Our guest on this episode of The Member Engagement Show is Higher Logic’s own Senior Product Manager, Aaron Novelle. Aaron has been a leader in the development of AI enhancements to the Higher Logic Thrive platform. With those enhancements now in beta, we wanted to catch up with Aaron about how associations can leverage AI to continuously improve the member experience. Topics covered include:

• What Higher Logic AI tools are available now and what’s on the horizon.
• What AI search assistants are and what they can do when connected to online communities.
• A primer on RAG (Resource Augmented Generation) LLMs vs. the global LLMs that power general AI tools like ChatGPT.
• How associations can deploy AI while keeping their data safe.
• Associations as the bastions of specific expertise and knowledge.
• The importance of aggregating and categorizing your association’s knowledge base - and how to make that easier.

Some Helpful Links:

Learn About Higher Logic's AI Search Assistant (and Turn it On in Your Community!)

Higher Logic's AI Toolkit

ASAE Webinar: Embracing AI Safely (with Higher Logic's Amanda DeLuke)

On this episode of Higher Logic’s award-winning “Member Engagement Show,” we talk with Karen Saverino, CMO at Smithbucklin. Karen has over 25 years of experience in marketing and communications, most with nonprofits and associations. She is one of the authors of Smithbucklin’s recent report on the Perceptions and Evolving Role of Associations. Listen to the episode for insights from that report and to hear ways associations can apply those insights to attract and retain members.

Topics covered include:

• What are members' most valuable benefits from their association?
• Do members currently trust their association?
• The importance of education and professional development.
• Is AI a threat to online community participation?
• What prevents people from becoming members?
• Four fundamentals you should focus on based on the report’s data.
• Some pointers on doing your own member research.

Helpful Links:

Smithbucklin’s Perceptions and Evolving Role of Associations Report

Learning management and trends podcast episode with Bluesky

Our guest this episode of the award-winning Member Engagement Show is Romeo Talento, Customer Success Advisor at Higher Logic and a career expert in SEO strategies, who talks about some of the ways associations and non-profits are approaching and should approach those SEO strategies. Prior to his role at HL, Romeo managed membership and marketing for associations like the American Bar Association and the Merchant Risk Council. Topics covered include:

• A primer on what SEO is (and isn’t).
• How search engines work.
• The importance of keyword research and wording things correctly.
• The steps to incorporate into your day-to-day work to optimize content for search engines.
• Recommendations for one-person marketing teams juggling multiple hats.
• The three types of SEO you need to know.
• The importance of alt text in images, page titles, and working links.
• Tips for page design and backlinks.
• The power of data and numbers in your web content.
• Suggestions for long-term SEO wins.
• How AI and voice searches are changing SEO

Helpful Links

On-Demand webinar with Alec Cole, Founder of Salt Rock SEO, on AI’s Impact on SEO

SEO Checklist: 41 Tips to Optimize Your Website

Higher Logic Thrive