How to stretch your small association’s content further

Your association is one of the most important sources of information for your industry or profession. In fact, the Community Brands Member Engagement and Loyalty Study shows that industry information tops the list of important benefits to members.

But how can you continually churn out content when your organization has a small staff?

By Michelle Schweitz, Marketing Manager, Community Brands

Here are some tips for re-purposing content so you always have something new for your members:

Perform a content audit.
Before you start developing new content, look at what you already have. You don’t always have to start from scratch. Get more mileage out of your content by re-using what you’ve already developed. You likely have more than you think – content that can be re-used, re-purposed, and even used as a launching point for new content.

Re-purpose content from each content medium.
Providing content in different media keeps information interesting and engaging for your members and helps you stretch content further. For example, here are some ways to re-use content from each of your content media:

• Webinars and conference sessions
  • Turn your webinars into ebooks or webinar recap blog articles.
  • Encourage conversation about your webinar topics in your online community.
  • Look at survey feedback from your webinars for easy ideas on expanding on areas for future content.
  • Create micro videos, each focused on one takeaway from webinars or sessions, to share on social media or YouTube.
  • Record sessions from your virtual conference and gradually share them with members/non-members via email, social media, and your online community that didn’t attend. This is a great way to offer members continuing education credits and to recruit new members.
• Research – Create infographics or tip sheets from any of your organization’s research.
• Ebooks – Break ebooks down into separate topics for a blog article series.
• Blog articles – On the flip side, combine blog articles on similar topics into an ebook or online toolkit.
• Social media – Repost content each month, focusing each post on a different aspect of a content topic.

TIP: Associations often house content on their websites’ resource centers. You can go a step further by housing content in an online member community, an approach that helps you create dialog around your content, get feedback, and improve member engagement. Learn how to launch an online community for your association. Read The Small Association’s Guide to Getting Started with an Online Community

Consider a different perspective.
Educators have instilled in us the importance of knowing the audience and purpose behind our writing. Adjustments to either of these can help you re-purpose your existing content easily and disseminate it to a wider audience.

Consider your content from different audience types or professional points-of-view to approach the piece from several different angles. For instance, if you’re writing an article about improving a process in your industry, you could likely write different versions for directors and coordinators.

Brainstorm content ideas.

At some point, it will be time to think up new content ideas. But you can simplify this process as well. Here are some ideas:

• Think about what’s happening in your industry and will be most relevant to your members.
• Consider any recent industry research you can share with your members or think about conducting your own.
• Pay attention to what your members are talking about in your online community — their pain points and needs.
• Ask your volunteers what topics are important to them, and even ask them to help you produce content, such as guest blog articles and short videos.
• Consider sending a survey to your members to better understand the benefits most important to them, then develop content and communications focused on those benefits.

TIP: YourMembership association management software has survey functionality built in, making it easy to build and send targeted surveys and get feedback.

Seeing your organization as the go-to place for information about their profession and industry is what makes your members stick around year after year. By arming yourself with the tips in this article, you’re well on your way to creating a content strategy that will delight your members and keep them coming back for more.

Are you looking for more membership marketing tips? Watch the YourMembership Email Marketing Workshop on Demand now!