Audience/Membership Services

What is Audience/Membership Services?

There are two kinds of services you can offer under Audience/Membership.

1) Promoting the resource, such as an eNewsletter or Social Network. This uses techniques as mentioned in Online Advocacy.

2) Group participation – People join online groups because they are active and social. You can help a group grow and stay engaged by being an active and engaging participant.

For the purpose of this page, we will focus on Group participation. If you are looking for promoting a group, use advocacy with membership as your goal.

Why do people buy Audience/Membership Services?

Many organizations like the idea of having an online group. Building one from the ground up takes a lot of effort and participation. While employees should participate, they often do not have the time or desire if it is not their main job. A Virtual Buzz Assistant can be employed to keep the community vibrant and active.

Setting Goals for Audience/Membership Services

The goal of this service is engagement. By engaging more people in online discussion and participation, you are helping the organization create a more valuable community.

Client Benefits of Audience/Membership Services

The benefits of having a vibrant online community are:

Dedicated audience
Higher Visibility
Better client relations
Place to test ideas
Stronger brand loyalty
New product sales

Pricing Your Audience/Membership Services

As always, pricing is ultimately your decision. Pricing your service is a matter of estimating the amount of time you estimate needed each month and multiply by the rate you desire. Charge a higher rate if you are already an expert in the industry and stress your familiarity with the industry when you are communicating with the client.

How to deliver Audience/Membership Services effectively?

This service requires participation in an online community. However, to really stimulate the conversation it is not as simple as logging in and making general comments. You will have to be familiar with the industry or topic the community is built around. Do outside reading and bring great comments and questions in.

Managing the Audience/Membership Services Project

With this service, you are being paid to participate in a community or group in an effort to stimulate the group and make it better. While you are being paid for hours of participation, it is important to remember that the goal is more interaction. Log your time, but also keep track of successes where you were able to create good dialogue.

Life cycle of Audience/Membership Services

The life cycle will take one of three life cycles.

Client does not see results fast enough and cancels effort.
Client sees great results and no longer needs help because community is vibrant.
Client sees value in keeping you involved in stimulating the community.

The key to doing this long term will be to establishing yourself as an important expert in the community.