Enhance Member Engagement: Apply Communication Theory in Your Club or Association

Practical and easy-to-understand strategies for clubs and associations to enhance member communication based on communication theory. Actionable steps to reduce misunderstandings, understand what members want from their communication, and leverage influential members within the organisation. By implementing these tips, clubs and associations can foster stronger connections, improve information flow, and ultimately boost member engagement and retention.

Miscommunications can have a wide range of effects, from devastating events like the Charge of the Light Brigade. They were ordered to prevent the Russians from moving captured Turkish artillery, but due to a misunderstood message, they charged down the valley directly at a different, heavily defended set of Russian guns. In contrast, miscommunications can also lead to hilarious things, like a woman’s coworkers misunderstanding her request for a Mariah Carey birthday cake.

 

 

I think it’s great; we need more Marie Curie cakes. 

It will come as no surprise that communicating clearly and effectively is incredibly important, both in life and when running a club or association. You need to keep your members in the loop about what’s happening in your organisation. If you’re not communicating effectively, members might miss out on events because they don’t know about them. They could forget to renew their memberships, start engaging less, and, worst of all, they might not see the value in being a member anymore.

So, today, we aren’t just going to look at how to communicate more effectively with your members; we are going to look at how we can use communication theory (aka the study of how communication works and what makes it effective) to help improve your communication with your members. 

To be clear, this isn’t going to be some dry, boring, academic article droning on about comms theory. We will keep this light, fast, useful and hopefully mildly entertaining. What we are going to do is quickly look at a few models of communication and how we can apply them to your communication with your members. 

Reduce Member Miscommunications: Applying The Transactional Model Of Communication

Let's start with a basic idea that can really help us understand how to communicate better: the Transactional Model of Communication. Think of it as a simple breakdown of how a message gets from one person to another.

 

 

Imagine you want to tell a friend something. You first have a thought in your head, and then you turn that thought into words when you speak or write it down. In the Transactional model, this act of turning your thoughts into a message is called Encoding. That message then travels through a Channel to your friend; this could be the sound of your voice, a text message, or an email.

However, things can get in the way of your message reaching your friend clearly. Anything that disrupts this process is called Noise. If you're trying to talk in a noisy room, the background chatter is noise. If your email gets caught in a spam filter, that's digital noise. The more noise there is, the harder it is for your friend to understand what you're trying to say.

Once your message reaches your friend, they need to figure out what it means. This is called Decoding. If your message was clear and there wasn't too much noise, they'll likely understand it correctly. If they reply to you, that's Feedback.

Now, let's apply this to your club or association. You have important information that you want your members to know about, like an upcoming event. You, as the Sender, Encode that message by writing an email. The Channel is your members' email inboxes. But think about how many emails people receive daily; that crowded inbox is the Noise. Your important event announcement might get lost in that Noise, and members might miss it.

So, to communicate effectively, remember two key things from the Transactional model:

1. Encode Clearly: Make sure your messages are well-written, easy to understand, with no errors, so the initial message is strong.
2. Reduce Noise: Think about your channel and try to minimise distractions. For email, this might mean clear subject lines that stand out, or using other communication channels for urgent information.

This is where a feature like Member Jungle’s push notifications can be incredibly valuable. Compared to a crowded email inbox, there's likely significantly less Noise interfering with members receiving a direct push notification reminder on their phones. This can be a much more effective way to cut through the digital clutter and ensure important, time-sensitive messages, like event reminders, actually reach your members.

That’s one model of communication done. That wasn’t so bad, was it? Hopefully, it was easier and more convenient to understand than it was for me when I had to learn this stuff at uni. Seriously, a two-hour comms theory lecture at 8 am is downright hostile. 

Uses and Gratifications Theory: Understanding Member Needs

The Uses and Gratification theory says that people, in this case, members, are not passively consuming media; they actively seek information and types of communications they want/need. Someone who loves cars and prefers TV will seek out TV shows and movies about cars to watch. Someone who is very busy but loves science may find a science podcast to listen to on the go. Someone who loves video games and is seeking a form of community may seek out video game live streams to watch and chat on. 

This means that your members are looking for specific things in both the form of communication and what is being communicated. These things can be: 

• Information - Wanting to know about events, news, or resources
• Social Connection - Seeking a sense of belonging and interaction with other members
• Entertainment - Looking for engaging or interesting content
• Personal Identity - Wanting to feel aligned with the club's values or mission

You can use the Uses and Gratifications Theory to improve member engagement by understanding and catering to these different needs, rather than what you think they should want. 

The first step is to work out what your members need from you. Consider a knitting club versus a professional nursing association. While both might need to educate their members, the way those members want to receive that education and their other primary needs will likely differ. Nurses might value quick, easily accessible educational podcasts and videos focused on career advancement and advocacy. Knitters might prioritise community and social interaction, preferring fewer, simpler emails and more in-person events.

If you understand what your members want and how they want it, you will communicate more effectively. So, conduct surveys, gather feedback, and observe member behaviour to understand why your members engage with your communications (or why they don't). What are they hoping to get out of being a member?

Once you know what they want and how they want it, you can start properly appealing to it. 

• Tailor Content: Create diverse content that addresses your members' needs. Help them achieve the things they want, whether that be community education or plain old fun.  
• Choose the Right Channels: Recognise that different members prefer different channels for different needs. Some might prefer email for formal announcements, while others might engage more with social media or push notifications for quick updates and discussions. Some may prefer chatrooms to find out what’s happening and keep in touch with fellow members. You should offer information across multiple relevant channels.
• Empower Member Choice: Give members some control over the types and frequency of communications they receive (e.g., through preference centres). This allows them to filter out "noise" and focus on what they find valuable.  
• Seek Feedback Regularly: Continuously ask members what they find useful and what they'd like to see more of. This helps you adapt your communication strategy to better meet their evolving needs.  

By understanding that members are active seekers of value, you can move beyond simply broadcasting information and instead create communication that truly resonates and satisfies your members' diverse needs, leading to increased engagement and a stronger sense of community.

Two-Step Flow Model: Leveraging Opinion Leaders In Your Membership Organisation 

The Two-Step Flow Model of mass communication suggests that mass media doesn’t communicate directly to individuals; instead, its messages are often filtered and disseminated by Opinion Leaders. Think about it: far fewer people watch a political debate live compared to the number who tune into their favourite news commentators, late-night hosts, or influencers for their take on it. These Opinion Leaders act as intermediaries, and this holds true within your club or association.  

 

 

While your official emails and announcements go directly to your members, they are still likely influenced by the opinions and perspectives of certain individuals within your organisation. Long-term members, committee members, respected figures, and group leaders often, even unintentionally, shape how other members perceive information. If these Opinion Leaders embrace an idea, it's more likely that other members will too; if they reject it, others may too. 

So, something you can do is, once you identify who these people are, is to bring them onside, if they aren’t already. By that, I mean if you have a member who has been there for 20 years and is a big influence on what others think, communicate specifically with them about changes and new initiatives. Make sure they understand and support any changes before they are announced to the whole membership. This can help ensure that they are onboard with what you’re doing and not going to spread poor opinions about what you’re doing. 

Also, if these are people who members are going to look to for answers, make sure they have the right answers. If everyone keeps asking Greg what time 1st grade is playing on Saturday, don’t try to make them ask a committee member instead; make sure Greg knows.

 

 

In my head, this is Greg. He’s been a part of the club since time immemorial, and he always runs the sausage sizzle on game day. Greg is an Opinion Leader; take advantage of that. 

Making Theory Practical For Your Club Or Association

So those are just three different communication theories that can have a practical impact on your club or association’s communications. I hope it wasn’t too complicated and, most importantly, that it proves helpful. 

In summary, comms theory tells us: 

• You need to communicate clearly and try to reduce “Noise” around your channels of communication. Attention-catching email subject lines, push notifications, chat groups, and generally communicate in less cluttered channels.
• Understand what your members want from you and how they want it. Meet them where they are and communicate with them in the ways they want, not the ways you want. 
• Identify and empower opinion leaders amongst your members and give them the tools to help improve your communication. 

Other Ways You Can Communicate Better With Your Members

Like I said, I hope that it was useful to you. If it was, let me know, this is a deep well, and I’m sure I could easily do a part two of ways to apply communication theory to communicating with your members. 

In the meantime, check out How To Improve Your Club’s Communication With Its Members for more ideas on improving your communication. 

For a look into email newsletters and their effectiveness as communication tools, check out Are Newsletters The Best Way To Communicate With Club Members?