How to Boost Your Club's Member Engagement

Gaining new members within an organization is only half the battle; their engagement and retention are crucial factors to the success and growth of any club. Moreover, in a post-pandemic era where seemingly every activity is going virtual, leaders must revamp traditional concepts to keep their audience engaged and interested.

In order to boost your member engagement, you must define “engagement” and what it means to your organization. The next step is to develop a measurement tool to determine each member's involvement level. For smaller clubs, assessing each member on an individual basis can be the difference between a membership renewal and cancellation. Building personal connections with your team members is a value that money can’t buy.

After you’ve defined your target engagement level and the members who don’t seem to be meeting that benchmark, leaders should apply newer and proven tactics to boost interest. Different techniques based on where each person is in their membership lifecycle are critical when implementing engagement strategies.

We’ve created a brief guide to boosting your club member’s engagement. You can also read our guide on member retention for organizations and clubs.

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What is Member Engagement For You?

Whether you’ve built a virtual community via social media or a private golf club, member engagement can look different for each organization. 

For some, it can mean how often an individual visits a page, email responses, content interaction, social media mentions, reposts, and ‘likes.’ For others, engagement can mean event attendance, meeting participation, volunteering, and benefit utilization. 

Get Personal

You’ve defined what member engagement looks like for your organization. Now what?

For smaller clubs, assessing each member individually is a great starting point to get an idea of who could use some extra attention. Get to know your members and why they joined the club; after all, you can’t cater to their needs if you don’t first get acquainted. 

For larger associations or organizations with more people, getting to know every member can be overwhelming. Membership management software is an excellent tool for efficiently organizing and utilizing member data. 

Explore their interest, past involvement, giving habits, previous referrals, personality types, and membership lifespan — this information is essential to target engagement-boosting techniques. 

Engagement Boosting Tactics Through the Membership Cycle

Onboarding Members

Onboarding is one of the most critical moments in any member's journey in an organization. It’s the first impression and can make a lasting impact on engagement and retention. Therefore, a valuable onboarding process should be informative, exciting, and worthwhile. 

  • Welcome Event  — Whether a casual brunch or fancy dinner, welcome events should be a standard for all new members. It’s the perfect occasion to meet and engage with leaders and other organization members. Besides, everyone loves a tasty meal. 
  • Welcome Packages — Designing a valuable welcome kit is essential to the onboarding experience. Use this package to distribute your informational literature and how to access membership benefits. You can also customize these kits by seeking their interests.

    Are they coffee lovers? Are they a dog or cat person? Do they have a unique hobby you can incorporate? Include branded goods where possible, and don’t forget your welcome letter! You can use Swag.com, a one-stop shop for purchasing quality promotional products to include in your welcome package.

    EXEC Members receive preferred pricing for branded gear orders from Swag.com. 

Established Members

Weeks after onboarding, you should notice member engagement increase as they become more comfortable with the organization, its perks, and other members. The following are unique and proven tactics to boost engagement within your club after onboarding is complete. 

  • Social Media Member Take Over — Social media takeovers are a newer and more entertaining way to get your members involved and allow them to interact with others. Choose a member who loves networking and give them the power to share what they’re passionate about.

    Holidays and events can be great occasions for individuals to get behind the camera and share their perspectives, discuss new initiatives, and even celebrate club-wide achievements. 
       Read more here for a guide on The Best Social Media Management Tools for 2023. 
  • Referral Programs — You’ll likely want to refer a friend or family member to a club if you have a positive experience. Designing a referral program incentivizes the organization to refer others and is a great way to boost engagement among new and existing members. 
  • Competitions and Giveaways — Nothing gets a group engaged like some competition, especially when there’s a valuable prize at the end. Choose a contest, set rules, make an announcement, and watch as your member engagement soars. 
  • Monthly EventsThe onboarding welcome event should be the club’s standard for what members should expect. Keep them engaged with events at coffee shops, farmer's markets, parks, or even within your own club! Personal interactions are priceless and will go a long way with member retention. 
  • Benefits Programs — Having a robust benefits or perks program, like EXEC, is a powerful means of engagement as your members will enjoy discounted pricing, upgraded treatment, and waived fees on bespoke experiences, luxury travel, business and networking opportunities, and leisure. 

Conclusion 

Boosting member engagement is just as important as gaining new members, so ensure you have the proper techniques under your belt. Whether you’re building a social media presence for a digital community or creating a network of professionals in the same industry, your members are vital to your club's success.