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Tis the season to be jolly, and as the holidays are vastly approaching all are getting into the spirit of generosity. So how can you offer your community value while establishing the credibility you need to attract new members? Technology has made great feats in providing remote content accessibility, which provides associations with the opportunity give more valuable content to their member than ever.  With the ability to reach members becoming easier and easier, providing the right kind of services is becoming more and more important. These are 5 ways to not only give back to your community, but to also establish trust and confidence with your members.

Provide Relatable Content on Your Blog and Social Media

Creating valuable content on both your website and social media can prove difficult at times. However, statistics have shown the effects of content marketing has proven to be more beneficial than your traditional marketing strategy. We have seen there is a 56% increase in web traffic, 49% increase in direct sales, 28% increase in SEO ranking, and 14% increase in cost saving. The idea is to write content that your members will find valuable. Is it relatable? Does it fulfill a need? And does it provide a call-to-action? When creating content for your members, you should be providing the answers and relating it to your association.

Establish a Webinar Series

Many associations are under the impression that technology could cannibalize your personal interaction with you and your members. By creating a free webinar series only for your members, you show that they are valuable to you by providing a member of your staff to engage directly with them. Statistics on webinars has been extremely positive and beneficial. We have seen a 35% attendance rate, 199 average registrants, and an average attendance time of 52 minutes. With these statistics we can infer that webinars are a great benefit to offer members and can give your association some great exposure.

Host Live Q & A Sessions

These sessions aren’t just a great way for you to interact with your members, it also gives you an opportunity to find out what your members want and what they are expecting you as the association to fulfill. Though there are multiple ways to host a Q & A session, there isn’t necessarily a right way. It generally depends on your association and what your membership demographic is. Effective methods for implementing these sessions has been through topic professionals in the industry, and having key leadership available to answer questions.

Offer Free Content Via Infographic or Slideshare Presentation

Why are we drawn to infographics and shareable presentation? It boils down to our human psychology and the availability of information. Infographics have 5x more information than in 1986, they have color and are therefore 80% more likely to be read, and 28% of the words are read per visit. With the use of Slideshare, your association can get more exposure and give your members content they can take with them and use everyday. 24.3% of slideshare viewers come directly from Google. This is an opportunity for your association to not only have your current members engage with you, but also to attract new members with the content you put online.

Implement Career Services

Creating a career service opportunity for your members can help them prepare for the job market and establishes credibility for your association. Nothing builds loyalty like investing time into your members and helping them prepare for their career. Developing a professional development service is open to meet your member’s needs. you can incorporate interview training, resume building, competitions, networking times, panel discussion, the list goes on. This aspect of a career services is extremely valuable and will definitely help to incentivise membership. You can provide additional services such as:

• Volunteer and internship postings
• Mentorship opportunities
• Job hunting suggestions

Adding value to your members is not only going to help your association financially, but it can also be a great branding tool that ties into this season of giving.

Giving back to your community is important and now that we have the technology to lead this path, it is imperative that your association take advantage of all sources and services it can to incentivise and retain your membership.

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