Engaging Association Members Using Technology

In today’s fast-paced digital world, people crave community involvement. With rapid technological advancements over the past two decades, associations must leverage the latest tools to keep members engaged and connected. Understanding how to use this technology is vital in keeping members happy and connected with your association.

To help associations thrive in this evolving landscape, we’ll explore three key areas where technology can drive engagement: fostering community through online forums, gathering valuable feedback with surveys, and strengthening connections with virtual events. By leveraging these strategies, your association can create a more interactive and connected member experience.

Fostering an active member forum is a great way to encourage members to remain engaged with your association in the digital age. Establishing an online community where members can ask and respond to questions, converse and build community is key to growing and maintaining associations.

To encourage interaction, push for moderators and key members to frequent the forums and engage in the creation and development of various threads. Furthermore, any announcements or important updates about your association should be uploaded to your forum to encourage discussion around any changes affecting members, this is where important feedback can be uncovered.

Ensuring members check back on the various threads they are involved with is key, sending emails when new comments or threads are posted can be a positive way to improve engagement, especially with members who take a less active role in the association and can aid in ensuring the online space feels like a community.

Gathering feedback from members can be challenging without face-to-face interaction. Many individuals hesitate to initiate conversations about their thoughts, concerns, or experiences within the association. Implementing online member surveys provides an effective solution, offering a structured and accessible way for members to share valuable insights while fostering a sense of involvement in the community.

Crafting a good survey can be tricky, keeping questions engaging is key to receiving a desirable level of response from your members. Varying the kinds of questions asked can be helpful in this optimization. Oftentimes people don’t want to spend long stretches answering open-ended questions, prioritizing multiple choice and sliding scale questions (e.g. strongly agree – strongly disagree), with a couple of text box questions for the more eager members can boost engagement to your surveys dramatically.

Ensure when inviting members that you specify the purpose of the survey as well as highlight the value of the individual’s response. Making your survey seem less automated and more personal motivates people to interact and take the time to be a part of the digital community.

In today’s digital era, association members are often geographically dispersed, making it difficult for many to attend in-person events. This distance can hinder engagement and community building, emphasizing the need for virtual solutions that keep members connected and involved..

Hosting virtual events using platforms like Zoom and Pheedloop fosters community engagement and keeps members involved, no matter where they are located. Whether it’s a celebration, announcement, or any other important moment bringing your members together using a live web event is a great way to build community.

When preparing for an online event ensure that there is an accessible agenda that you will adhere to during the stream. Making the agenda easily accessible allows members to review it at their convenience, sparking their interest and increasing the likelihood of participation. Include beginning and end times for your event so that members are aware of the time commitment they are investing.

The most important factor when it comes to engaging as many participants as possible for your online event is ensuring it has been properly advertised. Make posts on your social media, member forum, and website and send emails informing your members of the upcoming event with enough advance to prepare, but not enough to forget about it (about 2-3 weeks in advance should be the sweet spot). Having that much time in preparation also allows you to make any adjustments necessary.

By leveraging technology, associations can build stronger, more connected communities. Explore these strategies and see what works best for your organization.