Membership businesses are all about community, not just products or services. This means that getting your members to engage with each other instead of being so focused on the products you sell can have significant positive effects on your business.
By encouraging engagement, you’ll increase your members’ happiness while fostering the kind of relationships that will allow you to upsell or cross-sell more effectively in the future. Here are seven ways to encourage engagement in your membership business today!
Offer Variety of Content to Your Members
Variety is the key to gaining and retaining your audience. The more of a variety of educational content you offer, from webinars and videos to white papers and case studies, the more engaged your members will be.
Consistency is key here. Make sure you offer a steady stream of new content across all platforms so that they know when new material is available. If you want to take it a step further, create a tool or worksheet that your membership community can use. In this way, you can add even more value while keeping your community engaged.
Give Your Members a Voice
If you are part of a membership-based organization, one way to encourage engagement is to give members a chance to have their voices heard. For example, you can use surveys or other interactive mechanisms so that they feel like they are being heard, and in turn, will continue to be engaged with their community.
As an added bonus, these types of approaches help you gather feedback about your product offerings so that you can optimize them accordingly. Then, use the data to create more services tailored to help members get value from their memberships.
It is also helpful to promptly answer any questions to maintain the momentum of the conversation. You won’t want to miss out on an opportunity to engage with customers by ignoring comments.
When people ask questions-especially when they seem off-topic-it shows engagement with what you are doing online, which increases the likelihood that they will stay involved long-term.
Offer Discounts and Freebies to Members
Membership businesses can do a lot to encourage engagement from their current members. As always, it starts with providing value. You want members to feel like they’re getting their money’s worth, and that might include discounts on products or services, exclusive offers, or access to behind-the-scenes information.
By offering these perks, you make your members feel special; in return, you get increased loyalty and more recommendations for new customers.
Every action your business takes should encourage further interaction and deeper connection. Treat them well, offer something of actual value, and they will come back to your organization again and again.
Create a Sense of Community
A group of like-minded individuals working together towards a common goal is a powerful force. To encourage members to get involved and feel part of your community, offer rewards and incentives, so people feel appreciated and enjoy what they’re doing.
One way you can do that is by offering a member of the month or similar prizes, such as free products or discounts on future purchases. If it comes with an official title, all the better!
Get creative. Members love feeling special, which is why some companies give monthly raffle tickets or other items for posting product reviews or participating in tasks set up by staff; these are fun ways to encourage engagement among your members.
The more ways you make someone feel valued in your membership community, whether in person or online via social media posts or newsletters, will help them feel engaged in their success — and keep them coming back again and again.
Share Your Members’ Personal Stories and Testimonials
Showcasing customer success stories is a sure-fire way to encourage engagement. In addition, letting your members know you value their opinions and perspectives can help them feel more engaged with their community.
One of the best ways to build a sense of community in a membership-based business is by using customer testimonials.
Ask customers what they love about their membership and why they’ve chosen to remain loyal customers over time; then share those responses.
By sharing specific testimonials from real people who aren’t afraid to talk about their struggles, you give readers insights into how much better life has gotten since joining your program—and how much it could improve for them as well.
Testimonials are an excellent way to increase trust in your brand. So start showcasing personal stories and collecting comments today!
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Hold Free Events and Give More Information About Your Business
To keep things interesting, you have to have a lot of ways for members and non-members alike to find out what you’re up to, learn more about what you do, and generally be encouraged to become part of your community.
In my personal experience with clients, I’ve found that offering information is one of those great ways of encouraging engagement without nagging members. You can do free Q&A sessions or workshops every so often; throw in some networking opportunities, so people feel like they’re getting value on both ends of their membership investment.
You can even partner with local businesses, offer discounts to new signups, or maybe give something away on your website once someone joins—the possibilities are nearly endless.
The key here is getting people excited about joining and keeping them excited after they sign up. There’s no point in getting people interested in your program if there isn’t anything left for them when they do join.
Remember: Memberships aren’t meant to be transactional; there should always be an incentive (even if it’s just exclusive content) to join, maintain contact with your business, and otherwise engage with other members as well as you.
Hold Social Media Contests
There is no better way to create buzz around what you do than by creating social media contests. By asking users to share or retweet a post or picture, you can reach a broader audience.
Several businesses have used social media contests as a tool for encouraging user engagement. It can turn into a fun and exciting promotional tactic that enables members to interact when done right.
Remember: Whatever kind of contest you run (for example, photo submissions), make sure it promotes your products/services somehow; make sure its purpose is to educate people about something they need or use.
You can even mix up different kinds of content like photos with videos once in a while; keep things fresh! Be creative and let us know how well it works out for you in the comments section below! Thanks for reading.
