5 Essential Steps it Takes to Properly Execute the Successful Management of a Community of Brand Advocates

1. Best Practices of
Brand Advocacy Execution
presented by
5 Essential Steps it Takes to Properly
Execute the Successful Management of a
Community of Brand Advocates
1 Creativity
2 Frequency
3 Diversity
4 Continuity
5 Longevity
All Content ©2012-2013 Fancorps

2. Best Practices of Brand Advocacy Execution presented by
1 Creativity (of content and curation)
Get creative and I’ll
An advocacy program should act as a complimentary contribute more often!
component to a brand's preexisting social, digital, and
traditional marketing efforts
Advocates act as organic amplifiers of your message and content
Providing unique and creative content will further engage advocates to
take action on your behalf
Curating the creativity of advocates will also stimulate additional
interaction and participation
Crowd source ideas, opinions, and feedback from your advocates to
help them become a part of the creative process
A few examples:
Outside the box initiatives that stretch beyond social sharing
Prompt real world interactions between advocates
Tasks which prompt personal stories, photos, and videos
Contests and give aways which provide instant gratification
Unique offers, coupons, and incentives
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3. Best Practices of Brand Advocacy Execution presented by
2 Frequency (of outreach and communication)
An advocate wants to hear from you more often
I want to hear from because they love (not like) your brand
you, I promise! Communicate regularly with an advocate community
to ensure your brand stays top of mind
Disseminate your content frequently so advocates
can choose when to engage on their own time
Target your outreach in the form of status updates,
messaging, tasks, news, and announcements
A few examples:
Update your advocates daily with a status/feed post
Notify your community of urgent or important info with email notifications
Set up regular reoccurring outreach such as a weekly newsletter
Utilize chat rooms and forums for group discussions
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4. Best Practices of Brand Advocacy Execution presented by
3 Diversity (of social channels and WOM) Just because you’re
not using Instagram
Just because your brand primarily focuses on one or two social doesn’t mean I’m not
channels doesn’t mean your advocates have the same preference
Give multiple options to advocates when asking them to share your
brand’s message and content
Utilize advocates to launch and test new communities on new social
channels as they are likely early adopters to begin with
Don’t forget about the real world as the majority of word of mouth
interactions and recommendations still happen offline
Diversify your identification process across all communities as
advocates may not see your call to action the first time
A few examples:
Go beyond the status update with Facebook, utilizing events, photo tags, timeline, etc.
Tweets and RT’s are only the start, engage your followers to become influencers for your brand
Pinterest is excellent for product focused brands and allows for mass syndication
Tumblr offers a unique social blogging platform where tags can attract attention and clicks
Google+ is powerful for those early adopters who are on board, start early and win later
Completely visual, Instagram is an excellent tool for advocates to use to share your brand’s story
All Content ©2012-2013 Fancorps

5. Best Practices of Brand Advocacy Execution presented by
4 Continuity (of your message)
Stay consistent with your overall theme and message
Keep it real and Be up front and transparent from the start, letting
consistent, I’m a advocates know the goal of the program
real person!
Make sure your community knows there is a human
behind the curtain
Don't confuse advocates by asking them to share
content that doesn't pertain to your core brand
A few examples:
Choose a creative theme/name for your community that ties in with your brand
Create unique visuals and branded elements that entice participation
Utilize all forms of communication to tie the goals and branding together
Keep advocates informed of ongoing campaign and marketing initiatives
All Content ©2012-2013 Fancorps

6. Best Practices of Brand Advocacy Execution presented by
5 Longevity (of the program)
I’m not going anywhere,
An advocacy program is not a short term solution I love your brand!
The loyalty and relationships you will develop with your advocates
takes time and patience to generate impactful numbers
Build for the future, laying a foundation of trust and guidance that
advocates will appreciate over the course of the program
Think big picture. You’re creating a community of your most passionate
consumers, treat them as such
Everyone likes a pat on the back. Make sure you continually thank and
reward advocates for their efforts
A few examples:
Integrate your advocacy program with all other marketing initiatives for maximum exposure
Make it fun by letting advocates get involved on every level
Gamify the process so it is fun and engaging for the long haul
Set up incentives that take time to achieve in addition to shorter term attention grabbers
All Content ©2012-2013 Fancorps

7. Best Practices of
Brand Advocacy Execution
presented by
G.I. Sanders
CEO & Co-Founder
gi@fancorps.com / @gisanders
All Content ©2012-2013 Fancorps