Consider this: three out of four people will click on a shared image or link recommended by someone they know.
Influencer marketing has surely been on your radar lately; you hear about it constantly. This is because association and event marketers everywhere are finding it increasingly difficult to generate quality member engagement.
Strategies that were once dominant have now gone stale, turning dynamic social media platforms into avenues of a one-way conversation. But tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are still essential for membership marketing – they can topple dictatorships, fight injustice, and get your association’s message out too. The key to remember for designing a forward-looking member engagement strategy is that every user has a voice, every person can make an impact. Every member is an influencer.
Many associations claim that they are “the voice” of their industry. Your association may advocate for the rights and interests of its members, but to say it is THE voice of your industry is a misconception. Yours is just one voice and, although powerful, it pales in comparison to the collective voice of your tribe: your membership. The time is now to roll out a member engagement strategy that gets people talking using the basic principles of influencer marketing.
Step up your association’s membership marketing
Here are some ways you can begin to rethink your association’s member engagement.
- Prioritize user-generated content
Encourage dialogue between your association and its community by interacting with the positive messages being shared by followers. Their research, pics, and insights are all valuable because they tell a real story.
- Empower your stakeholders
The people that make your association tick likely have a stake in its success. Influencer marketing, aka peer to peer marketing, relies on your members, sponsors, executive committee, and others being on board and supporting your promotions with a unified front. Make it easy for them to promote your association with their connections. Provide them with shareable assets or, save time and resources, entrust snöball to do this for you. snöball provides your influencers with the tools they need to easily expand the reach of your membership marketing initiatives. - Tell a powerful story
Partner with nano-influencers – people with around 5,000 followers or less – and benefit from their niched-down following. Collaborate with them to co-create a video interview, a special blog post, and/or a white paper where you can leverage their expertise and thought leadership to increase member engagement. Make sure that you bring a powerful story to the forefront, not just regurgitated fluff. Produce content that you would personally share.
Influencer marketing, peer storytelling, is the strategy that resonates most with members and can most likely relate to. When done right, it allows you to upgrade your member engagement strategy via incredibly authentic connections and enhanced reach, all while delivering exceptional ROI. It’s time to stop talking and start empowering your community’s influencers to play a role in your membership marketing.
