Is there a membership organisation for your sector?

Having spent a few years working for a membership organisation, I am acutely aware of the opportunities they can bring, but also that members generally don’t make full use of their membership benefits.

I’m not simply referring to the tangible benefits like legal support, discounted insurance and the like, but really achieving the growth in their network that individuals and organisations hope for when they join - meeting like-minded business owners, people who are in the same boat and facing similar challenges.

Stronger together

Years ago, when working for a tourist attraction, which was also a historic landmark, we were members of the Chamber of Commerce, Hidden England, Historic Houses Association, the tourism partnerships for Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and a few more besides! So it was always impressed upon me how vital these organisations are as a sounding board for advice and sharing of best practice. We all have a fair idea that most businesses are going through similar issues, so if we can feel supported and offer support in return by sharing our experiences, that has to make us stronger together.

We need to remember that this is a two-way street and the member organisations need us as much as we need them.

What better way of showing our support than using our social media channels? Think of these tools as the perfect complement to your membership organisation.

A business page or a group?

Many organisations will have at least business pages, if not groups on their social channels, so ensure you follow / join them to maximise your potential of meeting others in the organisation. Often you’ll join an organisation for the networking opportunities, however, if you struggle to make it along to these events due to work commitments, it can be quite difficult to find out who else is a member, so join those social media groups!

Having managed the local twitter and facebook pages for a membership organisation, I can tell you that these bodies love to hear from you. Everyone, be it in individuals, businesses or organisations, who commits to a social media presence, wants engagement. If you’re not getting responses to your posts then what is the point of being on these platforms? Admittedly your early days will be a slow burn whilst you build up your numbers but engagement is key, so start interacting with your membership body today. This will give you the opportunity to connect with other members who are engaging too - check out the likes and comments and connect/engage with those accounts as well - if they’re engaging with membership content, it’s highly likely they’ll engage with your content as well, once they’re aware of you.

Check out social media for local news and events

These organisations will often highlight useful information for their members, and if you’re not the type to open your emails, then twitter and LinkedIn will be a particularly helpful source of news for you. For example, if there’s a workshop with relevant training, you’ll see it promoted on social, and with the current need for everything to be online (November 2020) you may find that webinars and the like are recorded so as long as you register for them, even if you can make the live timings, you can catch the replay at a time to suit you.

Twitter, in particular, is a great source of information on grants and other business support that you could be missing out on, so take a look around and see what is being promoted in your area.

Use social media to locate business support organisations 

We often get so busy in our own businesses that we don’t stop to look and see how else we can help our businesses grow and develop. There’s a lot more support out there than you may think and social media offers you an insight into availability with a simple search. The best platforms for these searches are twitter and LinkedIn, so please don’t dismiss social media as a fluffy medium. It is true that there is misinformation online, particularly if you start expressing political and provocative statements, however, if you can remain business-focussed and interact with your local business organisations, growth hubs and “Invest in…” type partnerships, you’ll find the information on offer invaluable.

So have you joined a membership organisation? Have you paid the subscription and then forgotten all about it? Make that investment work for you - as with most things in life, the more you put into it, the more you’ll get out. For example, if you actively follow and engage with your body’s particular social media channels, they are likely to notice you and engage with your content. Perhaps they have a specific hashtag to engage with? Maybe it’s a networking organisation and they have a hashtag for their posts - ensure you use it so you can be found in their searches.

Use the tagging features

Another option is to actively tag in the organisation if you’re posting something you’d really like them to see. A word of caution though, I wouldn’t overuse this as no-one wants to be tagged in every single post you write, as you’ll start to lose relevance.

Did you know you can tag people and organisations in your images too, so that you can save on characters? On twitter you can tag up to 10 people in a picture and on LinkedIn you can tag up to 20.

If you’re looking to grow your audience, and you’ve attended a networking event, that your organisation has  set up, why not use that event as content? You can very quickly tag in all the other attendees and help them connect with you on other social channels. Your connections may know you on LinkedIn, but did they know you had a facebook presence? Be careful not to lead people away from your platform in the posts by using links  - that’s pretty much a “no-no” on all platforms except for twitter. Save those links for your comments. I know it can be really frustrating if you’re scheduling your content, as it means you need to set a diary note to go back and comment, but your reach will vastly benefit.

How can this work for me?

So to recap, if you’re joining a membership organisation or subscription service of any kind, make it work for you. Look at the possibilities for growth and connection that it could give you, you’ll then find it becomes and investment in you and your business and not simply a package of services and benefits that you get to the end of the year and think “I didn’t use those services so I won’t continue with that membership”

There really aren’t any shortcuts for a long term sustainable business, as you know, so we really need to think “How can this work for me?”.

I hope that’s got you thinking about revisiting your subscriptions and considering how you can apply some of the above actions to create and develop those connections by bringing them closer into your world, and turning your connections into leads down the line by showing them your expertise.

As ever, if you have any tips you’d like to add, please do so in the comments below and if there’s someone you know who may benefit from reading this blog, please share or encourage them to sign up for my 7 Steps to a High Performing LinkedIn Profile here.