Technology is evolving at a staggering pace, so it’s no surprise that tech trends for associations are shifting and changing all the time. Associations must embrace the digital revolution — your members will expect nothing less.
Today’s associations need to provide a whole host of services for members: a community for networking, a space to solve challenges, a place to find the latest job, a hub for professional development, and a source of industry knowledge.
Embracing the latest technology can help realize many of these goals, allowing you to stay competitive, attract and retain members, grow revenue, and boost engagement.
You need to know how to get the most out of the technology available today. At the same time, you also need to have an eye on the future and the changes on the horizon.
So, what are the top association tech trends you need to be aware of? Here’s a quick look at some of them.
Association Tech Trend #1: Boost Membership with a Career Center
Career development is likely to be high on the list of priorities for your current and future members. Plus, it’s an area where they’ll often look to associations for support. You can tap into this need by running a career center — but you don’t have to build one yourself. Instead, you can follow the latest tech trend for associations and use state-of-the-art career-center technology.
Why have a career center?
The value of career support and development is far greater than it’s ever been. In 2020, the Wiley Society Member Survey found that the top three reasons professionals had for considering joining an association were:
- Content
- Community engagement
- Career development
If you can create an effective career center, you can position your organization as the go-to resource for your industry or profession. The benefits include:
- Boosting member engagement by offering valuable career development resources
- Growing membership by converting jobseekers into members
- Increasing revenue by charging to publicize jobs and providing banner advertising
Choosing the right career center technology
Advanced career-center association technology should include not only relevant job postings, but also engaging content, skill assessments, and industry news. This allows your association to provide value for members even when they’re not actively looking for a job through career development and upskilling — growing engagement and non-dues revenue in the process.
Association Tech Trend #2: Move from User Experience (UX) to Total Experience (TX)
In late 2021, Gartner published the top tech trends that will play a key role in 2022. One of them identified was “Total Experience” (TX).
Gartner defined TX as combining customer, employee, and user experiences to transform business outcomes. The goal is to improve the overall experience, breaking down silos while integrating technology with employees, customers, and users. It differentiates an organization from competitors in a way that is difficult to replicate, creating a sustainable competitive advantage.
Simply put, TX is about delivering an all-around exceptional experience to anyone who interacts with your organization.
Why is TX a relevant tech trend for associations?
Member satisfaction and acquisition go hand in hand. Happy members tell others about their experiences and encourage new members to join. In fact, word-of-mouth recommendations are critical to recruiting new members. But to deliver the best member services and create great experiences, you also need engaged, enthusiastic staff.
TX recognizes that the experiences of individual members, member companies, staff, donors, and board members do not exist in silos. In order to deepen member retention and engagement — and thereby boost recruitment — a TX strategy can play a critical role. Such an approach empowers associations to examine the many factors that impact organizational success, membership growth, and stakeholder satisfaction.
How can you apply TX?
Digital transformation has helped pave the way toward TX, as it can provide the required data from across an organization. For example, your association may have a website, social media presence, intranet, database, and career center. If you ensure these all work together, delivering the same messaging while directly interacting with each other, you can achieve TX.
Association Tech Trend #3: Build Online Communities
Increasingly, associations and societies are creating online communities exclusively for their membership — and that’s why this is our third big tech trend for associations in 2022 and beyond.
Online communities benefit associations across almost every department, from membership and event planning to organizing volunteers. Here are a few reasons why your association should create a members-only space:
- Foster peer-to-peer connections
- Personalize engagement with members
- Collect member data and identify trends
- Create better virtual interactions and events
If you get it right, this tech trend can help boost member retention as well. When members form close peer-to-peer connections through your community, they’re more likely to stick around.
Association Tech Trend #4: Embrace the Cloud
Cloud-based solutions can help you save time and money, compared with using a traditional on-site approach. Also, you won’t need to keep your servers under lock and key, as the cloud service provider will keep the system secure.
These services are also a good fit for associations because they allow for more predictable operating expenses. You won’t need to worry about buying software every year, as upgrades are part of the subscription, so you are always current. Plus, in many cases, the pricing structure will charge you only for those services that you actually use.
Association Tech Trend #5: Explore the Power of AI and Machine Learning
Often when we talk about the power of AI to transform marketing and member engagement, we're really talking about machine learning. This involves applying algorithms to data, so associations can gain insights and make decisions.
AI for member engagement
There are several ways that AI and machine learning can be useful to associations.
Let’s take member engagement as an example. AI can power website chatbots, help organizations gather insights that maximize member loyalty, and deliver a more personalized experience. AI and machine learning play a key role in job boards too, helping to deliver personalized listings and improving the overall user experience.
AI can even be used to generate compelling copy and content for member engagement and campaigns, creating hundreds of different versions of the same message, each tailored and targeted for a particular platform, publication, or individual member.
Modernize your association’s technology today
It would be impossible to implement all these tech trends for associations at once — especially if you’re a small team with limited resources. But the good news is that you don’t have to do it alone. There are partners with expertise who can help you take advantage of these ideas.
So, if you’re looking for where to start, why not choose an area where there’s a proven provider?
Madgex is the leading provider of career center technology for associations like yours. We’ve been helping businesses unlock the value of their professional audiences since the year 2000 through our market-leading technology and dedicated team of experts.
Our products are always at the forefront of development, so you can rest assured you won’t be falling behind on association tech trends when you partner with us.
For more information, contact our expert team.