Why Advocacy Should be Part of your Marketing

Strategy

#CMXSummit

About Me

Alicia TaggioAdvocate Marketing Lead, Hootsuite

What’s on Tap! What is Advocacy?! Building an Ambassador Program! Building Internal/Employee Advocacy! Measuring Success

Why Advocacy?

“The use of marketing strategy, budget and resources to

encourage customers, employees, or partners to do something on behalf of your company with or without the

expectation of mutual benefit.”

Source: Forrester, Advocate Marketing

What is Advocacy?

Why be leaders in advocate marketing?

WOM

Word of mouth is the primary factor behind 20 -

50% of all purchasing decisions.

- McKinsey

Social

63% of today’s consumers search for help from other

customers via social. - Lithium

Credibility

Advocates are 70% more likely to be seen as a good

source of information by people around them.

- BzzAgent

Gain valuable insight from your power-customers

Drive reviews

Generate trust

Engage customers as

individualsIncreasereferrals

Deepen relationships

Why Advocacy?

Amplify existing social activity, extending your

reach

Connect your fans with each

other

Why does advocacy matter?Official Channels

Advocate Amplification

+ +

x

Facebook Fans

Twitter Followers Linkedin Followers

Number of Advocates*

200 Average Facebook Friends

61 Average Twitter Followers

240 Average Linkedin Connections

440k 425k 36k

400=

=TOTAL REACH

TOTAL REACH

210k

3 M

LeadsPersonasProspects

ConsumersTarget Audiences

Customer Segments

Humans

Our community of advocates help to move our business forward by building credibility through third-party validation

and amplifying our reach.

Our Objective

Our Advocate Spectrum

Brand AmbsAudience

Partners

InfluencersFollowers Users Fans

Increasing value

Advocacy Programs

Students

Peeps

Building an Ambassador Program

Brand Ambassador Program500+ Ambassadors in 50 countries

Ambassador Program Objectives

AmplificationProduct releases shared

with ambassadors to drive 200% more engagement &

reviews

InsightsShare regional insights, offer product feedback

and support initiatives in 22+ languages

SupportSupport our 15,000

registered customers in the Support Forum with

80% response rate

Hootup EventsDrive localisation efforts

by hosting 200+ events in

62 countries

“I joined the Ambassador Program to share my passion with people that have the same interests, want to grow together, and inspire. I love being part of this community.”

Valeria LandivarLanaudière, Canada

400+Active in our Hub

375Hootups Hosted

299Published Content

From 112 SurveyedNPS 74

26,262Social Shares

Ambassador Program 2015 snapshot

74

Where do they come from?

Advocate Program

Growth + Mktg

Peeps

The Wild

Support

Customer Success Partners

v

Acquisition Selection Criteria

❏ Active user of your brand or product ❏ Has a deep affinity for your brand, company and solutions❏ Perceived expert or thought leader ❏ Charismatic; good public speaker❏ Net promoter; refers or references you❏ Motivated to have a personal relationship with you❏ Motivated to help/educate others❏ Wants to improve their knowledge/use of your product❏ Able to participate as part of their job function/role❏ Motivated to build their personal brand❏ Meets your brand tone on Social Media/Content Production

An approved Ambassador should meet at least 75% of these boxes

All ambassadors have day jobs, so minimizing their effort asks early on, and concentrating on maximizing value to them, will get them to participate more often and more consistently.

Gain commitment → Cultivate enthusiasm → Deliver benefits

Grow Advocacy in steps

Sample Ambassador Benefits

• Promotional accounts• Beta access• Exclusive updates• Education Certifications• Swag

• Speaking engagements• Brand association• Thought leadership

• Global network• Knowledge sharing• Exclusive event invites

• Job opportunities

Product Profile Community

v

The Ambassador Journey

Acquisition Onboarding Check-ins Consistent Engagement

Quality vs quantity

Invite existing customers

Website application form

Focus on personas

Agree to T&C’s

CASL compliance

Welcome Swag pkg

Onboard to platforms

Connect to others

30 / 60 / 90 days

6 month check-in

Identify persona

Update CRM profile

Knowledge sharing

Better event topics

Better rewards

More regular feedback

v

1. ListenFind your Advocates

Harness the Advocate Experience

3. EngageRetain the Relationship

4. Share ContentSustain the Relationship

2. Build AdvocacyDeepen the Relationship

How to Grow your Ambassador Program

LISTEN

Create programs to keep your community active and engaged in your business; look to incentivize your Superfans through custom giveaways, early product offerings, swag, recognition etc.

Two-way street to sharing insights about your customer experience; provide relevant content, share their content to sustain the relationship; Remember, sharing goes both ways, remember the human aspect

Add value by inspiring, educating or entertaining customers with thoughtful moderation, relevant content and online/offline experiences; Look for every opportunity to connect advocates with each other

Find and build relationships with key members of the community, both internally and externally by nurturing conversations and exploring their interests and how they interact with your business

SHARE

BUILD

ENGAGE

Maturity Model

Source: Influitive, Advocate Marketing Guide

Tools: Ambassador Forum

Event updatesAsks for participation in marketing

activities

Advocate Hub

General communication and connectivity

Content tracking, engagement metrics

Tools: Hootsuite Amplify

Visibility of who else is in the

program

Read-only messages &

program/company updates

Social Shares

Shares, Traffic, Adoption, Reach

Employee Advocacy

“The general public wants to hear directly from employees as

‘Ambassadors for the company.’”

Source: Edelman Trust Barometer

Who are they? Employee Personas

The Manager Champion

The GSD Growth Leader

C-SuiteThe Social Seller

The People Finder

Advocacy and your business

Content Creation & Amplification

SocialSales

InternalCommunication

Thought Leadership

Your people know your business

●They’re tapped-in to the latest news

●They benefit from seeing updates from across your organization

●They’re on social

●They care!

TIP Give them the tools they need, such as swag and on-brand content

+7,100,000 Followers

1 Post

254 Sessions

64 Clickthroughs

300 Advocates

1 Post

572 Sessions

191 Clickthroughs

Initial Data

What We Do

ShareContent sent to Amplify

Employees/Ambassadors open Amplify

Increased Impressions

Increased Clicks Leads

Engagement Tactics: Incentives

Supported our customers the Vancouver Canucks with their campaign by Amplifying their new video

TIP Reward your employees for sharing with giveaways and incentives

Results:

→ 123 retweets from our employees→ 103 shares of their Fb video

Measuring Success

Identify YOUR metrics to measure

Business Goals

Awareness

Thought Leadership

Word of Mouth

Talent Acquisition

Leads

Sales

Advocacy Goals

Reach

Comments, inbound links

Shares, Reads, Likes, RTs

Impressions, clicks

Form Fills

Online Purchase

Metrics

Total Impressions

Mentions

Shares

Applications

UGC

Conversions

TIP Measure what matters. Target, benchmark, optimize.

! Shares

! User-generated content

! # of advocates in key local markets

! Advocate engagement and participation

The metrics we track

Key Takeaways1. Give advocates ways to share

experiences that validate you

2. Listen, build, engage & share

3. Enable your superfans and your people

4. Align your advocacy goals to your business goals

5. Ensure you have the proper resources and budget to support your program

Thank you