“Membership has its privileges.”™
I work for an organization that represents Canadian physicians. We have been in existence since 1867. Unlike membership in a professional college, which is required for licensing purposes, physicians do not need to belong to our organization to practise medicine in Canada. In the past few years, we have found that when it is not mandatory, proving that membership has value can be difficult.
More and more organizations are finding that memberships are lapsing among young people, particularly millennials. Also known as “Generation Y” or “Echo Boomers”, millennials are the generation of people born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s. Unlike their boomer parents, they are not joiners and have been raised in a society in which the interests and needs of the individual are often put before those of the group. Attracting and maintaining members in this demographic is proving difficult, and many organizations are failing in their attempts to do so. Thus, understanding how to attract and keep millennials is the best way for organizations that rely on membership to remain viable.
Simple brand recognition and the idea of being a trusted name with a proud history are no longer enough to attract new members. According to Steven Worth, president of Plexus Consulting Group (Washington, DC), millennials have grown up with the world literally (digitally) at their fingertips; they’re accustomed to finding and getting exactly what they want. “The days of members sticking with a fat and happy organization are long gone and not coming back.” Where previous generations may have seen belonging to a professional organization, network or association as a privilege in and of itself, millennials seem to be more inclined to want to know how membership specifically benefits them. What tangible value does membership bring to their lives? Could the money spent on membership be spent elsewhere to greater personal benefit? In addition, whereas choices for previous generations were somewhat geographically limited, in a connected global economy, millennials have the option of joining organizations anywhere in the world and can even create their own virtual networks.
Finding millennials is relatively easy. They are generally early adopters of technology, and have embraced the philosophy of self-branding and self-promotion over social media. Persuading large, traditional and somewhat conservative organizations to meet them there, however, can be a challenge. It took my organization until 2012 to see the value in developing a Facebook page or a mobile app for iOS devices. (We’re still working on breaking into the Android market.)
Once you have found a way to reach out to millennials, one way of attracting them to membership is by offering a customizable, personalized membership experience that addresses the individual member’s specific needs. My organization is attempting to do this by showcasing the individual products and services we offer to members rather than focusing on nonspecific mission statements or nebulous value propositions such as advocacy or professional integrity. In addition, we’ve embraced the personalizable aspects of Web 2.0 in redeveloping our online member portal and increased our communication efforts on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Reddit.
How has your organization rose to the challenge of attracting millennial loyalty to its brand?
Resources for more information on the millennial generation
Twenge JM. 2007. Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled — and More Miserable Than Ever Before.
Membership and the Millennial Generation: A Whole New World. Available: http://www.plexusconsulting.com/view-document-details/14-membership-and-the-millennial-generation-a-whole-new-world.html
Sarringhaus MM. 2011. The Great Divide: Social Media’s Role in Bridging Healthcare’s Generational Shift. Available: http://www.ache.org/faculty_students/i-56-4_sarringhaus.pdf
Sterling G. 2014. Survey: Best Way To Reach Millennials Is On Social Media. Available: http://marketingland.com/survey-best-way-reach-millennials-social-media-91241
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 
Great post. Have you seen the 2012 Forbes Insights study done in association with TURN on “The New Rules of Engagement” ?
Click to access ForbesInsights_Turn_New_Rules_of_Engagement_0.pdf
It suggests (Page 12) that for younger consumers (18-24 and 25-34) brand do matter. 62% and 58% respectively of those ages consider the brands they use to be an extension of their personalities and character, compared to 44% of total consumers considering the same. Younger consumers are more likelier to believe that a barand is an important part of their personal identity.
There are also some interesting observations on the disconnects between marketers and consumers with respect to how one defines “engagement” with a brand (page 14).
I have not read that, but I will now. Mandatory reading around our organization has been Sarah Sladek’s “The end of membership as we know it.” (http://www.amazon.ca/The-End-Membership-Know-Fortune-Flipping/dp/0880343435)
Despite a strong, recognized brand, we, and similar associations/organizations, are finding it increasingly difficult to prove to millenials that membership, when not mandatory, has value.
That makes sense… the Forbes/Turn study that shows that younger consumers are more likely to subscribe to brand loyalty programs – however if you look at it in the context of all of the other studies and millennial generation traits you’ve cited, I wonder if really it is less about “loyalty” and more about “the deal” that one gets as a result of membership. That’s the challenge you’re talking about, right? For example, one might have multiple grocery store loyalty cards because it saves one money. But that doesn’t mean that one is any more loyal to one grocery store than another or more engaged with one store over another. They just go to the grocery store that is most convenient to them at the time, and use the card for that particular store to save money. Unless, of course, the grocery store happens to be a Kroger’s store – I’m actively boycotting them at the moment until they change their policy on open carry here in the US 🙂 But that’s an entirely different blog post, I’m sure 😉
This presentation uses several sources as well that might be interesting. http://advertising.microsoft.com/en-us/wwdocs/user/display/cl/casestudy/3590/global/microsoft-advertising-debunking-myths-about-millennials.pdf
Oh – timely! This link just came across my LinkedIn feed 🙂 (Sorry – I just absolutely am fascinated by this topic – glad that you posted it!) http://www.cmo.com.au/article/558340/cmos-cios-increasingly-see-chief-customer-officer-relationship-saviour/?es_p=157400