The power of community (websites)

 A “community” website is a very powerful benefit for associations and their members. But this is only true if the site was implemented in a way that fully integrates the community content with the rest of the website so that the member experience is seamless.

The creation of community for groups is ever more important, especially as the future of in-person events is called into question. Ever since the creation of social media, the usefulness of the internet in drawing people together has been the aim of many a Silicon Valley entrepreneur.

The resulting ubiquity of the software and services needed that facilitate community has now made adding this benefit quite attainable. There are many available options that more or less operate similarly. They’re all built around providing a place for members to interact with each other without the moderation of a higher authority - from basic listservs (yes, they’re still in use) to simple chatrooms to the most expensive platforms that have amazing automation functionalities.

However, there is still a cost, so many organizations question the value of such an investment. The only way to answer this is to connect the expense to revenue: for most associations, this is renewal revenue. But arriving at the answer is no simple feat as it takes a modelling technique called a “Market Basket Analysis” to relate these purchases or actions.

Luckily, this analysis has been done by many other associations. They’ve studied not only community usage but also every other service and benefit an association provides to gauge how each affects renewals. For example: attending a national event; attending a chapter event; opening an email; clicking in an email; posting in a community; simply logging into the online community.

The only thing - the only thing - that moved the needle at all for retention was logging into the online community. And lurking and not posting is just fine. There’s no need for the member to post. Simply logging in increased the likelihood of renewal. This was consistent across the several associations that did similar studies.

Okay, so you’ve decided to invest in a community - how should it be implemented? For most, the answer unfortunately, is “not well.”

That sounds overly glib, but here’s what most associations do: they have two different websites: One is the one they’ve always had - call it a “marketing” website - with “Who we are” and “What we do” and “How to join” type information. The other is the community site. It has the chatroom, member directory, and much of the password protected content. It probably also has a specific URL - community.organization.org or connect.society.org. The problem is, members know the much simpler URL of the original site. They go there and then they have to hunt around for the community they want!

The right way to implement (or reimplement) these sites is to integrate the personalized community content throughout the original site.

Any SLIDER or HERO STORY area should be used for the top things people expect to find when they visit the site. WHO WE ARE and WHAT WE DO should be more “evergreen” content - but both should be replaced by personalized content when a member is logged in. EVENTS should be brought to the home page and dynamically generated and personalized by geography. Other content - job listings, forums, topical information and industry news can also be personalized.

Personalization opportunities are almost endless: geography/chapter; interests and profession; membership cycle, event attendance and registration, demographic information; membership lifecycle; past behavior (clicks) - pretty much anything that can be known about a member can be used to personalize their experience to make it more relevant to them.

There is much work behind the scenes needed to make this happen - multiple job listings modules and tagging of content - but there’s always a work-around. And the payoff will be higher retention, higher revenue and a healthier membership.

Contact Wright Holmes to discuss how a community can improve your serve to your members and improve your retention rate.