Online content plays just as significant of a role for associations as it does for any other organization or publication. The content on your website is a direct reflection of the value of your association. With relevant and useful resources available on your association’s website, members could be more engaged & compelled to participate, renewal rates could be increased, and your association’s bottom line could ultimately increase. With the shortening attention span of today’s modern web surfer, poorly written content could be costing you subscriptions and other non-dues revenue. The abundant amount of information available online also pressures trade associations to have the topmost quality of content to position themselves as thought leaders within their respective industries.
The Content Company recently presented on creating a great content strategy at the 2014 ESSAE Annual Meeting for NY State Association Executives. Check out their PowerPoint for some excellent tips on the importance on content for trade associations:
One unique role content plays within associations is having information readily and easily accessible online rather than individuals calling or emailing your customer services representatives, which ultimately takes up more of their time, decreasing productivity. Content can also be efficiently re-purposed to save your team even more time. For example: taking single articles from a news section or blog from your website, then compiling articles of similar topics to create an eBook for a resource center.
By implementing a strong content strategy, you open the door to new non-dues revenue streams in addition to memberships to your organizations. Native advertising is one option; placing ads within your rich content, working conjointly with your new resources. Online career centers also work hand-in-hand with content strategies, to engage association members while driving new traffic (and potential members!) to your site. Annual sponsorships to webinars, merchandise publication and newsletter advertising are also great options.
