Predicting Engagement Potential

predicting engagement

Strategic member engagement means data driven decisions. By segmenting your audience you can begin to understand each group’s priorities. What are the outcomes they seek? How do they participate with your association today? What can you learn about them via the social media they embrace?

Audience segmentation will vary from association to association. Common examples include: company size, location, the engaged individual’s role, scope of responsibility and career stage, their types of engagement, the challenges faced, and special interests. Some Associations also identify which members utilize competitor Associations.

Segmented Communication And Engagement Tactics

Segmentation drives Association communication and engagement strategies and mechanisms. Associations must avoid continually sending everything to all constituencies, and wondering why there are so few “click throughs” (including by your volunteer leaders). Understanding your constituency segments also helps staff better determine:

  1. When to use “push” tactics (e.g. education, product sales)
  2. When to use “pull” tactics that encourage knowledge contribution and collaboration behaviors
  3. When to use influencing strategies (e.g. with Legislators, Regulators, the media)

Think in terms of primary and secondary approaches, not one size fits all.

Develop Member Segment Profiles

Don’t expect to move every segment to a higher level of engagement. Look for the segments that you most desire to have contributing to the collective body of knowledge and the development of new solutions. Also identify those segments that most drive your evolving business model.

Predicting Engagement Potential

According to the Strategic Member Engagement Survey© , only 46% of executives from professional societies and 53% from trade associations report they have identified a segment of their core membership that most wants to contribute their knowledge and collaborate. Those who report that they positively identify such a segment more often report an upward trend in 3 year annual revenue.

predicting engagementFree eBook “Accelerating Strategic Member Engagement” is available for all Association Executives at www.potomaccore.com

By Dan Varroney

3 decades of experience working with multiple Industries and understanding different Association challenges by helping build strategies that add long term value. Comprehensive understanding of Associations, as Senior Vice President for the National Association of Manufacturers’ National Membership & Grass Roots operation, as President of the American Solutions Advocacy organization, & as President and CEO of the Association for Corporate Growth. Considerable background on impact of legislative and regulatory policy on Industries, has provided analysis on economic performance and M&A trends in outlets that include CNBC, CNBC Europe, Fox News, Fox Business, Dow Jones Marketwatch, Bloomberg, and the BBC. Strategic perspectives are frequently sought out by CEO Update, a leading source for Association news and information. Authored over 145 blog articles on Strategic Planning & Member Engagement. Facilitates knowledge sharing among forty -five Association CEO’s at the Growth Strategies & Member Engagement Forum.  Served as a member of the Prince William County, Virginia Strategic Business Planning Team. District Three Councilman in the Village of Palatine, Cook County, Illinois, twenty one years. B.A. in American History from the Catholic University of America, Washington D.C. and earned a Certificate from the Yale School of Management, New Haven, Connecticut in Leadership and Team Effectiveness. Member of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).