5 types of social influencers you can't afford to ignore
Post on 27-Aug-2014
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The Agenda
What we’ll cover today
• An introduction to Advocate Marketing
• How to identify and connect with customers, bloggers, employees, social influencers and partners
• Best practices for powering influencers and advocates for your brand
Advocate Marketing is the Latest Platform
Advocate Marketing
Social Publishing
Social Ad Buying
Content Creation & Management
Different Words. Same Meaning.
What is Advocate Marketing?
92%trust recommendations from people
they know over all other forms of advertisement
Source: shout.lt/p96C
What 1000 Advocates Do
=1,000Advocates
3,000,000Facebook Fans
>
10,000,000Reach
50,000Engagements
5,000Unique content creations
Annual results per 1K advocates
Advocates Place Your Brand’s Message in their Social Feeds
5 Types of Advocates
=
Customers
Employees
Bloggers
Partners
Social Influencers
CUSTOMERS
Customers: Why You Can't Ignore Them
77%of customers are more likely to buy a product when they hear about it from someone they
trust
Source: shout.lt/p96H
Customers: How to Identify Them
CRM and email databases
Social networks
Existing loyalty program
Invite advocates in store
Customers: Strategies to Engage
Keep it fun and engaging
Keep it always on
Provide a variety of content
Don’t be too prescriptive
Customers: Strategies to Engage – Thank Yous
Say ‘Thanks!”
Recognize customers with shoutouts on social networks
Surprise & delight customers
Apparel leader builds network of consumer advocates to drive social engagement
Challenge• Apparel brand struggled to create social
engagement around key products
• Upcoming holiday buying season provides key opportunity for shoppers
Results• Enthusiastic customers create and share
brand content with their social communities
• Initial results 2x planned results due to pent-up affinity for brand
• 100 Advocates drove significant traffic back to brand.com website and generated 5.1 million impressions in just 6 weeks
BLOGGERS
Bloggers: How to Identify Them
Start with research:• How large is their social reach? (2,500 – 25,000 readers)• How engaged is their audience?• Are the audience interests aligned
with your brand focus?
Consider complementary verticals
Prioritize your outreach
Bloggers: Strategies to Engage
Create a polished invitation:• Make it personal • Offer something of value
(content that drives traffic
to blog) • Provide visual content
Allow for creative freedom
Maintain the relationship
Bloggers: Strategies to Engage
EMPLOYEES
Employees: Why You Can’t Ignore Them
92%of employees’ audience is
completely new to the brand.
2XAn everyday employee is 2x more trusted than a
Chief Executive
Source: shout.lt/p99p
Employees: How to Identify Them
Employee databases
Internal social networks & intranets
New hire on-boarding
Offline: In-office and at events
Employees: Strategies to Engage
Start with most passionate employees
Establish and communicate social media policies
Provide light-weight social media training
Make it easy
Source: shout.lt/p99t
Employees: Strategies to Engage – Content
Relevant industry articles
Company news (eg: product launches)
Corporate social responsibility initiatives
Employees: Strategies to Engage – Thank Yous
Shout-outs in company newsletters and meetings
Highlight on company intranet and internal social networks
Face time with executives
Access to events and company experiences
Employees: Case Study
#1 US Wireless provider powers employees to share brand content to improve positive share-of-voice
Challenge• Thousands of employees on social media – but
none are trained or certified
• Program started with 30 “ambassadors,” but grew too large to manage and track with email and spreadsheets
Results• Scaled existing program to 700 employees
• Increased social engagement and share-of-voice and generated 8.2M impressions
• Established employees as thought-leaders in the space while improving employee morale
SOCIAL INFLUENCERS
Social Influencers: How to Identify Them
Look beyond celebrities
Focus on the niches
Search social networks for relevant, topical conversations and hashtags
Source: shout.lt/qbbB
Social Influencers: Don’t Forget Your Fans
Examine brand channels to find & activate existing fans and followers
Social Influencers: Strategies to Engage
First, consider what you want to achieve
Start small and build into a larger influencer program
Incentivize with content, such as first-access to exclusive content and new products
Social Influencers: Strategies to Engage
Create investment in your brand: Invite to launch events & parties
Avoid one-offs – maintain apattern of engagement
Don’t forget to measure
PARTNERS
Partners: Why You Can’t Ignore Them
Employees at partners such as resellers, customers and suppliers are an extension of
your sales force
8Xengagement rate on content shared
by partners and employees compared to that shared by the brand
Partners: How to Identify Them
Partners: Strategies to Connect – Content
Thought leadership that allows them to leverage the credibility of your brand
Industry news
Company news
Partners: Strategies to Connect – Thank Yous
Recognize them by resharing and retweeting their content
Recognition in partner portal and emails
Behind the scenes access
Early access to new product information
Tweet to Win
Bringing It All Together
Don’t start and stop
Keep it easy
Provide a variety of content to create and share
Don’t be too prescriptive
Thank, don’t pay, advocates
Surprise & delight thank yous motivate consistent advocacy
Recognition can be the most powerful “thank you”
Influence is nice, but advocate performance matters
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