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3. In your outreach, use visual storytelling techniques
When reaching out to potential members online, keep in mind that they are inundated with information daily. They’ve become accustomed to sifting through reams of useless or irrelevant data presented to them online to find the most interesting, relevant, or valuable resources.
When you reach out to potential members via social media, email, or another method, keep in mind that you only have a few seconds to make a good first impression before they decide whether or not to join.
Use visual storytelling to capture the attention of your potential members during those crucial seconds in your outreach, including photos and videos as collateral.
Here are some pointers for making the most of your visual storytelling techniques:
- Instead of places and things, use high-quality pictures and images of people.
- To create an emotional connection, create a story around the people in the images.
- Add short, engaging captions or voice-overs to your photos or videos to communicate what the images don’t.
Visual storytelling can help you engage potential members online by providing legitimacy for your organization while also piquing the interest of those who aren’t already familiar with it. Hence, it has proven to be a successful member acquisition strategy.
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4. Make your email campaign more appealing to non-members
Your organization may have a list of people who aren’t members but have previously interacted with it. For example, people who have subscribed to your newsletter attended an event or purchased something for a friend.
It would help if you used email outreach to capitalize on this fledgling relationship and convert these people into full-fledged members, regardless of how they contacted your organization.
Because it delivers all of the necessary information to the recipient directly, email is a highly effective outreach strategy for member acquisition. But how can you ensure that your emails are opened and read rather than discarded?
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Create a compelling subject line
The subject line is your only chance to make sure that your email is read. Your email will be ignored if the subject line is boring or irrelevant. So please write a subject line with solid verbs that tells the reader right away that opening the email will benefit them.
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Make your opening unique
If you know your recipient’s name, use an intelligent software solution that automatically inserts the recipient’s name into the email. Being addressed as “Reader” is a surefire way to turn off a potential member.
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Get to the point quickly
You’ve already lost the reader’s interest if they don’t understand why you’re reaching out within the first two lines. So instead, tell them a story to pique their interest after you’ve gotten their attention with your main point.
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5. Use “teaser content” to entice people to engage more
The member acquisition process of your association must have two tiers of content when reaching out online: free “teaser” content and more valuable content as a perk of signing up for a newsletter, membership, or another level of engagement.
Give potential members something of value in exchange for their time on your social media, website, or other online platforms. Then, after they’ve engaged with your organization for a while, offer them more valuable content in exchange for their continued engagement.
What kind of content do you think that could be?
- In exchange for your email address, you will receive a webinar.
- In exchange for a newsletter subscription, you’ll receive an e-book.
- You’ll have a one-on-one conversation with a member relations representative in exchange for a LinkedIn follow.
However, you must first create content that attracts potential members or subscribers. This content will vary depending on your organization’s characteristics, but common ideas include educational articles or expert interviews.
Promote this content wherever your company has an online presence, and then continue to engage these casual readers with more helpful content. This is one of the most effective lead capture techniques available because it provides real value to new readers.
You’ll find it easier to persuade them to increase their engagement even further once you’ve converted casual website visitors into more committed community members.
Your potential members’ interest in membership is based on the value you provide them with, so make sure they have every opportunity to learn more about that value.
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6. In exchange for referrals, provide perks to your existing customer base
Getting your current member population involved is crucial to fully utilizing the internet’s outreach capabilities. For example, if a trusted friend recommends your organization, many people will be more interested in learning more about it.
To add a personal touch to your posts or articles about your membership program or association, ask your current members to share them on their Twitter feeds, Facebook timelines, LinkedIn profiles, and their own experiences with your organization.
However, you don’t have to rely solely on the goodwill of your fellow members to do so. Include some fun perks to entice them to assist you in gaining new members. The following are some examples of incentives:
- They’ll get a discount when it’s time to renew their membership.
- An upgrade to the following membership tier.
- They’ll get a discount or free shipping on their next purchase.
- Through your LMS, you can get a free or discounted course.
Depending on your organization’s benefits, you can incentivize your members to help you in various ways. Then, make use of these 7 Online Member Acquisition Strategies to Grow Your Base and expand your online outreach capabilities for more member acquisitions.
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7. Make the online member registration process as simple as possible
Simplicity is the secret ingredient of all successful member acquisition. It doesn’t matter if you have the 7 Online Member Acquisition Strategies to Grow Your Base or association management strategy if your potential members have difficulty registering as members online.
Make online registration as straightforward as possible to ensure that all of your online outreach pays off.
Your members don’t want to be required to complete a fifty-question survey to join. After they sign up, you’ll have plenty of time to get to know them! With these tips, you can make your member registration process quick and painless:
- On the form, only include the required fields so that they can register as soon as the mood strikes.
- Make your registration page match the rest of your website by branding it with your organization’s logo. You don’t want people to be hesitant to register because they are unsure about your payment processing page’s security.
- Make your online registration mobile-friendly so that people can sign up on the spot at events or other opportunities for engagement.
The easiest part of this process should be registering for membership online. However, nothing should prevent a potential member from completing the registration process once they arrive at your membership sign-up page.
