Only engaged people remain loyal, a truth that transforms how organizations thrive by prioritizing community and individual needs.
I found myself being exhausted, stressed-out, implementing the narrow ideas of autocratic leaders that weren’t making people happy.
I was working non-stop to meet all deadlines and tasks in event and community management for an organization not focused on people.
Only 4% of members were attending events and only 0.6% were returning, while 0% engaged in the private community.
That is not success.
The Unspoken Reality
Your audience,
community,
lifeblood,
is formed by individuals
Each with unique needs, objectives, and interests.
How do you know the difference?
People-centred organization:
- introduces new members to the existing ones, as an engagement method.
- has community expertise& interest active groups.
- segments their audience interests using data analytics.
- sends frequent newsletters about members wins.
- makes decisions consulting a pool of decision-makers proportionate and representative to the size of the community.
Autocratic organization:
- the membership-sales-call is the only attention and engagement members get.
- uses the community as a member directory.
- uses a one-fits-all approach; as data analytics show the “secret” reality.
- sends no member news at all or handpicks what members they promote.
- bases decisions on an inaccessible narrow leadership group.
CASE STUDY: the power of ONE precise question
Objective alignment question.
Helps in understanding the diverse objectives of your audience, enabling actions that align with individual goals.
What are your primary goals for joining our community?
- Networking with peers
- Finding business partners
- Seeking investment opportunities
- Gaining insights into industry trends
Here is how your graph could look →
The audience is looking to make meaningful connections, advance business interests, and stay abreast of industry trends.
Networking is paramount: the highest number of submissions are for “Networking with peers”. This suggests that creating opportunities for connection is crucial for your audience.
Seeking Business and investment opportunities: these objectives are driven by growth strategies, indicating that the audience is likely to be formed by decision-makers. Tailoring services that provide platforms for showcasing products, services, and investment pitches could be very effective.
Interest in Industry insights: underscors a demand for knowledge exchange. This indicates a need for content-rich aproach.
Strategic planning:
The balance between these objectives should guide thematic actions, ensuring a mix of networking opportunities, services / products showcase opportunities and interactive discussion groups; to meet the varied interests of this audience.
Personalized marketing strategies
Marketing efforts should highlight these primary goals. For those interested in networking, testimonials or statistics from other members showcasing successful connections made could be persuasive. For those seeking business or investment opportunities, emphasizing previous success stories or the presence of influential industry players might be more compelling.
People-centred organizations understand this fundamental truth.
They don’t just aim to give people what they think they want.
They strive to offer what individuals genuinely need and desire, on a large scale, without handpicking who gets what.
Listen and learn: begin by truly listening to your audience.
Use surveys, feedback forms, and social media interactions as your tools. Learn to ask the right questions to discover what your audience wants.
Segment and personalize: with insights in hand, segment your audience based on their interests, needs, and engagement levels.
Tools like Mailchimp for email segmentation or Google Analytics for website interaction patterns can guide your personalized outreach strategies.
Innovate and involve: create interest-based community groups. Involve your audience in decision-making processes, making them feel valued and heard.
Measure and modify: utilize data analytics to measure the impact of your strategies.
Tools like SurveyMonkey for post-event feedback or Hootsuite for social media engagement analysis can offer insights. Be ready to modify your approaches based on what the data tells you.
Celebrate and communicate: lastly, share success stories, member achievements, and event highlights through newsletters or social media platforms like LinkedIn. Let every member feel like a part of the journey.
So, to the membership-led associations, NGOs, customer-led SMEs, and event organizers out there feeling overwhelmed by the demands of a not-so-engaged audience: it’s time to pivot.
Embrace the principles of people-centred engagement, and watch as your engagement rates not only rise but thrive. Because at the end of the day, only engaged people remain loyal, and loyalty is the truest measure of success.
Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
🆕 Transform how you connect event attendees -> order now Business Matchmaking in Events, a complete guide for event professionals.
👉 Tailor the customer experience – subscribe to my bimonthly newsletter
👉 Let’s talk about what you need: book a free call here.