Delivering content catered to mobile consumption is imperative to maximizing reach and relevancy for today’s audiences. As generations shift, so do preferences. In order to remain relevant, associations need to embrace digital – and more specifically mobile. The majority of members join associations for the first time as students or within the first 5 years of their careers. If you are not targeting the new workforce, you may be missing out on a huge opportunity.
Whether or not your membership works on-the-go, they prefer to view content on their mobile devices: - Up to 70% of all web traffic happens on a mobile device.
- The average person looks at their phone for greater than 3 hours per day
- and, picks up their phone over 1,500 times a week
And, this is just the beginning...
- In 2018, Google moved to a mobile-first model for page indexing and ranking
- Projections from an Ericsson Mobility Report shows that traffic generated by smartphones will increase by 10 times between 2016 and 2022
- and video traffic will be the leader in mobile traffic, increasing from 50% in 2016 to 75% in 2022
Although preference levels vary, email and website are the still the preferred method of communication across all generations for association members. At this point you should be asking, is our website and email communication strategy optimized for mobile consumption?
As an association, communicating well with your membership to share information and demonstrate value is of utmost importance. Unfortunately, 1 in 4 (22%) of association professionals lacks confidence that their organization’s current technology can meet their needs as the organization grows. More importantly, only 55% of associations are utilizing a responsive website design. This means that 45% of associations are displaying content that is difficult to consume on the most commonly used platforms. A lot of time is spent developing what to say and what information members need to know, however, it may be time to focus on where they view it and how easy you can make it.
So, what can you do?
- Ensure that your website and email communications are optimized for mobile viewing
- Check the data and leverage any available analytics to better understand your audience’s online behavior
- Develop bite-sized multimedia content that can be consumed anytime, anywhere, on any device
- And finally, continue to check-in with your members on their communication and content preferences
Learn about other disruptive trends in our Webinar - Secure Your Association’s Future by Harnessing These Disruptive Trends or schedule a demo to see how Association TV can help you think mobile.
References:
Abila. 2016. https://www.abila.com/resource-library/research-report/association-and-professional-society-research-study/
AdWeek. 2018. Available online: https://www.adweek.com/digital/why-mobile-and-consumers-are-the-focal-points-of-this-years-newfronts/
Community Brands. 2018. Available online: https://go.communitybrands.com/NPFinanceStudy
CIODive. 2018. Available online:https://www.ciodive.com/news/70-of-internet-traffic-comes-from-mobile-phones/510120/
Ericsson. 2016. Available online: https://www.ericsson.com/en/mobility-report/future-mobile-data-usage-and-traffic-growth
Ericsson. 2016. Avaiable online: https://www.ericsson.com/en/mobility-report/mobile-traffic-by-application-category
Google. 2018. Available online: https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2018/03/rolling-out-mobile-first-indexing.html
MemberWise. 2016. Available online: https://memberwise.org.uk/htw2016researchsummaryreport/