how to build an army of online brand ambassadors

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How to Build An Army of Online Brand Ambassadors

Julia Campbell August 13, 2013

Use Twitter Hashtag #npweb

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Today’s Speakers

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Julia Campbell Principal

J Campbell Social Marketing

Julia Campbell President/CEO of J Campbell Social Marketing

http://www.jcsocialmarketing.com Nonprofit Webinars

August 13, 2013

#army4good @JuliaCSocial @4GoodOrg

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Takeaways From Today Why an Online Brand Ambassador program is

important

Ways to identify and recruit Brand Ambassadors

How to excite and acknowledge them

How to cultivate relationships for future engagement


Before We Begin… There are no silver bullets and no

quick fixes.

Time, capacity and resources are needed to effectively develop and maintain an Online Brand Ambassador program.

Every organization, no matter how small and strapped for resources, has champions and advocates.

They key is passion, not Klout score.


Two Scenarios Scenario 1: You receive a form letter

in the mail from a breast cancer research charity that bought your name from another organization’s mailing list.

The letter is addressed “Dear Friend” and lacks any personalization.

You are confused because breast cancer research is not even your passion – protecting the environment is.


Two Scenarios Scenario 2: You receive a personal

message from a friend on Facebook asking you to sponsor her in a walk for breast cancer research, in honor of her mother.

She writes in the first person about watching her mother suffer from the disease, and why she wants to help others.


Breast cancer isn’t a cause you usually give money to, but you love your friend and you want to help.

Which Is More Effective? According to a recent Nielsen study on which types of

advertising or promotion people trust most, the top five in North America are:

1. Recommendations from someone they know.

2. Consumer opinions posted online.

3. Editorial content such as newspaper articles.

4. Emails they signed up for.

5. Branded websites.


The Key Is Sharing! Getting people who are sharing

anyway to share their stories = more awareness and money raised

Online Brand Ambassadors are people who want to spread the word about your cause and want to raise money for you – they are your greatest asset!


Where Are They? Your email newsletter.

Use your email list to send out clear and concise calls-to-action, and then determine who is opening the emails, who is sharing the content and who is forwarding the emails to their networks.

Constant Contact, Mailchimp, Aweber – email tools


Where Are They? Your social networks.

LinkedIn – Use LinkedIn Groups strategically to find people who care about your cause and who are vocal online.

You can now search LinkedIn profiles for Volunteering History and Causes.


Where Are They? Twitter – Twitter is a perfect place

to engage with supporters. See who is following you and how active they are on the site.

Do they ReTweet your content? Do they give you a #FF (FollowFriday) mention?

Create a Twitter list of all the Twitterers who have shared your content and mentioned you.


Where Are They? Facebook – You can see who

your Fans are, but (depending on their privacy settings) you probably cannot see much about them other than their name.

However, you can see who is liking, commenting on and sharing your content – thank them profusely! Try installing a “Top Fans” app on your page.


Where Are They? Pinterest – See who is following

you and who is re-pinning, commenting on and liking your pins.

To get Pinterest Analytics, go to the name on your profile, and choose Analytics in the drop down menu.


Where Are They? Staff, Board members, volunteers, donors.

Who always shares information about your organization?

Who was the top fundraiser last year?

Which community members have held fundraisers or awareness events for your organization?


Where Are They? Cross reference with your

database.

Make sure to cross reference your online supporters your donor and volunteer database.

Are they there? Have they given money? Have they attended an event?

You will get to know them and see where their interests lie and where they have yet to connect.


Where Are They? NOTE: You have to be actively using these tools to find

your supporters – this requires an investment in staff capacity and resources.


Questions?


What Do You Do With Them? LISTEN first.

Listen first – Follow your online supporters on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest.

What are they sharing? What motivates them? What moves them to comment on a blog, to like a Facebook post, to retweet a link, to share a photo?

Listen to their conversations, figure out what moves them and tailor a strategy using this information.


What Do You Do With Them? Create content that people want to share.

Much easier said than done, but necessary for success!

Online Brand Ambassadors have their reputations on the line – they are not going to share spammy info.


What Do You Do With Them? The Customer Insight Group (CIG) at the New York

Times published a study exploring why people share content online. People share to:

Bring valuable and entertaining content to others

Define themselves to others

Grow and nourish relationships

Give self-fulfillment

Market causes or brands

How can you help your Online Brand Ambassadors do these things?

http://nytmarketing.whsites.net/mediakit/pos/


What Do You Do With Them? Spend some time and dedicate some resources to creating

content that is well-written, original, compelling, timely, relevant and interesting.

This may seem like a tall order, but that’s what it takes to stand-out in the noise of social media.


What Do You Do With Them? Make it extremely easy to share.

Encourage commenting and other interaction by disabling strict privacy settings on your social media sites.

Add social share buttons to all blog posts and email newsletters.

Social share buttons are those buttons on the side or at the bottom/top of articles and blog posts with the social media icons.


What Do You Do With Them? Write the updates for them.

Send out emails, Facebook posts, Tweets, etc. with suggested updates that the online supporter can simply cut, paste and share.

Example: “Tweet this! The @waterforlife campaign for fresh water is well underway – can you donate $1 to help a child now? #waterforall” vs. “Tweet about our fresh water campaign today!”


What Do You Do With Them? Let them determine how they want to share the

information.

Provide updates in several social media formats to let the online supporter choose where they want to share.

It’s not about where you want them to share the information (although you can suggest it) it’s about where they are going to want to post it!

They are in control of the where, when and you are in control of the why.


What Do You Do With Them? MA Conf for Women Social

Media Street Team

Weekly emails with tweets, Facebook and LinkedIn posts, Pinterest pins and Instagram ready photos

Graphics provided, hashtags provided, all speakers and relevant people tagged


What Do You Do With Them? Make it timely, relevant and interesting.

Don’t say “Help our organization raise money!” (That isn’t very interesting, compelling or timely.)

Make it about the impact that donors and supporters will have if they help you.

How many kids do you help every day? How many animals are you saving?

What would happen if your organization disappeared?

What difference are you making?


What Do You Do With Them? Target online supporters

based on their sphere of influence.

Craft a personal solicitation to online supporters that wield a lot of clout to support you where they are most influential. them to share on Twitter (if they have lots of followers), post to Facebook (lots of friends/fans) or pin on Pinterest (many followers).


What Do You Do With Them? Don’t ignore other social networks!

Don’t ignore influencers and supporters on LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube. (MySpace is coming back too!)


What Do You Do With Them? Give updates on your

progress.

If you are looking to get a specific number of signatures on a petition, update your online supporters on your progress!

Celebrate milestones in fundraising – “We’ve raised $5,000 – only $5,000 more to go!” People love to be part of success.


What Do You Do With Them? Use hashtags to build community and monitor

the conversation.

Hashtags can be used on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

The best hashtags are original, memorable, easy to spell and short. Think #womeninbinders, #masswomen, #water4all etc.

Go to Hashtags.org to research


What Do You Do With Them? Celebrate successes.

Show your online supporters how they helped get you there!

“We had 348 retweets and an increase in Facebook Reach of 567%!”

You will need to monitor your insights to get this information.


What Do You Do With Them? Give them what they want!

Online Brand Ambassadors are online and always looking for content to share with their networks.

They support you and your cause already.

They are most likely looking for easy ways to get more involved.

Give them easy instructions and compelling content and see your online reach explode!


Questions?


Round Up We discussed:

How to identify your biggest online supporters

How to engage with them

How to make content that is easy to share

Coming up next:

How to build continuing relationships with Online Brand Ambassadors

Examples from the field

Conclusions/Things to Remember


How Do You Keep Them? The power of Thank You

The 2012 AFP Fundraising Effectiveness Report found that for every $100 gained by nonprofits in 2011, another $100 was lost through gift attrition.

Donor attrition was 59% - meaning that 59% of donors did not give again to the nonprofit!


How Do You Keep Them? Acknowledge, thank, celebrate, rinse, repeat!

Identify and acknowledge the special people.

You know, the ones who always comment on your blog (genuinely and with value) and share your Facebook posts.

They might only have 45 LinkedIn connections, but their passion and interest is authentic and real – and often contagious!



Organize a “Thank You” campaign!

Heather Mansfield of the blog Nonprofit Tech for Good lays out ideas for creating “Thank You” videos for your 2012 fundraising campaigns.

This idea, using Vine or Instagram video, can also work for nonprofits as a “Thank You” to their biggest online supporters.

8 Inspiring Thank You Videos Created by Nonprofits: http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/8_inspiring_Thank_You_videos_created_by_nonprofits_11155.aspx



Participate in Diane Darling’s “The Thank You Project”, where you hand write at least four personalized thank you notes per week.

Blog about your Thank You campaign, post on Facebook and Twitter, share your Thank You process on LinkedIn. Your supporters and customers will appreciate the special touch and the personalized attention.

http://dianedarling.typepad.com/blog/2012/01/inviting-you-to-join-the-thank-you-project.html


How Do You Keep Them? Pick a Facebook Fan of the Week

This is a simple, easy-to-use Facebook application to add to your business or nonprofit’s Page.

It automatically highlights the person who interacts with your Page the most within a given week.


How Do You Keep Them? Facebook Fan of the Week:

Offer to highlight that Fan’s business or favorite cause for one week on your page

Create a gallery of Fans of the Week on your website

Make a special phone call to the Fan of the Week (if you have their information) to thank them for their engagement.

You can also send them items such as a t-shirt, pen, coffee mug or other memento (with your logo on it of course)!


How Do You Keep Them? Give them something

special.

“Something special” includes exclusive access to events, reports, celebrities, thought leaders, discounts and offers.

As a part of the Massachusetts Conference for Women Social Media Street Team, I am awarded a free ticket to the Conference and other enticing rewards.


How Do You Keep Them? Show the impact!

This is the most important step.

Your online supporters want to know that all their tweeting, Facebook posting and blogging has actually helped your organization.

Otherwise, why waste their time?


Example National Oesteoporis Foundation

They use their Brand Ambassadors to:

Advocate on behalf of their cause to congressional leaders.

Direct people to the NOF website to download advocacy tools and resources

Pass along key research and updates

Respond to community conversations about industry news and events


Example St Baldrick’s Foundation

They are volunteer-driven.

“Content is designed to give our volunteers a voice, and provide them with information to share with their friends and family.”

They analyzed what worked and what didn’t work and did more of the stuff that worked.


Keeping Momentum Be open-minded and don’t get discouraged. Not everyone

will be an Online Brand Ambassador (no matter how much you want them to).

Don’t go by Klout score alone.

Just because someone is influential does not mean that your cause will resonate with them.

Actively look everywhere for people who are passionate about your cause.

Cultivate your current online advocates and thoughtfully create others.


Keeping Momentum Identify and acknowledge the special people.

See what you can do to find your offline community and entice them to join you online.


http://giving2.com/

In Conclusion Too many nonprofits online today seem to have a race-

to-the-top mentality – who can get the most fans, the most followers, the most likes.

However, it’s said that just 1% of an organization’s online fan base drives 20% of the traffic to the website and 75% of the interaction on the social networking sites.

Focus your social media efforts on cultivating, engaging and celebrating your biggest online supporters and reap the rewards!


Tools GaggleAmp - Nonprofits are able to widely distribute

their content and messages by creating a network of people (called a “GaggleTM“) that share, Tweet, and post company-created messages and content.

Dropbox – Post sample social media posts in Dropbox, graphics, photos to share, and language for Online Brand Ambassadors to use


Nonprofit Resources John Haydon – www.johnhaydon.com

Nonprofit Tech for Good – www.nptechforgood.com

Beth Kanter – www.bethkanter.org

Giving 2.0 (book) – www.giving2.com

Amy Sample Ward – www.amysampleward.org


Questions?


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