Growing YourMembership

Ryan Johnson

Membership Chair, Charlotte Ski and SnowboardClub

Why I Joined a Ski Club

• Why I Joined the Charlotte Ski Club:

• Grew up in GA – learned to ski at Beech Mountain

• Lived 10 years in New England

• joined Social Boston Sports which had local sports teams and ski trips to meet new people

• Lived in Charlotte for 2 years

• Was looking for similar group as SBS to meet new people in my new city

• Tried SportsLink and other sports teams – Found CSSC on Meetup

• Attended membership meeting at Heist and had great info breakdown from PublicityChair

• Joined that night

• 2nd season as Membership Chair

• Wanted to get involved and help promote a program I was proud of and cared about thefuture

Membership Sign Up Process• Sign up for new membership or renewals

• 3 methods - Online, Mail Application, or in person

• Accept Cash, Check, Credit Card (use PayPal Here for Credit Card and Stripe for online)

• $30 Single Membership, $50 Household Membership

• Info all captured in master spreadsheet

• Website is doing a good job of reminding people to renew each year

• For Household memberships that are online have to get additional signatures forwaiver – can be problematic

• Send Membership Packet

• Welcome Letter

• Membership Card(s)

• Alpine Gift Card (if before February 28th)

• Pros – Complete data/stats on membership, starting to become systemic, welcomepackets to members give complete starter information if new to the club

• Cons – time consuming, still manual entry into master file and entering newaccounts online for paper sign up, technical issues, household liability waiver issues

Membership Application and Online Interface

Credit Card payment newas of 2014/2015 season

Membership PacketWelcome Letter and Membership Card

What has worked well• Membership Meeting Location – Heist Brewery

• Central Charlotte location, casual environment, breeds social engagement

• Key to success – this is likely where potential members will first encounter the club and keep itaccessible to all members in your area

• Discounts

• Deals with local ski shops - Gift Card, tuning package, rental discount, lift ticket discounts

• Highlight what you bring to their business by teaming

• Heist Brewery 10% discount

• Social Media – have them link to each other and off your website

• Meetup – calendar of events

• Facebook – post events, photo sharing, general updates

• Instagram – photo sharing

• Consider getting an intern to help run your social media

• Diversify Leadership

• Have multiple age groups and interests represented on the board

What has worked well• Year Round Social Events – Keep in touch off the slopes

• Monthly happy hours

• Trampoline dodgeball

• Lake parties

• Summer Monthly White Water Center River Jams

• Annual Christmas Party

• Trivia Night

• Go Kart Racing

• Knights Game

• 3 year trend has membership growingYOY

• 2013/2014 – 255 memberships (314 Members)

• 2014/2015 – 268 memberships (366 Members) – 38% New Memberships

• 5% Growth # Memberships, 17% Growth in # Members

• 2015/2016 – 152 memberships (228 Members) – 27% New Memberships as of 10/22/15

• Compare End of October 2014 – 129 Memberships (176 Members)

• Currently 18% Growth in # memberships, 30% Growth in # Members from same time last year

Membership Challenges• Retention

• Keeping current members engaged and coming back year after year

• Send email to previous years members who haven’t signed back up

• Growing New Members andYounger Member base

• Competition from other social clubs

• Can be hard to find people interested in skiing/snowboarding

• Change

• Keeping what the legacy membership base wants and meshing with what the newmembership base wants

• Making people aware the club exists

• Hard and costly to publicize and make community aware of the club

• Website

• Your best advertisement tool – must be aesthetically pleasing and user friendly

• Household memberships make it a 2 step process when online

• Know and acknowledge your weakness

Ideas to Grow Membership• Reward members who bring in new members – make it a contest for t-shirt, free membership, member

of the month spotlight

• Team with local university alumni groups from regions with ski resorts (Colorado, MA/NH/VT/ME,Northwest, Michigan, Minnesota, etc)

• Team with a company’s Wellness department – offer discounted membership or see if they will promoteclub

• Team with local stores – cross advertise, co partner/co sponsor

• Advertise!!

• Social Media – Meetup, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

• Table at Fall Festival, Church Events, College Campus

• Posters to hang at ski stores, gyms, college boards, bars/restaurants

• Business cards to hand out when you meet new people – can be a generic club card or for each officer

• Team with local college organizations – Outdoor Clubs, Ski teams

• Press Releases – local newspaper and magazine, local tv station

• Teton Gravity Research and Warren Miller Movies

• Promotional Materials

• t-shirts, koozies, stickers for car, business cards

• You are your best advertiser

• Work with other clubs to learn from their successes

• Focus – start with 2-3 new ideas to implement – don’t overwhelm and burnout

Communication• Mail Chimp – Free Email Service

• Unsubscribe Feature

• Statistics – % open email, % clicked on each link, bounce backs

• Newsletter

• Moved from PDF format (est 10 pgs) to email body with links through Mail Chimp

• Easier to read while mobile, get to info you are interested in quickly

• Consistency in sending it out monthly,

• Easy to update and send next month – just make edits and resend but the bulk is already done

• Website – have a user friendly and up to date website

• Meetup

• Best method other than word of mouth/friends to find new and young members

• Facebook

• Good for staying in touch with current members – open to anyone though

• Instagram (#CLTSKI)

Meetup.com

Meetup.com

Meetup.com

• # Meetup Groups in 10 mile radius of:

• Knoxville, TN – 137

• Charleston, WV - 20

• Asheville, NC - 301

• Greenville, SC – 234

• Myrtle Beach, SC – 58

• Greensboro, NC – 205

• Winston – Salem, NC – 128

• Huntsville, AL – 81

• Augusta, GA – 80

• Wrightsville Beach, NC – 133

• Hickory, NC - 27

Meetup.com

• #1 way new members find out about us other than through a friend

• You do not have to be a paying club member to follow on meetup

• It can be set up so it is members only and a host has approval rights

• Or can be open to the public so more people can follow the club

• Post events and allow people to RSVP

• Great for social events where you may not need to be a paying member

• Can also post trips and help gather interests where members would need to sign up

• Make sure to show club diversity in pictures to attract all groups

• Great way for people new to the area or looking to meet new people to findthe club

Meetup.com

What’s the “Buzz” with SocialMedia?

Robert Avsec

Why is KSC Using Social Media Tools?

Improve communications with KSCmembers;

◦ KSC activities and meetings during ski season;

◦ KSC activities and events outside of skiseason

Improve KSC marketing efforts to attractnew members

TwitterTwitter is an online social networking tool in which userspost 140 character updates of what is going on in theirlives along with links to things they think are interesting,funny, or useful to their followers (“following” beingessentially what “friending” is on other sites).

Signing Up with Twitter

www.twitter.com

Twitter users choose who they do and do not follow. Youhave total control of what news you receive on theirhomepage.

When I refer to your “homepage”, I’m referring to the feedthat you see when signed into twitter containing you andyour followers tweets.

You can have an unlimited amount of followers, but onlyfollow a select few people if you want, making it easy tostay in touch with the people you care to stay in touchwith.

Your Twitter Homepage

Twitter Terminology

@KanawhaSkiClub is our Club’s User Name; onlysomeone who has User Access to the KSC Twitteraccount can send tweets with this User Name

When you sign up with Twitter, you get to select yourUser Name. e.g., what goes after the @

What Twitter Offers KSC

Promote events inside and outside of the Club;

Notify Members of changes or cancellations to events inreal time;

Communicate with other KSC and CSC members whileon ski trips; and

Share links to interesting content with other KSC orCSC members

The Twitter # Symbol

Using the # symbol, you can create aunique “address” for other Twitter Usersso that they can see your posts

What Facebook Offers

More than the 140 characters allowed by Twitter;

Post photos

Create Event Invitations, e.g., Ski trips,“Munch & Mingle”,Membership Meeting

Share content with other KSC members (Inward-FacingFacebook GROUP) or with anyone on Facebook whohas Liked our Outward-Facing Facebook PAGE)

Our “Outward –Facing” Facebook Page

Our “Inward –Facing” Facebook Group

You might be interested in learning more:

Mom,This HowTwitter Workshttp://www.momthisishowtwitterworks.com/

How to Explain Social Networks to Non-Users (Without MakingThem Feel Stupid)http://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-explain-social-networks/