It’s tough out there for associations today. Survey data shows that more than 55 percent of association executives are worried about attracting and retaining members, and another 12 percent are particularly concerned with their ability to entice younger members.

Catching the attention of younger audiences is certainly a valid concern, particularly now that millennials make up the largest living generation of adults. Meanwhile, members of the generation behind them, the under-23-year-old Generation Z, are entering the workforce in droves. 

These young adults make up the largest cohort of potential association members. Unfortunately, that potential is not being realized.

Associations are noticing with alarming frequency that their memberships are aging and not being replaced. There’s a real need for younger and more diverse member cohorts, but many groups are struggling to find them.

It’s time to look at a format that many associations have neglected: online video content.

Attracting the Connected Generation

Millennials are digital natives, and they’ve stayed digital as they’ve entered adulthood.

• Almost 100 percent go online at least occasionally
• 93 percent own smartphones
• 85 percent use social media

Older generations are still behind millennials when it comes to technology and social media adoption, but they’re catching up. In early 2019, 76 percent of Generation X and 59 percent of baby boomers reported being social media users. 

This is all good news for association leaders. It’s now becoming possible to create content that not only targets younger potential members, but also reaches and appeals to audiences of all generations.

Why video in particular?  

A 2017 survey from HubSpot found that consumers are more interested in seeing videos than any other content. But why? The more you know about people’s reasons for consuming video, whether those reasons are conscious or subconscious, the more you’ll understand why you need to be making this kind of content.

It’s accessible.

The brain processes video about 60,000 times faster than it processes text. The barrier to entry is much lower because people don’t have to work as hard to take it in. 

Even if your association targets a highly educated membership, you shouldn’t underestimate the appeal of this “easier” kind of content. Your target audiences are probably spending hours every day engaging with high-level professional materials. 

You’re trying to engage them on their own time, so why not give their brains a little break and give them something easy to digest? Chances are good that they’ll appreciate you all the more for it.

It’s immersive.

Because video is multi-sensory, involving sound as well as sight, our brains connect it more strongly to reality. The more instinctive, animalistic parts of the brain process the content as though it were real life, but our more advanced prefrontal cortex tells us that it’s not real at all. 

Because they’re so real to us, videos engage our mirror neurons, the structures in our brain that fire when we observe others. They’re designed to help us learn, but they also help us to empathize. 

People connect to things that engage them on this level. Consider your favorite movie and the deeply personal link you probably feel to it. It’s hard to get that kind of connection from text-based material. That said, when you do create it, you bond with your members on a deeper level.

It’s educational.

The multisensory aspect of a video also makes it an effective learning tool. Because they engage the brain more thoroughly, people process and remember information better when it comes from a video.

Video allows you to show instead of tell, a distinction that instantly helps with retention.

Member education is one of an association’s most important pursuits, and video is a very appealing learning tool. A HubSpot report showed that 61 percent of consumers want to learn from the videos that they watch on social media. Not all associations buy into the video learning trend, so jumping on board can help yours to stand out.

It’s more palatable than advertising.  

The silent generation, baby boomers, and Gen X grew up depending on advertisements to learn about brands, but millennials and Gen Z have had a very different experience.

As native internet users, younger people have always been bombarded with advertising in multiple formats, from banner ads to pop-ups. They’ve become wary of commercial messages and refuse to be categorized by marketers who want them to fit a certain mold.

When considering video engagement for associations, It’s important to understand that people don’t watch videos the way they used to watch television. Where television-watching was passive, video consumption is purposeful. Where television was a collective experience, video content is highly individual.

Driving this trend is the millennial experience with media. Excepting the oldest millennials, who came of age before streaming content became pervasive, this generation isn’t used to watching something just because it’s “on.” They’re used to being able to go on YouTube, Netflix, or Hulu and find what they want when they want it. 

Your members are engaging with this process every day. Creating video content puts you in the game, making sure that your members and potential members can find you.

SEO Loves Video, Too  

Video isn’t just more appealing to your viewers; it’s also more attractive to Google. Google’s algorithms are designed to favor videos and sites with video content.

Video prioritization is especially strong when your search indicates that you want to learn something. If your search term starts with “How to,” Google will put videos at the top of the search engine results page (SERP). Go ahead and give it a try.

Remember, Google designs its algorithms to give you the most useful and relevant content first. The system knows that people like learning from videos, so it gives the people what they want.

Video on Social Media  

Among the six most popular channels for consuming video content, four are social media sites. All of those platforms know that people are looking for video, so they too have changed their algorithms accordingly.

Facebook

In 2017, Facebook introduced Watch, a part of the site exclusively dedicated to video content. It specifically hosts what the platform calls “shows.” 

If you’re a traditional TV watcher, don’t assume that a Facebook “show” is what you’re used to seeing on a network or cable channel. Facebook defines a show as a connected video series that is “made up of episodes — live or recorded — and follow a theme or storyline.” 

Facebook’s current priority is to push content that drives social connection, and Watch is no exception. Its most successful shows are those that engage communities and drive connection, whether the result is a live broadcast of a sporting event or a series of informational videos that educate audiences on a particular topic over multiple episodes.

What succeeds on Watch?

Two years after the introduction of Watch, the platform continues to thrive. IT has 140 million users who watch an average of nearly 30 minutes daily. In June of 2019, Variety reported that Watch’s daily viewership had doubled over the prior six months, while the monthly viewership has increased by 80 percent over the same period.

Facebook is continuing to program digital-first content and create originals that viewers can’t see anywhere else. Unlike other streaming services with similar goals, however, Facebook continues to push videos that are socially oriented.

What about video content on news feeds?  

Watch shows aren’t the only content on Facebook, nor are they the only way in which Facebook is pushing highly engaging videos. 

In March of 2019, Facebook changed its algorithm so that Live videos rank better when they’re truly live. A few months later in May, the platform made another change, this time affecting recorded video as well. The changes benefit videos that rank well in three areas:

1. Loyalty and repeat viewership. Facebook now favors videos that inspire repeat watches. The more an individual user goes back to a particular video, the better that video will rank and the more it will be featured in More Videos and in news feeds.
2. Length and viewing duration. In the past, Facebook has reported that it prioritizes videos that people watch for a full minute or longer. Videos that inspire that level of engagement are now even more highly ranked, especially when the full video is three minutes long or more. (Facebook loves three-minute videos.)
3. Originality. In 2018, Facebook began deprioritizing videos that were reposted or repurposed, unless the posters had added significantly valuable content. The platform upped its commitment to original content in 2019, severely limiting the presence of monetized re-shares.

It’s not easy to create videos that are three minutes long and engaging enough to hold viewers for a whole minute, but when you do, Facebook users are at your fingertips.

What does this mean for associations?

Posting videos on Facebook is a great way to reach your membership, particularly when your members follow your page. It’s also a great way of reaching people who don’t know you exist yet — that’s one of the main reasons why you’d post to Facebook rather than on your webpage. 

If the video you post is good enough to rank highly on Facebook, it can get not just plenty of views, but also plenty of shares. Shares automatically increase the number of people who are exposed to your content. When you hook people in this way, you can make membership more enticing by offering members-only content that is even more enticing.

Instagram

Instagram is a heavy hitter among younger millennials and members of Gen Z. Approximately three-quarters of 18- to 24-year-olds are on Instagram, along with 57 percent of 25- to 29-year-olds.

Penetration decreases among older demographics, but not rapidly. Almost half of Americans in their 30s and 40s are on Instagram, as are nearly one-quarter of 50- to 64-year-olds.

How do videos fit into the Instagram model?

Instagram is first and foremost a photo-sharing site, but Instagram TV is changing all that. Better known as IGTV, it launched in 2018, the same year that Instagram’s user base hit one billion.

IGTV was designed to host long-form videos in vertical format, so users don’t have to turn their phones sideways to see the video as it was meant to be seen. It now supports landscape format as well. Your full video can be up to an hour in length if you’re a verified user, but you can show shorter previews on your regular Instagram feed.

As of 2019, the most successful IGTV users are B2C brands with heavy millennial and Gen Z followings, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not relevant to traditional associations. 

In fact, an association that tries out IGTV is a step ahead of the game when it comes to attracting younger members — which, as we discussed earlier, is a major area of concern for many associations today.

How do you make it work?

The keys to success appear to be widespread use of preview videos, which puts your content in front of Instagram users who are less familiar with IGTV. Also, don’t shy away from using versions of the same content for YouTube and IGTV. You may find that your YouTube content gets more views, but your IGTV version gets more interactive engagement.

Twitter

Twitter is also more popular with younger users versus older ones, but the difference is less dramatic. Pew Research reports that 38 percent of adults under 30 use Twitter, compared to 26 percent of those between 30 and 50 and 17 percent of 50- to 65-year-olds.

What kinds of videos are on Twitter?

Twitter’s business blog reports that the video views on the site increased 220 times in a single year. About 90 percent of those views are happening on mobile, so Twitter is a great way to get your association noticed by professionals on the go.

You have three options for posting videos on Twitter.

1. Native video. Embedded in users feeds, native videos play automatically. Twitter’s consumer testing showed that not only do consumers prefer this autoplay format, but they also finish them and remember them better this way.
2. Periscope. Twitter gave the moniker Periscope to its live video format as a tool for brands. The platform encourages companies to create Periscope videos as “a sneak peek of what your business is really like,” and this is just as useful to associations as it is to brands. By creating Periscopes of your member events, you can entice people to attend the next one.
3. GIFs. They’re not just for teenagers’ text messages anymore, not by a long shot. Brands as legitimate as Mint are creating Twitter GIFs as brief informative snapshots, and you can do the same on behalf of your association. 

Experiment with different formats. It will help you to understand what format is best for your audience, while also improving retention of your association’s brand identity. Twitter Marketing reports that more exposure to multiple formats improves ad recall by 19 percentage points.

YouTube

We’ve saved the biggest player in the online video world for last. YouTube is the most popular online platform among adults in the US, drawing 73 percent of all Americans ages 18 and over, as compared to the 69 percent that use Facebook.

YouTube is particularly popular among young adults, but not exclusively so. YouTube watchers include:

• 91 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds
• 93 percent of 25- to 29-year-olds
• 87 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds
• 70 percent of 50- to 64-year-olds
• 38 percent of those 65 and older

By creating a video that makes its way to YouTube, your association can potentially reach the vast majority of adults under 50 without losing contact with older viewers.

There are countless how-to guides out there that teach small businesses how to use YouTube to their advantage. Many, if not most of the tips on these guides are just as appropriate for associations. Here are a few of the most applicable:

Tip #1: Create your own channel.

You only need a Google account to create a YouTube channel, so it’s completely free, and it’s definitely worth the few seconds it takes to make one. A channel lets you gather subscribers, who can easily become members if they aren’t already. All you have to do is draw them in with content that they look forward to seeing.

Include language within your video that encourages subscriptions, whether that’s within the narration or overlaid as text. Mention how often you post content and be sure to follow through. Meanwhile, encourage viewers to look at other videos on your channel, and, whatever else you do, make sure that your video prominently features the URL of your association’s website.

Tip #2: Scope out the “competition.”

While brands are learning what their direct competitors do to attract visitors, you can go further as an association. If other associations in your space have channels, check them out, but also look at what your members or companies in your industry are doing. 

For example, if you’re a professional association whose membership is primarily made up of heart surgeons, check out the American Heart Association’s channel, but keep going to check out videos from hospitals and cardiothoracic professionals. Which ones are getting the most views? Are they getting comments from people who might be in your target demographic?

Tip #3: Pay attention to keywords, titles, and thumbnails.

You’re competing with 50 million other content creators on YouTube, so your videos have to pop. That means using visually enticing thumbnails that aren’t just screenshots of the video. Create one from scratch to pique the interest of your target users.

You want your video titles to be appealing as well. Naturally, you’ll want to use keywords that your target audience will be using in their searches. Work them in organically, as you would when creating an article title. 

Tip #4: Have a formal strategy.

First of all, know what you want your YouTube channel to achieve. Are you looking for a certain number of subscribers who are or may become members? Or are subscriber numbers less important to you than getting lots of shares from your membership?

Once you know your goals, develop a schedule and make sure you have someone responsible for following it. Think about not just how often you want to post, but also when to post so that your audiences will see them. The typical YouTube viewer is more likely to be watching videos on the weekend, but that might not be the case if you’re a professional association whose members are watching educational content at work.

Tip #5: Pay attention to your channel layout.

A standard YouTube channel layout is fine for amateurs, but you want your members and potential members to know that you’re organized and professional.

• Create a subtitle that’s a concise introduction to your association
• Organize your videos into playlists that address particular member interests
• Include a color scheme and “about” language that matches the brand identity of your website.

Video Engagement for Associations: The Key Take-Away

Remember, when you’re creating videos for your association, you need to think about them as marketing tools as well as educational content. That’s true whether you’re on YouTube, Facebook, or any other video hosting site.

When your members go online, they have a vast array of content competing for their attention. Video is a great way to make sure you’re positioning yourself as relevant within your field, but you have to make sure that your videos are well-made and geared to your audience.

Check out what social media platforms are encouraging in terms of video content. Ideal lengths and formats differ, so be ready to make several different videos. Note how each platform suggests that you market your video content and follow their lead.

Finally, keep an eye on what’s happening in SEO in terms of video. How-to videos are currently the most popular on Google, so consider making a few of those to get you started. It will be a time investment, but it will pay off when you start to attract membership cohorts that would otherwise have passed you by.