It’s no surprise that video is the most efficient form of communication in 2019. With videos being shared 1200% more than text and images combined, it’s time that your membership association jumps on the video content bandwagon.
Sure, posting a video seems like a great idea to increase your engagement on social media, but what should the video be about? Associations typically don’t create videos because they don’t know where to start. Here are a few avenues to go down to get the creative juices flowing!
Here are four ways to use video to increase membership engagement:
1. Introduce Yourself as an Association in a Video!
Use video to welcome your new members with a warm greeting and show them that you’re an organization that cares about their members. Try sending the video in a welcome email, or even try to send it through a personalized inbox message. Not only is this a great first impression, but it’s also a piece of content that your members are going to remember and encourage them to engage with your organization.
It’s said that 59% of executives would rather watch a video than read text. With loads content being pushed from so many organizations and brands, you need to stand out from the crowd. Try pinning your welcome video to the top of your social media pages. It’s a fantastic greeting to receive anytime someone visits your page.
2. Educate and Explain the Benefits of Being a Member.
Show your members the value that you can bring them! First, you’ll want to answer some key questions:
What all can you offer members?
Where can they find more information?
What upcoming events do you have planned?
Why do they need to be a part of your association?
Why does your association standout from the crowd?
First and foremost, you’ll want to educate your members. Cut to the chase – what do you do as an association? And then answer why they should join or continue to be a member. Answering member questions helps them develop a personal connection to your organization, which will encourage them to get more involved.
Make sure to stay on top of answering key questions that your audience may have, too. Engage with your members on social media and see what their pain points are - this will help guide you to answer questions that may be on various members’ minds.
Related Post: How to Engage Association Members with Email
3. Benefit from User Generated Content (UGC).
So many associations see engagement on social media as likes, shares and retweets (which it is!). However, there’s nothing more engaging than hearing the opinions and voices of your members.
Ask your members to upload their own videos of themselves answering industry questions or maybe giving opinions on current topics. While this is giving you content to share on your own social media platforms, it’s also creating a conversation.
That’s engagement.
Hearing testimonials is also a beneficial video content. In fact, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from others, even people they don’t know, over branded content.
Get your members talking – let them speak on the value that they’ve gotten from your organization. People are starting to crave stories, connections and interactions with others. Try not to push informative video content all the time – let others do the talking for you.
4. Excite Members for Upcoming Events with Video.
Events are a marketer’s dream – it gives you an opportunity to hype up your association. Create buzz. Promote a sense of urgency to learn more.
Video gives you so much opportunity to create excitement: fun background music, the intense movement of text and imagery, the inspirational voice-over. Video opens doors that images, GIFs and text can’t do.
The social media engagements will start rolling in.
A great idea to promote your association’s event is to ask for video testimonials from past attendees. Again, not only are you receiving video content to use, but you’re also given more credibility as an association. Sometimes it requires hearing from someone new to have some serious FOMO (Fear of Missing Out!)
Whatever you end up creating, remember to keep it short! 1/3 of viewers stop watching videos after 30 seconds – so, try to create your video two minutes or shorter. Get your message across in a quick, yet efficient, way!
At the end of the day, you’re trying to tell your association’s story. When creating video content for your association, remember to answer all three questions in the golden circle:
WHY are you doing what you’re doing?
Very few organizations know why they do what they do. The WHY is your core purpose or belief. Let the ‘why’ be what dictates ALL content creation – reiterate why your association is impactful to its members.
HOW are you doing it?
Explain how you’re different from the competition. What makes you standout?
WHAT are you offering?
Most importantly, you need to tell your audience what you can offer them.
So, let’s recap on how to use video to increase membership engagement. Ideally, you’ll want to create a shorter video that’s inviting (think 15 seconds to a minute), exciting and educational. While you could go the route of creating your own video content, your association can also encourage current members to contribute to a conversation and post their own videos. Either way, engagement is vital to increasing membership awareness.
It’s obvious that members are engaging more with video than they ever have before. Now, the question is, how are you going to integrate video to create engagement with association’s members?
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