February 9, 2015
It’s a never-ending struggle for association staff: Just when you’ve managed to pull together enough content to get your newsletter out the door, the next (and very empty) issue is staring you in the face. Associations struggling to fill blog posts and newsletters often overlook an important source of valuable content — members. Not only can members provide your association with expert and relevant content, they’re most often the voice other members want to hear!
How to Engage Members to Provide Content
A challenge with soliciting members for content is actually getting the content. Make it easier by:
- Surveying membership. Use a survey tool that allows users to type in responses, pose a question in a membership-wide email or in your next newsletter ask for their feedback. Keep it professional and relevant to members’ interests (for example, how would they approach a specific problem in the field?), and publish the best replies from those submitted. At the very least you’ll have a handful of replies from which to choose.
- Using a Q&A format. Few people fancy themselves decent writers. Ease their anxiety about having to put pen to paper (or, fingers to a keyboard) and ask them to write out their replies to a set of questions.
- Holding an essay contest. Ask members to submit entries about why they chose to become a member of your association, their proudest moment in the field, their biggest challenge or their hopes for the future of their industry. The prize? Being published in your association magazine, newsletter or online!
- Asking committees or task groups to provide commentary on an industry topic. Instead of having a static feature of committee activities, ask committees and task groups to comment on a current event affecting their industry or on a recent accomplishment. Not only will readers connect with the committee, they’ll value the article for its insight.
