Help people make intelligent connections
The top reason people join groups and organizations, according to MGI’s annual membership marketing benchmark report, is to network with others in their field. But how do they do this? Some, usually a minority, meet fellow members at in-person events. Others are extroverted enough to find like-minded members in online communities. But many people struggle to find and develop relationships with others who could become their peers, mentors or industry partners. This is where comes AI to the rescue. AI taps into behavioral data to steer your audience toward the people they would most want to meet online. For example, a young professional could find others her age with similar positions and interests who may want to join her in a virtual mastermind group. Or that same person could find someone who’s about five years further along the career path who could act as a mentor. AI can also lead people to the most relevant content, conference sessions, exhibitors, educational programs and products. But AI takes it one step further than many of the matchmaking apps on the market. It tracks what happens after a person connects with someone else. Again, this is a task and benefit that most people wouldn’t normally be able to fit into their workload.How to experiment with AI at your organization
AI can help your organization become an indispensable and regular part of your audience’s lives. AI can help you bridge that engagement gap. With AI in your toolkit, you can think big about the membership experience. For example, think about a brand you interact with regularly, like Netflix, Spotify, Blue Apron, Starbucks or Stitch Fix, and the customer experience they provide.
How can you use one of the three applications of AI you have explored in our blog series, like chatbots, curated personalized news-briefing or intelligent connections to provide a similar experience for your members?
You can approach the opportunity from another direction:
- What problem do you want to solve?
- Who’s doing something similar now?
- How can you copy them?
Let’s say you’d like to make people more aware of the different publications you offer. Simply plug Amazon’s recommendations API into your online store. With it, you can make an intelligent connection between a customer and the publications they’d be interested in based on their online behavioral data.
Engage your audience with AI right now
AI doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Think of it merely as a tool to plug into your existing technology. AI makes more opportunities a possibility than ever before to transform the membership experience. Adopt an experimental mindset along with AI and discover new possibilities.
This blog is the third part of a three-blog series to teach associations about how artificial intelligence tools are accessible and effective for decreasing the association engagement gap.
Read Part I: Using Artificial Intelligence for Website User Engagement.
Read Part II: Artificial Intelligence for Curating Individualized Email Content.
