Membership Geeks Podcast with Mike Morrison

Are Facebook groups still a good option for your membershipcommunity?The answer has become more complicated considering thatFacebook has upped their game over the past few years.But, as it is with most things, with the good comes the bad.On this episode of the Membership Geeks, we’re delving into the age-old debate of Facebook groups vs on-site forums, with a little twist.We explore new and useful features that come with Facebook groups and the downsides of hosting your community on the platform. We also look into a few alternatives to using Facebook or on-site forums for your membership community.Essential Learning Points:Why Facebook’s accessibility is both a pro and conHow Facebook groups can impact your live events  Cool new features Facebook has added in their groupsWhy Facebook groups are more suited for informal interactionsAlternative platforms to host your communityImportant Links & Mentions:The Membership GeeksFacebook Announce Paid Group Subscriptions. What Does It Mean For Memberships?Jill Stanton on Using Facebook Groups to Grow Your MembershipShould you use a Forum or Facebook Group for your community?Key Quotes:“The average member experience is going to incorporate some content and some community. So, if you're splitting those up, it just becomes more of a hassle for members.”“The main thing people cite as a reason to have their memberships on Facebook is how easy, accessible, and discoverable it is to have a group on there.”“All the features in the world mean nothing if the group isn’t serving the purpose of enabling your members to connect and talk to each other.”

Trying to build a membership website is a sizable undertaking for anyone...But building one in under a day, that sounds unrealistic, right?After all, you've got to wrestle with technology, create content and focus on building your audience - quite often ahead of your launch - all while generating a buzz to ensure you get that initial influx of members when you open the doors to your membership... There are a lot of plates to spin...Surely it's not possible to do that in under a day?Well, if you're able to bring some of those elements to the table from day one...So if you already have an established audience who are eager to buy from you...Or a wealth of content curated from past projects, maybe via courses you've previously released or workshops you've delivered...Then it’s entirely possible to build a membership website a lot quicker than you may think - in under a day. And in this episode of The Membership Geeks podcast we share how. Essential Learning Points: This approach isn’t right for everyone. You need to make sure your expectations about the end result are realistic.Keep things simple, especially when it comes to technology. Stick to the essentials, avoid the bells and whistles at this stage. Create your content in real-time and utilize live video. Make lots of noise when you launch.Important links and mentions:  6 Ways to Create Interest and Buzz for Your Membership LaunchWhat If I Don’t Want to Use WordPress for My Course or Membership Site?How to Use Live Video to Market Your Membership with Luria PetrucciKajabiPodia SimpleroCircle Key Quotes: “What we’re shooting for here is “good enough”. So you have to accept that it won’t be everything you want it to be initially, however the best memberships are always evolving and are a constant work in progress, so the good news is that you can make improvements as time goes on.”“As long as people can register, pay and log in, and can then access protected content, you have a working membership site.”“Don’t create any content upfront. Instead, create a calendar of upcoming live webinars that will be only available only to paying members.”“Whatever the reason for needing or wanting to build your membership website in just a day, it’s important to recognise that this approach shouldn’t become the norm as your membership grows.”

What do you fear most as a membership site owner?Let us guess... Cancellations?!We'll let you into a little secret...You're not alone in this.Cancellations are without doubt the big bad boogeyman of the membership world...Even your friendly neighbourhood Membership Geeks face this fear with you!No one likes them...The truth is, cancellations are inevitable.But there are ways to minimize them… Especially if you can predict drop-off points in your memberships ahead of time and take action to fix them.In this episode of the Membership Geeks podcast, we’re going to share with you how to do just that. Essential Learning Points5 key drop off points majority of memberships face. How to make people want to stay after the initial 30 day period. Strategies to put in place to maximize your number of annual renewals.How to identify and prevent seasonal cancellations. Key Quotes: “Sometimes the reasons for cancellation are beyond your control. And often, they're even beyond the control of your members. Life happens!”“Within the first month when someone joins your site you'll see several different stages that can form a common drop-off point - a time when you lose a lot more members than normal - You need to ensure that you have a strong onboarding process in place to minimize the number of drop-offs.”“If somebody joins for 12 months and this period is coming to an end, they have a big decision to make whether or not to renew, as it's a bigger lump sum investment rather than a monthly payment.”“It’s a worthwhile exercise to monitor the performance of your membership site, identify patterns with sign-ups and drop-offs, and average member attendance. But also, to try to monitor, predict and pre-empt seasonal drop-off periods or topic-based drop-off periods according to your audience profile.”

How much time does it actually take to run a membership site?This is probably one of the most common questions we get asked...And as with many things when it comes to memberships, there isn't a 'one size fits all' answer. Some membership sites can quietly tick away in the background without really needing much attention...Others, however, need you to work on them pretty much daily.How much time you dedicate to running your membership is entirely up to you...It could be half an hour a day, 5 hours a day or 8 hours a day.But how do you decide how much time is needed? In this episode of the Membership Geeks podcast, we explore where you’ll most likely spend the bulk of your time when managing your site, how to decide what tasks to spend your time on and we share some top time-saving tips to help you maximize your input into your site. Essential Learning Points: The benefits and drawbacks on your time spent running live sessions. Content creation is one of the most time consuming elements of running your membership. The difficulties gauging time of handling customer service.Marketing your site - how the closed-door model might not be the time-saving option that it appears to be. Why you should hire a team to save you time managing your membership.The importance of picking the right structure for your membership. How to manage your accessibility to members. Key Quotes: “When it comes to handling customer service it’s very difficult to gauge how much time this is going take you. That's because it's variable. It will depend on how the dynamic of your community forms and it will change over time as your site evolves.”“Not every task for your membership site needs to be done by you”“If you know that you don't have the time to commit to engaging with and growing your community, then it may be better for you to forego it altogether. Having no community is better than having one that's as dead as a dodo.”“You don't have to be totally accessible to your members. There are benefits to actually taking a step back”

For performing artists, the global pandemic was a bleak time.With everything shut down, and no hope in sight, Jim Cooney, the founder of Amplified Artists, found a way to turn lemons into lemonade.In this episode, he tells us a bit about Amplified Artists, from how it started to how it’s going now.Jim explains what inspired him to start a business in an industry that was dealt a bad hand and how he’s managed to grow steadily as things have opened up a bit more. You’ll also hear about how he juggles his personal life with the responsibilities of running a membership.Essential Learning Points:What inspired Jim to start Amplified Artists during the pandemicHow Jim engages his members by asking them to create contentJim’s marketing strategy for Amplified Artists The benefits of building your membership around your lifeWhy starting simple is so importantImportant Links & Mentions: Membership Academy Amplified Artists Key Quotes:“I just have to accept that now things have opened up, I'm probably going to lose members during this time, and that’s okay because I'll definitely pick things back up and build them.”“I'm still having to tell myself to keep things simple — your members are ultimately going to guide everything for you.”“Remember to take care of yourself as a person and to be human, because you’re a human first and an artist second.”

Happy #membershipday! Now it’s certainly no secret that we love membership sites. But why do we love them so much? It's all about the 3 F’s:Freedom. Flexibility. Fulfilment.A membership can bring you all these things and more, and today on a special Membership Day episode of the podcast, we’re diving into what the 3Fs mean for you as a membership site owner. And don’t just take our word for it! We’ve got some special guests in this episode too, sharing the impact that having a membership site has had on their own life and business. 

In most cases, you might think the words “membership” and “personalized experience” don’t belong in the same sentence.So, you’re probably wondering, “how exactly am I going to offer tailored experiences when I’ve got hundreds or thousands of members?” The good news is that it’s not impossible. In fact, there are so many ways to form that personal connection with your members that will ultimately drive them to fulfill their goals.Essential Learning Points:Why offering a personalized experience is beneficialHow segmentation can make the membership experience better for usersThe many uses of a member surveyHow personal videos and check-ins make your members feel seenWhen to use a private welcome videoHow to correctly segment your communityImportant Links & Mentions:Membership GeeksMembership AcademyUsing Segmentation to Increase Leads and Member SalesKey Quotes:“What everything comes down to when we talk about personalizing and tailoring the member experience is making people think, “Hey if I were to design the perfect membership, just for me, this is actually what it would be like,” and the ability to connect directly to people where they are on their journey.”“99% of people with large customer bases are not doing any of this. People have come to expect automation and an impersonal experience. And so, if you show that you’re a real person, that's going to go a long way.”“If the experience someone has inside your membership is personalized, then that member is more likely to extract the specific things that they're most interested in — essentially, that’s more value.”

Imagine launching a membership based on your passion… It’s the dream, right?But what if you’ve built your business delivering classes in-person and are faced with the challenge of finding an online solution that will deliver the same value?And you need to do this in the midst of a global pandemic…That’s exactly what Lucy Walker from The Metalsmith Academy did…And her story is awesome! She’s only a year into her membership and has thousands of members…And while she’s been hugely successful as a membership owner, the past year hasn’t passed by without its challenges… In this episode Lucy joins us to share her journey so far… Listen to hear about:  How the pandemic forced Lucy to put her entire business online and make the transition from offering courses to launching her membership. How The Metalsmith Academy launched with over 3,000 members in total, with 1,300 of them opting for the annual plan. The reasons behind changing her enrollment model from closed to open. How Lucy uses Instagram and YouTube to drive people into her membership funnel.Her approach to fostering a positive community and driving engagement.  Key Quotes:“We try and get people straight into the forums. As soon as they join, the first thing we say on email is ‘Hey, go and say hi in the forums, I’ll be there waiting for you. Come and introduce yourself” “With jewellery, it’s such a practical skill. When we were teaching in-person classes you could just have a vague outline and show people then be there to guide them through their problems. With online classes, the clearer you make them, the less work you have to do in the background, so being online has made me be a lot clearer in my teaching.”“As a team we can often pack up and head off to a tropical island to work and that’s absolutely amazing.” “I wish I’d started building an audience earlier. I wish we’d started concentrating on Instagram when I first started making jewellery, rather than doing it when I started the business because I had to.” 

Are you running your membership on the side while managing an existing client focused or service based business? Maybe you’re a web designer who still builds websites…Or a music teacher dealing with private students… And to put it quite simply, you’re feeling stuck… You want to make the transition from working with clients to running your membership full-time… But you’re not sure how to do it… Or even if it's the time is right to make the switch! We’ve been there… And completely understand that it’s a HUGE decision to make… So we’ve decided to help you out… In this episode we share some tips on how to switch from working with clients to running your membership full-time…Essential Learning Points:Why you should treat your membership as a client. How to decide when to start making the switch to working on your membership full-time.Three different approaches to choose from for making the switch. Our tried and tested process for making the transition as smoothly as possible.  Important Links & Mentions:New Year, New brand: Say Hello to The Membership GeeksHow Much Time Does it Take to Run A Membership Site?7 Things You Need to Validate Before Starting a MembershipHow Much Does it Cost to Start and Run a Membership Website?  Key Quotes:“Far too often when working on our own projects and trying to fit them in around the main activities in your business, those projects slip down the priority list and only get attention when the important stuff is done - so your first step to readying yourself for transitioning from side-gig to full time focus is changing your mindset and habits on this front.”“It’s important to know that this whole process is not going to happen overnight. You’re not going to be servicing clients today and then from tomorrow you’re only working on your membership.”“The timing of making the switch is really going to come down to your attitude towards risk, your confidence, and the particular situation you’re currently in with your business and in life.”

After 7 years we have a very sad announcement to make...The Membership Guys are no more.I know, I know... what a devastating way to start the New Year!But the good news is that we've just undergone a little bit of a rebrand and henceforth shall be known as...Membership Geeks!This is a change that is several years in the making, so tune into today's very special episode of the podcast to discover why we've rebranded, what it means going forward, and get the inside track on some of the exciting things we have planned for 2022 and beyond.