If the first thing you think of when you hear “learning management system” is online education, you wouldn’t be wrong; however, if you think that’s all there is to an LMS, you have more to learn about the concept.
An LMS may perhaps be most closely aligned with educational institutions, whereby university students can access lecture notes, connect with fellow classmates, complete online quizzes and tests and access course grades. Colleges and universities aren’t the only organizations benefiting from the systems, though. Businesses have also instituted the use of LMS to train and offer professional development courses to their employees.
Associations, too, can gain from adopting an LMS. How? Below are four examples of how association executives can use an LMS for their organization.
1. OFFER ACCREDITATION
This classic use revolves around online education with certificate for your members. Since some LMS providers, including TelSpan’s UpAbility, allow e-commerce capabilities, members can select the required continuing education courses, pay for them and complete the courses through the LMS, all without needing assistance from association staff. An LMS maximizes association profits from accreditation, as it not only brings in non-dues revenue but also minimizes administrative time spent by staff, opening up capacity for other projects.
Further, because an LMS should allow members to easily connect to their social media accounts, your association can enjoy more engagement from members sharing their continuing education accomplishments through those channels. That social exposure can even prompt prospective members to look into joining your association, as research shows that up to 50 percent of buying decisions come from such word of mouth. Twitter research in particular shows that 49% of the platform’s users depend on influential accounts for recommendations. Allowing for members to easily share word of the benefits they receive from your organization is an easy way to use their influence to further your association.
2. REPURPOSE YOUR CONTENT
Once your annual event is over, all the work you put into it doesn’t have to stop its usefulness. If you live stream your event and video capture the keynotes, breakout sessions and even interviews with speakers, association staff members and attendees, you can use your LMS to grant access to the content. Just set up the video segments from the conference as separate webinars in your LMS and charge members and non-members to view.
Oftentimes, speakers you feature in your webinars will want to share links to those webinars through their websites, email subscriber lists, social media accounts and newsletters. Since the speakers likely have audience members outside your membership, this sharing expands the reach of your association online. For more on this process, download our e-book, 3 Ways Your Association Can Boost Non-Dues Revenue and Member Engagement Through Social Media’s Next Big Thing: Live Event Video Streaming.
3. STREAMLINE INTERNAL TRAINING
Standardize your internal training and save your human resources team some time in the long run by creating modules on topics such as onboarding and induction, sexual harassment training, benefits and leave. Starting off new employees with the same videos will make for a team that is on the same page, working from the same baseline in terms of information. If your industry updates its policies and procedures frequently, it is a great idea to offer those on your LMS, since the system allows administrators easy access to update existing content.
4. CREATE AN EXTERNAL TRAINING SERIES
You’ve amassed a great deal of talent and experience in your team of association executives, so put that expertise to work for your association’s brand by featuring your team members in a professional development series for members and non-members.
Have your executive director repurpose a speech she gave at a recent networking meeting. The more facetime your members get with your executive leadership, the more they will trust not only your leadership, but also your association as a whole. Anytime your executives can reuse content such as a speech, blog post or seminar discussion, have them do so, as repurposing your previous work saves time and energy.
Your communications director could talk about a recent challenge the organization faced and walk members through how he used best practices to solve the issue, giving the audience a blueprint for handling similar challenges of their own. A case study is always a great topic, and by using your association itself, you let your members behind the scenes, helping them feel more of a connection with your association.
Ask your membership director to talk about the three most underutilized benefits that come with membership. For any members who didn’t realize those benefits were included, you’ve just given them more out of their membership. For non-members, maybe those few benefits are enough to push them over the edge in their decision to join the association.
By featuring your own executives in this external training series, you portray them as industry experts, enhancing your association’s brand.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT TELSPAN’S LMS
Before you choose your LMS, it is important to know what you want it to accomplish for your organization. Learn more about UpAbility, a product of TelSpan, at upability.com. Request a free demo today!