MVP-style influencer marketing programs can be strategic for your company. The oldest influencer program in enterprise IT & technology was the Microsoft MVP Program. The VMware vExperts have been wildly successful and have set the stage for the next generation of these type of professional communities. Learn how "MVP-Style" influencer programs can work for you in your company.

1. M V P - S T Y L E P R O G R A M S
F O R F U N & P R O F I T
J O H N M A R K T R O Y E R , C E O T E C H R E C K O N I N G
CommuniCon 2015, Oct 6 2015
@jtroyer
jtroyer@techreckoning.com

2. W H AT I S “ M V P - S T Y L E " ?

3. Y O U T H E
R E A L M V P
• 1993: Microsoft creates
MVP award to recognize
community contribution
(CompuServe)
• … time passes …
• 2009: VMware creates
vExpert Program to
recognize community
contribution (forums, blogs,
user groups)

4. P R O S P E C T S
I N F L U E N C E R S
B R A N D A D V O C AT E S
A M B A S S A D O R S ,
A D V O C AT E S , A N D
B E A R S ! O H M Y !
• Ecosystem of partners &
customers
• Betting on you
• Willing to be advocates
• And helping each other
E M P L O Y E E
A M B A S S A D O R S
M V P - S T Y L E
P R O G R A M S :
E VA N G E L I S T S
C H A M P I O N S

5. V M WA R E ' S D I L E M M A : 2 0 0 9
• Main competitor: Microsoft
• Advantages:
• Product love:
• Healthy (but smaller) community forums, blogs
• Goals:
• Recognize & deepen relationships with community leaders
• More More More!
“ I H AV E S E E N
T H E FA C E O F G O D ,
A N D I T I S V M WA R E ”

6. B E N E F I T S O F A N M V P -
S T Y L E P R O G R A M

7. 1 . A WA R D P R O G R A M

8. 2 . E N A B L E M E N T P R O G R A M

9. 3 . F E E D B A C K P R O G R A M

10. 4 . M A R K E T I N G P R O G R A M
P R O D U C T L A U N C H :
7 4 V E X P E RT B L O G P O S T S
O N D AY 1

11. 5 . C A R E E R V I S I B I L I T Y P R O G R A M
V E X P E RT D I R E C T O RY
B L O G A G G R E G AT O R

12. 6 . N E T W O R K I N G P R O G R A M
G E T T H E I N T E R E S T I N G P E O P L E I N T H E R O O M

13. V M WA R E V E X P E R T P R O G R A M 2 0 0 9 - 2 0 1 5
• Hundreds of books
• Tens of thousands of
blog posts
• Hundreds of thousands
of forum threads
• Global user group >100K
members
0
275
550
825
1100
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
V E X P E RT S H AV E
P R O D U C E D :
}

14. V E X P E R T S T R AT E G I C I M PA C T
• (Hopefully) involved in every Google search involving VMware
• Involved in online community forum
• Involved in every product launch and beta program
• Involved in corporate conferences
• Involved with every product group and the Office of the CTO
• Involved in the user group program, customer reference program, customer
advisory program, focus groups
• Involved when the sh*t hit the fan: 2011 pricing change
I N V O LV E D I N E V E RY PA RT O F
T H E S A L E S F U N N E L A N D C U S T O M E R J O U R N E Y

15. M V P - S T Y L E P R O G R A M
T I P S

16. 1 . U S E T H E A R M Y Y O U H AV E
F I N D Y O U R T R I B E , R E G A R D L E S S O F E M P L O Y E R

17. 2 . W H AT ' S I N I T F O R T H E M ?
H T T P S : / / F L I C . K R / P / M J 4 S
D O N ’ T M A K E I T J U S T A P R O G R A M F O R
R O B O T B L O G G I N G / T W E E T I N G

18. 3 . Y O U K N O W I T W H E N Y O U S E E I T
C H I C K E N S E X I N G
“ G I V I N G B A C K T O T H E C O M M U N I T Y ”
“ G O I N G A B O V E A N D B E Y O N D Y O U R J O B ”

19. 4 . G I V E I T A N A M E
I N S I D E A C O M PA N Y, N A M E S A R E M A G I C
• Microsoft MVP
• Citrix Technology
Professional
• SAP Mentors
• VMware vExpert
• EMC Elect
• Cisco Champions
• SplunkTrust
• OpenStack Ambassadors
• DataStax Cassandra MVPs
• Veeam Vanguard
• PernixData Pros
• IBM #CloudMinds

20. 5 . O N L I N E - O F F L I N E S Y N E R G I E S

21. 6 . E M P H A S I Z E H E L P I N G O T H E R S
C U LT U R E O F G I V I N G B A C K
O n e o f t h e f i r s t t h i n g s I n o t i c e d a b o u t V M w a re w a s t h e i n c re d i b l e
l e v e l o f e n g a g e m e n t b y e x t re m e l y re a s o n a b l e p e o p l e w h o w e re
e x p e r t i n i t .
F ro m b a s i c u s e r s t o a u t h o r s , t o V M w a re s t a ff e r s , I w a s i m p re s s e d
b y t h e i n t e l l i g e n t re s p o n s e s I g o t t o e v e n t h e m o s t n 0 0 b i s h o f
q u e s t i o n s .
M y q u e s t i o n s f o r h e l p t o h i m w e re a n s w e re d p ro m p t l y, a n d a c a l l
f o r re a d i n g m a t e r i a l s w a s s i m i l a r l y d e a l t w i t h ; s a i d re q u e s t
c u l m i n a t i n g w i t h a Tw i t t e r s h o u t o u t t h a t I b e l i e v e re c e i v e d n o l e s s
t h a n 7 5 i m m e d i a t e re c o m m e n d a t i o n s , a n d a b o u t a s i m i l a r a m o u n t
o v e r a t w o - w e e k p e r i o d .
S u ff i c e i t t o s a y, I w a s i m p re s s e d . A s 2 0 1 0 m o v e d a l o n g , … I c a l l e d
f o r a p i l o t p ro g r a m t o d e t e r m i n e j u s t t h a t , a n d t h e re s u l t s w e re
p o s i t i v e . J O H N O B E T O
M I C R O S O F T M V P, C E O L O G I C W O R X
B L O G G E R , A B S O L U T E LY W I N D O W S

22. - N O T PA U L D R U C K E R
“You can’t manage what you can’t measure”

23. - PA U L D R U C K E R
“Your first role . . . is the personal one. It is the
relationship with people, the development of
mutual confidence, the identification of people,
the creation of a community. This is something only
you can do. … It cannot be measured or easily
defined. But it is not only a key function. It is one
only you can perform.”

24. T H A N K S !
• John Mark Troyer,
CEO TechReckoning
• @jtroyer jtroyer@techreckoning.com
• Weekly Dispatch Newsletter:
• http://techreckoning.com
• The Reckoning 2015 Conference:
• https://www.youtube.com/c/
TechReckoning
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