them guess what you’re

up to!



Stand back and watch your membership engage!

Using Social Media to Reach Your Members

Why Social Media?

• Widespread consumer adoption of Social Media is hard to ignore.• Consumers, both young and old are changing their

expectations of how they interact with businesses.• Businesses are flocking to Social Media with just

about every B2C, NFPs/Charities and even B2B down to your local Orthodontist and Lawyer following closely behind.



• As of January 2014, 74% of online adults use social networking sites.• 93% of online research starts with a search engine,

and 68% of consumers check out companies on social networking sites before buying. (Brandpoint)

• Baby Boomers are connecting on social sites at a rate 20 times faster than the younger generations, with 28% indicating they use the sites regularly. (Accenture)


• Because this is where your ideal client is.• Social Media is where the “Word of Mouth” has gone.

Your ideal customer is sharing their experiences, goals, concerns with friends and connections.• It is important that we are “there” – not to sell/recruit –

but to share out experience, goals, concerns with those who are interested.


Here’s The Problem


• Social Media is like getting a free puppy. It doesn’t cost anything at all to start and it looks like fun – until it chews the carpet, poops all over the backyard, cost a fortune at the vets and you need to spend hours per day walking it.


• Lured by Social Media hype, many jump right into the fray without fully thinking through what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. In other words, the “fire, ready, aim” approach to Social Media is not uncommon.

• At best, that approach can result in failing to fully capitalize on the benefits of Social Media. At worst, it can be a public relations and customer relationship nightmare.


Where Do I Start?


• Top Down Support• Analyze current Marketing/Online strategy: What’s Working/What’s

Not• Website, SEO, Print, email• Identify your audience and the value you are providing• Research your audience. Create target customer “personas”.


• Define a Social Media Plan/Strategy:• What are you looking to get out of Social Media – direct sales, better

visibility, buzz, customer service improvements, leads, brand evangelists• Clear goals avoid: Wasted time, effort, backlash, fatigue, and missed

opportunities• Goals can be simple – Graco – reach 1M parents online


• Create a Tactical Plan from your Strategy.• What you are going to do and when – be specific, be SMART.• Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely • Which Social Media?, eBooks/White Papers, Video, Podcasts, Blogs.

• Coordinate your website with Social Media and traditional marketing. • Engage your followers. Listen. Share your goals and vision. Be part of

the conversation.


• Don’t Sell. Create a relationship with your customer.• Social Media is a long game. It takes time and patience.• Measure/Monitor the value. What's working/not working


• Social Media Research, Quality Content, Time, Engagement, Resources, Expertise• Be willing to lose control, but gain a voice• Be Human• Create an consistent look and feel to your Website, Facebook, Twitter

etc.• Provide followers with insight, sneak peeks, support and a good laugh

etc. – make it worth their while • Listen, Ask Questions, Reply, Engage


Social Media Funnel


You Need


• Research• Take the time to properly research your target client/customer• You want to understand:• Who they are• Where they “hang-out” on the internet. This includes Social Media sites,

websites, search engines etc.• What their issues/problems or “pain-points” are

• The better you understand your audience, the more valuable your interactions will be.


• Client Personas• Semi-fictional representations of your ideal client based on real data and

some select educated speculation about customer demographics, behavior patterns, motivations, and goals.• It is not: Target Markets, Job Titles/roles, Specific real people.• It’s: Common behaviour patterns, Shared Pain Points, Goals, wishes, dreams,

demographic (age, education, title) and biographic information• Personas help identify where your best clients spend time on the Internet – so

you can be there too.• If you know what your personas are trying to achieve, you can create things to

help them reach their goals and overcome their challenges.• Personas help you create the right content to reach the right audience.


• Client Personas• Focus on motives behind behaviors: pay attention to

not just what someone is doing, but why they’re doing it.• Choose one primary persona; all other personas are

secondary• Keep personas fictional, but still realistic. No one has a

one-size fits all customer; don’t define your persona by describing just one real person.• Tell your persona’s story. Don’t just list facts about

them; weave those facts into a detailed representation of who this persona is as a person.


• Quality content• Content is your online currency. Value it. • Take the time and energy to create great content that intrigues, excites, and

interests your audience. • Bring those taking the time to read your posts to where your business is – your

goals, your successes, even your failures.• Point them to interesting articles discussing the industry you’re in.• Provide followers with insight, sneak peeks, support and a good laugh etc. –

make it worth their while• Highlight newsworthy events and how it affects your industry/association.• Include pictures and videos that highlight your mission and your good works. • Pull, not Push


• Time• Social Media is a long game. It takes time and patience.• Unless you have a boatload of money to saturate the airwaves, you will have

small temporary wins.• Social Media Marketing is about building lasting relationships.

• Resources• You need to spend the time and possible $.• Create an consistent look and feel to your Website, Facebook, Twitter etc.


• Engagement• It’s a Dialogue, not Monologue.• Don’t Sell. Create a relationship with your customer.• If appropriate, encourage your followers to submit their photos/videos – get

them involved.• Be Human• Be willing to lose control, but gain a voice

• Expertise• Bring in help when you need it. • Mentoring, Training, back-end resources, Analytics, Inbound Marketing

Contacting Our Expert Panel

Meagan Rockett - 613-288-4517 [email protected]

Pat Den Boer - 613-727-1230 ext. 210 [email protected]

Robert Fraser - 613-454-8138 [email protected]

Francis Liska - 613-727-1230 ext. 213 [email protected]

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