In a more fragmented landscape there is ever-increasing pressure on membership organisations to meet members where they are, using different channels and formats.
Sometimes this pressure comes from the ground up, as conversations spark on new platforms, and you have to ask yourself if and how you should engage. And sometimes they come from the top down – the board member who suddenly asks why you don’t have a video podcast, and sends the team scrambling to justify their choices.
That’s reflected in where membership organisations are planning to increase their investment of time and resources. Of the different channels and formats we asked about in our Re:member survey, only four see a net fall, while 18 see a net increase.
With this approach – essentially more of ‘everything, everywhere, all at once’ – it’s no wonder only 23% of teams say they have sufficient capacity to deliver their content programmes.
Looking at the list, many membership professionals won’t be surprised to see X (net -51%) and Facebook (net -22%) right at the bottom. Many organisations got into these platforms a long time ago and since then they have evolved significantly. When we speak to consultancy clients, we often find that their approach no longer reflects the reality of engagement on these platforms – something reflected in the data, which ranks them as two of the least effective channels for membership organisations.
At the top of the list, there were two standout winners for extra investment. First is online content hosted behind a member wall, which had a score of net +61%. It’s not hard to see why membership organisations are looking to make their content more exclusive, and position their websites as a destination for professionals in their sector.
The potential for AI to decimate search traffic has been well covered, and fits with a renewed focus within membership organisations on delivering value for members in order to drive retention, which we have seen through our consultancy work.
Video was second with a net +60%. The findings suggest that events and webinars overwhelmingly drive video creation at membership organisations, with the output then clipped for social media.
The increase in investment partly reflects a desire to make more of this content, but also a desire to create more bespoke content for social media channels and YouTube. It’s also partly a response to AI, as AI search engines give more weight to content that appears across different platforms in different formats. The challenge is that video remains resource-intensive, with 67% worried about cost of production.
Whatever channels and formats you’re planning to increase your investment in, ultimately this all comes back to strategy. As the way that people engage with content continue to evolve, the importance of knowing who you’re trying to speak to and why has never been more important.
If you’d like to explore the full findings from our Re:member report, or need help deciding where to focus your time and resources, get in touch with our team to discuss how we can help you build a content strategy that delivers for your members.
