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: Why You Can’t Ignore Them

Source: shout.lt/p97D

Bloggers: Why You Can’t Ignore Them

Source: shout.lt/p97J

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: Why You Can’t Ignore Them

Source: shout.lt/qbbv

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