When used thoughtfully, digital modes of communication enhance and elevate a club’s culture while helping to solidify social bonds.
It’s often argued that technology, while allowing people from across the globe to connect instantaneously, can often blind users to the social opportunities immediately around them as their eyes stay glued to screens.
Given the inherently social nature of golf and country clubs, knowing how much technology to incorporate into the club environment can be a thorny subject. Some members prefer to keep devices as far from the clubhouse as possible, while others map out their lives with carefully planned Google calendars. But even the most technology-averse clubs often use three primary modes of digital communication: websites, e-newsletters, and social media.
Summing It Up • Developing a digital strategy that’s compatible with a club’s culture ensures that members stay engaged with content. • Considering the growth of smartphone use, websites and newsletters must be mobile-friendly. • To keep a club’s digital branding consistent on social media, the same team should be behind every post, tweet, and write-up. |
Communicating About Communicating
Unlike other more visible club investments, such as verdant golf courses and welcoming dining spaces, digital communication does not necessarily sell itself. Even the most appealing spaces need some promotion, and newsletters, websites and social media are no different.
For members who are already digitally connected to the club, extending invitations to sign up for newsletters, log in to a revamped website, and “like” or follow social media accounts can be as easy as sending an e-mail with an invitation link. For older members or those who prefer more one-on-one interaction, in-person encouragement from staff can go a long way. And with many members often carrying around their smartphones at any given time, staff can also offer to download apps and sign up for newsletters on members’ behalf.
Of course, some members simply aren’t interested in making the leap to all-digital communications, and prefer to receive club news in print. Keeping in mind member demographics and culture, and even asking people which method of communication they prefer, whether conversationally or through organized surveys, can help clubs determine how to most effectively convey information to every member.
If and when a club does transition from mailed newsletters to digital ones, the process should be gradual, with plenty of forewarning to members about the coming changes, and full explanations of how to opt in, or out.
Junk or spam e-mail is a common complaint among e-mail users, so creating newsletters and e-blasts that are pointed and useful to each member is critical to ensuring members stay engaged (and to keeping open rates high). As members sign up for newsletters, clubs can take the opportunity to gather data on each member—recreational interests at the club, preferred events, food-and-beverage preferences—through a short sign-up form. That information can then be put to work by creating target groups within the larger database of members, to cater messages specifically to the people who want or need it most. E-mail marketing services, such as Mailchimp, Benchmark Email and Constant Contact, often have this grouping functionality built in.
Newsletter length, style and content should be considered—all concepts that can be experimented with as knowledge of members’ digital habits grows. To avoid inundating members’ in-boxes and have reading the newsletter become a chore, clubs should keep write-ups brief, with a clean design that incorporates images of events that can draw members’ eyes (and encourage them to forward e-mails to others). E-mail templates are available through most e-mail marketing services, making design often as simple as dragging and dropping. Newsletter items that promote events, new fitness offerings and tee times should always be clickable, so members can immediately make reservations online.
A 2015 survey by internet marketing service TechnologyAdvice found that 45.8% of e-mail users who unsubscribed to e-mails did so because they were “e-mailed too often.” Newsletters should be sent frequently enough that members come to expect them, but not so often that they pile up, unread, while also allowing for the occasional “special alert” to promote a big club event.
While clubs should decide on e-mail frequency based on the specific needs of its members (and always accept feedback, both digitally and in-person), a 2015 survey by MarketingSherpa found that most users preferred to receive e-mails at least once a month. A Club Benchmarking report found that 48% of clubs e-mail members “a few times a week,” and 33% e-mail them weekly.
Digital Face
When weighing design options for newsletters and websites, consider that the number of e-mails opened on smartphones and tablets has increased by 500% in the past four years, according to Litmus, an e-mail testing and marketing analytics company. Ensuring that e-mails and websites scale down appropriately and are optimized for mobile viewing has become a key to keeping users engaged with content.
In April, St. Andrews Country Club in Boca Raton, Fla., relaunched its website, featuring a mobile-responsive design with parallax scrolling that features video footage captured at the club playing in the background, with clickable foreground content and images.
Compatibility with all platforms is especially critical for a club’s website, which as the public “face” of the facility is often the first impression that users—including potential members—have of the club.
Assembling Your Team
To ensure that a club’s brand is unified across all digital fronts, a communications team with a clearly defined mission should be behind every post, tweet and newsletter write-up. According to Club Benchmarking, 36% of clubs have one full-time-equivalent employee on their communications staff; for social media, 51% of club staff who post updates are part-time employees, spending an average of four hours per week managing the accounts.
It can be easy to dismiss social media—the return on investment isn’t always clear, and many private clubs don’t want to extend their reach beyond their established membership. But social media accounts are free services that are widely used, particularly among young members. Maintaining a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube ensures that members who want to do so can connect in a way they see fit—and privacy settings allow any posted images, comments, and event promotion to stay among members.
Staying engaged on these outlets requires clubs to respond to comments and messages in a timely fashion, to keep the conversation going and avoid having members feel like they’re yelling into a void.
For those willing to take digital creativity a step further, videos posted to YouTube can communicate a club’s culture and brand better than other forms of social media.“YouTube—when you’ve got a polished story to tell and engaging and fun characters to tell it with—is the best channel and platform for storytelling,” said Noah Brodsky, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Loyalty and Engagement for the Wyndham Hotel Group, in an interview with Hotel News Now.
Earlier this year, Columbus (Ohio) Country Club recorded a series of short films and posted them to YouTube. “Our goal is to showcase the transformation of our club through members’ eyes,” General Manager Jay Frank, PGA, told C&RB in May. “Rather than just showing an empty golf course and clubhouse to prospective members, we wanted to show the heart and soul of what it’s like to be a member.”
By telling their individual stories in this fashion, clubs can showcase the essence of what makes their property a special place, serving as a timely reminder for current members and as a calling card for prospective ones.
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