Your association provides your members with many different opportunities to develop as professionals and grow in their careers.

But to do this effectively, you need to have a system in place for gathering, organizing, and accessing the member information that provides you with insight into their goals and preferences: an association management system, or an AMS. As you get larger or want to offer more advanced programming, managing your membership through spreadsheets or disconnected databases just won’t cut it.

(Already use an AMS for your association? These tips will help you make the most of your investment.)

Let’s take a look at how your association can use your AMS to engage and provide for your members with these five strategies:

If your organization manages a membership program, you know that it can be a real challenge keeping your members fully engaged while developing ways to grow your program.

After all, no matter how many new members you attract, it’s your retention rate that drives real growth. Member engagement drives retention, and communication is the key to boosting engagement.

Data-driven and unified communication strategies are the best way to ensure you and your members get the most out of your program. There are a few essential elements to consider as you develop smarter communication strategies for your membership program.

To strengthen your communication strategy through smart data usage, try these three tips:

Your events can be the highlight of your member community experience! Especially for communities spread out over a wide geographic area, a monthly or yearly gathering is an exciting event to look forward to.

To keep members excited about attending, your events need to be better every year than they were the last. On one level, that means bringing back the most popular sessions, speakers, and sponsors your attendees loved.

But the member experience is more than just speakers and merchandise. You also need sustainable, behind-the-scenes management processes and tools to help you pull off a seamless event every time.