One of the most important lessons we've learned over the past two years is that your community is your organization's key to long-term success, and so supporting them in the best way you can should be your top priority.??
Because events are just one of the ingredients in a much longer recipe to foster an engaged and ongoing community, we're here to share some of our key insights and strategies for cultivating strong and engaged communities beyond your annual event.?
1) Your community is your superpower???
- Understanding your audience is crucial to being able to support them effectively.??
- Deliver content that simultaneously meets the needs of your organization AND your community.?
2) Your audience has changed, and they want you to change with them???
- Audiences now have the freedom to choose how they engage with your organization, whether it be virtually, in-person, or a? little bit of both.???
- This is your opportunity to engage your community by creating and sharing content that resonates with your audience's evolving engagement preferences.???
3) Content is king when cultivating community???
- Organizations are in the best position they've ever been to produce content tailored to audience preferences, thanks to the influx of data and information that can be pulled from virtual communities.?
- When you curate your content stream to meet your audience's needs, they'll be able to FEEL your commitment to their success. Leverage this dynamic to nurture your emotional connection, build trust with your audience, and keep them around long into the future.???
4) If your audience is your community, your platform is their community center???
- Virtual engagement platforms are the best tools an association has at its disposal because they can be designed to meet specific values, interests, and needs of the organization and its audience.??
- When you pair that with the ability to extend the engagement well beyond the event dates, incorporating a virtual engagement platform into your association's strategy isn't just a smart thing to do—it's necessary.??
5) Keep in mind the bigger picture???
- Sourabh Kothari said it perfectly: "The greatest myth in marketing is that your growth will come from advertising. Sure, some of it will. But your greatest source of growth are your existing customers, and that is why investing in your community is the best thing you can do, and authentic, timely, helpful content is what your community needs right now."?
Click here to read the Unlocking your association's superpowers: community, content, and continuous connection blog article?in full.
