HOW TO MAKE YOUR ONLINE COMMUNITY
YOUR MOST VALUABLE MEMBER BENEFIT
Housekeeping Tech Check
Ask Questions in the Q&A Panel
We ARE Recording!
Twitter Hashtag: #MemBenefit
Who’s Who
Today’s Presenters
Peggy Hoffman
@PeggyHoffman www.marinermanagement.com/idea-center
Josh Paul
@SociousSuccess blog.socious.com
Today’s Discussion 1. Membership as a Product
2. What Makes a Great Member Benefit?
3. Steps to Make Your Member Community a
Benefit of Membership
Finding Member Value
Treat Membership
Like A
Product
MGMA
As
so
cia
tio
n M
em
be
rsh
ip
The Anatomy of
Membership as a
Product
List of Products
and Services
A Greater Good
Contribution
Attributes of a
Strong Member
Benefit
Exclusive
Exclusive
Accessible
Richard Croft [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Simple to Grasp
Delivers Delivers
Supported
Supported
TRADITIONAL VIRTUAL SWEET
SPOT + =
Steps to Make Your Online
Member Community Your Most
Valuable Member Benefit 5
Four P’s + One
1. Product
2. Price
3. Promotion
4. Place ?
Four P’s + One
1. Product
2. Price
3. Promotion
4. Place
Give a
Compelling
Reason
Why
Identifying Problems
1. Interviews
2. Confirmatory Surveys
3. Prioritization
Consistent Content
Become a
Content
Factory
Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalinagoenglish/
Online Community
Content Ideas
• Blog posts
• Webinars
• Guides
• eBooks
• White papers
• Podcasts
• Video
• Surveys/polls
• Email courses
• Curated content
Online Community Content Plan
Image: By Donovan Govan. [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)
Position Centrally
The Member
Engagement Difference
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
45.0%
Member Participation
Using the 5 Steps
Average Association Usinga Private Social Network
45.0%
8.7%*
* Source: Marketing General
Keep Members
Engaged
Does your online community keep
members or customers engaged?
Is your online community perceived as a benefit of being a member or customer?
© Socious 2011
Characteristics of a
Valuable Member
Community
Members Get Value From:
• A Single Place
Exclusive
Accessible
Simple to Grasp
Delivers
Supported
Members Get Value From:
• A Single Place
• Other Members Exclusive
Accessible
Simple to Grasp
Delivers
Supported
Members Get Value From:
• A Single Place
• Other Members
• Helpful
Information
Exclusive
Accessible
Simple to Grasp
Delivers
Supported
Members Get Value From:
• A Single Place
• Other Members
• Helpful
Information
• Easy to
Participate In
Exclusive
Accessible
Simple to Grasp
Delivers
Supported
Members Get Value From:
• A Single Place
• Other Members
• Helpful
Information
• Easy to
Participate In
• Important to the
Organization
Exclusive
Accessible
Simple to Grasp
Delivers
Supported
Members Get Value From:
• A Single Place
• Other Members
• Helpful
Information
• Easy to
Participate In
• Important to the
Organization
Exclusive
Accessible
Simple to Grasp
Delivers
Supported
Questions?
More Information
on Planning Online
Communities for
Associations http://info.socious.com/association-management-resources/