Analysis

This recommendation report was written based on research from online databases as well as a few local studies done through surveys online. From this information, we have determined recommendations for increasing membership. Our recommendations are:

Using the Best Social Sales Strategies
Using Call-to-Actions to Turn Website Users into Members: Conversion Marketing
Using Social Media to Convert Interested People into Paying Members
Using Social Media to Advertise and Attract People

Using the Best Social Sales Strategies

Social Sales

Marketing a niche organization especially requires appealing to people on a personal level. To appeal best to interested parties, also variably referred to as “leads” and “potential members”, we seek to understand what they want to see in the HHS. We hope to craft a useful set of tools, such as language, social encapsulation, and market segmentation, to best appeal to the niche group of hoosiers interested in herpetology.

Recommendation, Information, and Inspiration: The Best Sales Appeals

We found that the most stable sales approach in any situation is to recommend. Especially in the case of the HHS, which has well-respected and involved members, this appeal should work well due to their “trusted expertise” (Blocker, 2008). The other main appeal we recommend the HHS use when attempting to convert potential members is to inform. Though this method has more mixed results than recommendation, it does appeal most to “high-task clients… and clients with a low self-orientation” (Blocker, 2008). This means that informing an audience who already knows about the HHS, or even has general knowledge of herpetological societies about what the HHS is and how it operates as a sales tactic may fail. But, it appears many leads may be high-task, accounting for the number who seem to be most interested in the organization itself.

There are a few appeals we believe you should avoid. Primarily of note is rapport-building. Despite some level of rapport being needed in all social interactions, it is largely insignificant when trying to get someone to agree to spend money (Blocker, 2008). Making friends and making sales are very different. Appealing to potential members by advertising extrinsic goods may also have no significant effect on their agreeing to join the HHS. We found that “members make decisions about [the amount of money they donate to nonprofits] on the basis of motivations connected to their own thoughts or emotions as opposed to external motivations, such as peer pressure or rewards for donations” (Ki, 2018). This leaves intrinsic motivations, which are more nebulous.

Inspiration, the final successful type of appeal, deals entirely with intrinsic motivation. This appeal may require a shift in the way the HHS functions toward an emphasis on conservation. Though inspirational appeals can be tricky, and case-by-case, as “client’s emotions will look different based on customers’ orientations and unique personalities” (Blocker, 2008), the majority of parties interested in the HHS have an interest in nature more generally.

We recommend the HHS use the respected status of their current members to recommend membership to any potentially interested parties, inform the general public widely about the activities of the HHS, and emphasize its educational and conservationist aspects when doing any public-facing event.

How Many Social Events is Too Few?

Social encapsulation, that is, how much time and energy social events require, are an important aspect of any organization. Too much may cause members to feel isolated, resulting in an increasingly complex hierarchy in the organization, with few new members joining. Alternatively, too little social encapsulation may cause very high turnover rates (Shi, 2017). Having a moderate level of social engagement appears to be best, especially when considering responses from the community.

As seen in fig. B. 3, social events are important, but not the main pull for leads. But the social aspect is vital. In the HHS, which to our understanding, is an organization “that value[s] adaptability and wish[es] to limit institutional inertia” (Shi, 2018), we advise you maintain a level of social encapsulation that keeps members invested, but not to the level of direct competition with other aspects of their life. The timeline is not exact, but to avoid this competition it is best to maintain low-to-moderate social encapsulation (Shi, 2018). We think to maintain new members, moderate-to-low would mean two events per month. The HHS already has one club meeting per month, which we believe may be too few to encapsulate members in a community. To meet with even slightly more regularity should yield an increase in membership and in member retention.

Carving a Niche for the HHS

Some good news for the HHS is that it is a very niche organization. It lies squarely in an obscure market, and monopolizes the herpetological society market in Indiana entirely. This places it in a unique position, poised to build a community. To best make use of the HHS’ unique market, we recommend you attempt market segmentation. “Market segmentation” simply refers to breaking down your whole market into smaller groups that “(1) have common needs and (2) will respond similarly to marketing actions” (Akbar, 2017). For your purposes, we recommend you mainly focus on the former, and identify the parts of your market that hold common interest in certain aspects of the HHS. Our survey stands as an example of this, but less focused. Segmentation can be achieved by asking first-time members or prospective members to voice what they would like to see more of in the HHS, having annual polls over the club’s events, etc.

What you do with this information is further customize and tailor your niche product to the market. By doing this, the HHS “can provide higher value to customers by developing a market mix that addresses the specific needs and concerns of the selected segment” (Akbar, 2017). This recommendation uses a complex term (market segmentation) to state, essentially, that we recommend the HHS ask the community what they want to see. This focus on customer needs, and consistent interaction with the community both should grow the HHS within its market (Akbar, 2017).

[Caption: A bar graph showing the responses indicated by 43 respondents to what matters most to them in a club or organization. Multiple responses could be indicated. The majority indicated the cause/organization’s reason for existing was the most important for them.]

[Figure B.1]

[Caption: A pie chart indicating that 75% of 43 respondents interested in herpetology were interested in reptiles and amphibians as a part of their general interest in nature or a developing interest in nature.]

[Figure B.2]

[Caption: Our survey of 41 people interested in reptiles and amphibians revealed that more than 2 out of 3 (68%) respondents were most interested in social events or outings. 3 out of 5 (60%) indicated that effecting change in a community was at least equally important, less than 1 out of 4 (23%) indicated that seminars or educational lectures were equally or most important, 1 out of 3 (33%) indicated that easy access to newsletters or exclusive information was equally or most important. This means that organizations appeal most to interested groups when they emphasize social belonging and integration into a community.]

[Figure B.3]

Using Call-to-Actions to Turn Website Users into Members: Conversion Marketing

Call-to-Action

In our effort to increase HHS members, we find that using call-to-action (CTA) concepts and strategies can effectively direct website users to commit to a sale such as HHS membership. Although it is evident that the HHS is aware of and uses call-to-actions concepts in their website, this recommendation will further explain strategies that can be applied.

Defining Call-to-Actions

A call-to-action is an online conversion marketing concept that strategically directs people to a page within the website where they can take action–such as providing contact information or committing to a sale. These call-to-actions can be used in different ways. The six most effective call-to-action concepts detailed in this suggestion are listed:

Call-to-action text, picture, and video

Call-to-action button
Call-to-action pop-up
Call-to-action feedback

Out of 20 responses, it was revealed that 55%, over half of website user’s sales, were primarily influenced by the collective use of the following call-to-actions: text, picture, video, and feedback. Where 5% of people indicated that their sale was primarily influenced by text call-to-actions, 20% by picture call-to-actions, 10% by video call-to-actions, 5% by feedback call-to-action, and 5% by no call-to-action.

The Importance of Using Call-to-Action Concepts and Strategies

We found that strategically using call-to-actions are critical to the success of website conversion marketing. With experts stating, “After doing a large amount of research on how to optimize e-commerce websites, call-to-actions showed up repeatedly as the key element for optimization” (Rice, 2014). Call-to-Actions prove to be key elements because they assist in the entire conversion process, from user to buyer, with another expert stating, “In practice, a percentage of customers fail to progress through each stage…A digital marketer's goal, in essence, is to move a potential customer through all phases…utilizing call-to-actions, resulting in a higher conversion rate for each call-to-action, and subsequently, purchase” (Bardsen, 2022). This means we wanted to examine the most effective call-to-action concepts and strategies that can convert your website users into HHS members.

Effectively Using Call-to-Actions: Text, Picture, and Video

We found that a text call-to-action is most effective when presented with direct yet informative wording. With users being more cautious about sharing personal information, it is crucial to thoroughly communicate the offer. A text call-to-action like “click here” is direct but not informative, while a text call-to-action like “click here to contribute to herpetological conservation” is direct and informative. This could build trust between your organization and users that will influence their decision in further commuting to your membership. (Meslem, Abbaci, 2023).

We found that a picture call-to-action is most effective when displayed on the website to elicit “promident” and “consistent” feelings. The feeling of all picture call-to-actions should be consistent with the feeling your organization is trying to convey. To avoid a disconnection between your organization and the user, these pictures should elicit feelings that prominently connect the user to the organization’s offer. This could mean featuring pictures of families happily learning about herpetology in nature, as it is prominent and consistent with that typically appeals to people as well as the message of the website (Eisenberg, Eisenberg, 2006).

We found that a video call-to-action is most effective in engaging users when displayed with prompts such as questionnaires/surveys that end with an offer. A study found that when a video call-to-action is played parallel to prompts asking the user to engage with the video’s content, such as providing a rating, they were more likely to commit to an offer at the end. A study revealed there was a 127% increase in donation average between users exposed to a video with zero prompts and those exposed to a video with four prompts. This could mean displaying videos with corresponding prompts that end with a membership offer (Perez, Oestreicher- Singer, Zalmanson, 2017).

Effectively Using Call-to-actions: Button

We found that a button call-to-action is a simple yet effective way to enhance conversion rates by 8%-27% (Meyer, 2023). Button call-to-actions can be designed to stand out by using prominent and accessible placement, such as in the beginning header, sides, and end of all website pages (Smith, 2015), as well as using noticeable sizing and contrasting colors (Meslem, Abbaci, 2023). They are most effective when used in combination with other call-to-actions. For example combining a text and button call-to-action concept and strategy, writing less intrusive text within the button like “click here to learn more” instead of immediately asking users to “click here to buy” will work together to influence the users decision to commit to a membership.This could mean placing accessible, sizable, contrasting, and combined call-to-actions buttons on your website pages (Krasteva, 2017).

Effectively Using Call-to-actions: Pop-up

We found that a pop-up call-to-action is effective in capturing users attention while allowing users direct access to an offer that can appear in the ways listed below (Meyer, 2023):

Drop-Down: Targets users by presenting a drop-down call-to-action from the header of the page that provides an offer without entirely distracting users from the website content.
Slide-In: Targets users by presenting a slide-in call-to-action from the right or left of the website page that provides an offer when a user is most likely to commit to a sale based on the duration detected on the page.
Exit intent: Targets users by presenting an exit intent call-to-action, when a user is detected to be closing the page a last chance offer is presented. This offer should not be a sale commitment like a membership but a content offer such as a subscription.

Effectively Using Call-to-actions: Feedback

We found that a feedback call-to-action is effective with presenting forms such as questionnaires and surveys that are framed to change users perception of website content that in turn increases users willingness to commit to offers. A study found that users that were asked to provide feedback to a firm through a survey were more likely to purchase a service from that firm. The study attributes their findings to a question-behavior effect in which questions posed by the firm have the power to change users' feelings towards the firm (Perez, Oestreicher- Singer, Zalmanson, 2017). This could mean making a questionnaire or survey that focuses on family and friend connections through herpetology education and conservation, framing the users perception of your organization.

[This data was collected from our survey, “Help A Local Business! Take A Survey!” Where the second question asks, “When viewing a website, you're more likely to commit to an offered sale when you have a connection to the website's message through which of the following ways?]

[Figure S.1]

Using Social Media to Convert Interested People Into Paying Members

We wanted to find different ways to increase membership for the HHS, so we explored a few different approaches to this issue. This proposal uses social media to bring in people who are already interested in the HHS. This can be done in a multitude of ways, depending on the demographic they want to bring in. Mainly, they are trying to bring in people who are already interested in herpetology and the HHS, but this can be adapted to reach other audiences.

Targeted Content Based On Connection

When trying to market to people online, the type of content that is being used is important. A few different sources have discussed how the connection/loyalty someone has to the organization or business is important to the sort of content put out. “[Social media marketing activity] provides good opportunities for marketers to have a wider reach and to build effective long-term relationships with consumers. As a result of developing these long-term relationships between customers and brands, the consumers (or followers) on social media platforms are more loyal and committed to corporate brands and have opportunities to repurchase these brands. This argument follows our indicated position that [brand loyalty] can be built by achieving consumers’ commitment to continually re-buy the brands.” (Ibrahim, 2022). Brand loyalty, in this sense, can be assumed to be similar to people who have memberships to the HHS.

Depending on the level of connection, in this situation either members or nonmembers with interest, different sorts of content is needed to appeal. “Social media marketers should develop relational and intellectual content to drive saves to loyalty program members, and behavioral content to sell to non-loyalty program members most effectively” (Hernández-Ortega, Stanko, Rishika, et. al, 2022). Relational content is focused on close connection/friends and family sort of content; intellectual content is like polls, riddles, and quizzes; behavioral content illustrate actions that are close to the organization.

With this in mind, if the HHS is trying to appeal to non-members, they would need to post content that is focused on what can be done with the club and what they can get with their membership. However, other sorts of posts still benefit their online presence, to keep appealing to their members even after they pay for the membership. Find a good harmony between posts meant to attract people into becoming a member, and appealing to established members.

Revamping Facebook OR New Platform

The HHS already has sort of an established online presence with their Facebook group and their website. However, the Facebook group has a lot of members (and also non members) posting it in, rather than someone from the board itself. There is nothing wrong with this; having members of the club post that pertains to it builds community and can boost the social aspect. Either changing the Facebook page to have a more established look with information from the board or having the board members (or webmaster) create a new social media account elsewhere, like Instagram, would be beneficial.

A good step towards a stronger online presence would be to use Instagram. Instagram and Facebook are now able to be integrated together, so posts that are made on an Instagram page can also be posted to Facebook at the same time. This would reach a wider audience than just those in the Facebook page, as the Facebook page can’t really get to people who are not in/know of the HHS yet.

The Facebook page is a great place to reach out to people who are interested in herpetology, but do not have a membership yet. Obviously people who are in a group that solely post about reptiles are interested in them. The Facebook place would be a good start to plug the membership opportunity, as it seems like the only mention of the membership is hidden in the about page. Possibly having a pinned post about membership can make people more aware of it, or have reminder posts.

If interested in this idea, the HHS could begin some promotional content about purchasing a membership. Having a way to boost the appeal of membership can help get a foot in the door for people. Priscilla Oliver, who was on the board of the National Environmental Health Association, had some ideas for increasing membership through enhancing the value of it. Some ideas from her article can be applied to the HHS. For example, the HHS could do a five dollars off the first year of membership special then resuming to full membership, throwing in a free piece of merch, or some sort of special reward for becoming a member/donating during a special promotion (Oliver, 2019).

Establishing Consistency Online

Once the HHS decides to start posting content pushing the membership, it is important that they commit to it or it will not have the desired effect (Milde, 2017). Creating a social media calendar that keeps track of what they want to post, and where it is being posted (if another account is created) can be a great way to track this.

A social media calendar can be used to keep track of what kind of content you want to post and when, along with setting short- and long-term goals for the platform. There are many templates online of successful examples of this. This, if using the connected Facebook/Instagram idea from a few paragraphs up, would enable the HHS to post consistently about things going on, upcoming events, and more.

One of the bigger issues with social media is that it is very fast paced, and can have unintended consequences (such as bad reception/lack of knowledge). Part of this comes from the inherent risk of social media, as people’s interactions (i.e. trolling, when someone posts or comments online to deliberately upset others) can affect the platform and organization. To battle this, ensuring you have good moderation online is key.

Even though social media can be daunting, it is important to keep in mind that the actual content is what draws people in. While past experience of the aesthetics/looks of the post do appeal to people at face value, the information that comes from the post is the most important part, and is what should be kept in mind (see fig. T.1 above).

[Caption: Data comes from question one of the survey (If you have ever taken action due to a social media post, what was it about the post that motivated you?) displayed in a bar graph out of 42 responses.]

[Figure T.1]

[Caption: Each figure displays the information as a percentage of people that prefers each category of content, done this way because of the ability to pick multiple answers for the question. This data came from (What kind of content do you like to see on social media?).]

[Figure T.2.1]

[Figure T.2.2]

[Figure T.2.3]

[Figure T.2.4]

[Caption: Social media calendar, found at https://offers.hubspot.com/social-media-content-calendar]

[Figure T.3]

SM: Interested People

Using Social Media to Advertise And Attract People

SM: Targetted Audience

Our team wants to find different ways of increasing membership for the Hoosier Herpetological Society. The team used different approaches to tackle this issue. My recommendation uses social media to advertise and attract members who are interested or sought to explore Herpetological society. Media Advertisement can be done in multiple ways, depending on the target audience they want to reach and the demographic.

Identifying Target Audience

Before creating social media content, you need to identify your target audience. Who are the people you want to reach out to, what are their interests, age, gender, location, and other demographics. Once you clearly understand your target audience, you can create content that resonates with and engages them. Researchers have found that identifying your target audience before posting content has a tremendous impact on brand awareness. “It’s crucial to understand who your target audience is on social media. Knowing their demographics, interests, and behavior will help you create content that resonates with them. You can use social media analytics tools to gather data on your audience and use it to inform your content strategy” (Mumbai, 2023). This means targeting the audience who know about HHS, and audience who are interested in herpetology in general will help the HHS on how to interact with the audience and create engaging content.

Creating Engaging Content to Target Audience

Social media is all about engagement. When advertising products/services to increase brand awareness online, creating engaging content is very important. We found out that creating engaging content is critical in increasing membership for an organization. “Creating engaging content is essential to stand out on social media. You want to create content that grabs attention and provides value to your audience. You can experiment with different types of content, such as videos, images, infographics, or text posts, to see what resonates with your audience” (Mumbai, 2023). Educated content aims to inform, teach, and share valuable information with the audience; Entertain content is intended to amuse, delight, or surprise the audience; Inspire content seeks to motivate, encourage, or empower the audience.

With this information, if the HHS is trying to target non members, they need to post educational and entertaining content that focuses on the ideology of the club and that would help with their membership. Also posting inspiring content will still benefit the club social platform as well as appealing to non members to join the club.

Modifying Existing Social Media Platform OR Creating New Platform

The HHS already has an online platform and a facebook group page. The facebook group has a lot of members and non-members. Creating a new social platform like TiK Tok, and instagram would be beneficial to the club. For example, if the target audience are teenagers, platforms like Tik Tok, Instagram and Snapchat would be more relevant than Facebook. On the other hand, Facebook will be beneficial if the target audience is older people. However, not all social media platforms are created equal. Each platform has its own strengths and weaknesses, and the HHS should choose the ones that align with the club goals and target audience.

[Caption: Educational content compared to entertaining content. From the “How Social Media can Benefit A Local Business!” survey]

[Figure N.1]

[Caption: Educational content compared to inspirational content. From the “How Social Media can Benefit A Local Business!” survey]

[Figure N.2]

[Caption: Inspirational content compared to Entertaining content. From the “How Social Media can Benefit A Local Business!” survey]

[Figure N.3]

[Caption: Data from the third survey, coming from the second question: Which social media platform do you use most often?]

[Figure N.4]

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