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How Podcasting Drives Member Engagement

You want to increase member engagement, right? That is, after all, your job.

But how do you increase member engagement at a time when we all get too much email and spend more time unsubscribing from newsletters than subscribing to them?

The answer lies in consistently engaging your members with content that provides maximum value without making too many demands on their time. Which is, of course, easier said than done. Crafting a white paper or even just a really good blog post takes dozens of hours. And then getting people to read it presents another daunting challenge. Webinars can add value, but you’re asking your audience to carve an hour out of their already stuffed schedules to stop everything and tune in. Video can be a powerful engagement tool, but producing high-end video is incredibly expensive and difficult to scale.

All of which is why podcasting is an exciting opportunity for associations to enhance their member engagement toolkit. Here’s why:

Podcast listening is convenient

Listening to podcasts is incredibly convenient because you can do so while doing other things: commuting, driving, walking, working out, folding laundry, making dinner, etc. Unlike email, webinars, newsletters, and video, all of which take time to engage with, podcasts save time. It’s an attractive value proposition: tune in and listen when and where you like and learn things that will help you succeed and thrive in the industry.

Podcasting Enables Peer Learning

The most valuable intellectual property any association possesses (or any business or organization, for that matter), is the collective experience, knowledge, and insight of its members, otherwise known as “tribal knowledge.” A podcast that features members sharing their knowledge provides maximum value by enabling members to learn from each other. Plus, members featured on the podcast will find extra value in being recognized and given a platform to demonstrate and share their expertise.

Interview podcasts are conversational and accessible

By their nature, interview-style podcasts are conversational and accessible, presenting information and ideas in a way that’s uniquely engaging. Listening in on a great conversation or story is not only informative but also entertaining, especially compared to trying to read an email or newsletter on your phone.

Podcasting is Easy to Scale

A key to member engagement is producing compelling content on a consistent basis. As noted above, the time and effort it takes to churn out blog posts and white papers and the cost of producing high-end video makes scaling up the production of those types of content difficult. Podcasting, though, is a different matter. Launching a high-quality interview podcast does take time and planning, but once it’s up and running, it’s relatively simple to produce new episodes every week, or twice a month, or however often you choose to publish. Especially if you work with a professional podcast producer who can handle the editing and other, more technical production elements, generating really strong podcast content is no more complicated or time consuming than having a great conversation.

If you want to increase your member engagement and think podcasting could be a good fit for your association, contact Tribal Knowledge Podcasting for a free consultation.

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