When it comes to your advocacy marketing program, the more the merrier! SocialToaster’s advocacy marketing programs produce exponentially higher ROI as more of your brand’s fans join the program. Whether you’re just starting your program or seeking to level-up an existing program, we’ve laid out three ways to organically grow your advocacy marketing program.
Why Grow Your Advocacy Marketing Program?
There’s certainly an argument to be made for keeping an advocacy marketing program intimate and exclusive (read smaller), but rarely is that a viable plan for long-term success. Growing your program is paramount to increase program ROI. Why? Because the more fans you have in your advocacy marketing program, the more potential content shares your program can earn and the more individuals your content can reach once it’s been shared by your advocates.
At SocialToaster, we’ve found that the average advocate is connected to about 500 to 600 people online. So, for every 100 additional people who join your program, potential reach grows by 60,000 people! That’s 60,000 more people that can see, share, and engage with your social content.
The Three Types of Advocacy Marketing Program Growth
There are three main channels for growing your advocacy marketing program:
- Paid Growth: Growth that originates from paid media channels (like Facebook ads or sponsored Instagram posts)
- Referral Growth: Growth that originates from your current fans referring and recruiting their social network into your program.
- Organic Growth: Growth that originates from non-paid/non-referral sources.
A solid advocacy marketing program growth plan includes elements of all three channels. For this blog post, we’re going to focus on our top recommendations for fostering organic growth.
How to Organically Grow Your Advocacy Marketing Program
1. Optimize Your Program Sign-Up Page
The most important tool in your organic growth tool kit is your program sign-up page. The stronger your program sign-up page, the higher your chances are to convert a casual page visitor into an advocate. The opposite of this rule is true as well, a weak program sign-up page can push advocates away from joining your program.
Need some examples?
So, what goes into a strong sign-up page?
a) Clear Concise Communication
Make sure there’s a clear and focused outline that explains your program. Be sure to include an overview of what is expected from the advocate once they sign on.
b) Member Benefits are Clearly Outlined
A strong program sign-up page also clearly communicates the key benefits of joining your program.
Example benefits could include:
- Access to unique content
- Invitations to VIP events
- Discounts and member-only pricing
- Entry into contests and sweepstakes
c) Strong Visuals
If all a user sees when they land on your sign-up page is a wall of text, they’re going to have a bad time. Increase conversions by including strong visuals and images on your sign-up page. The images should reinforce your brand identity (to help further communicate that it’s your brand’s advocacy marketing program) as well as visually communicate and reinforce your program benefits.
d) Mobile-First Design
Mobile is the alpha and omega of a successful program sign-up page. If you think through how your program attracts new users (email, social posts, referrals, sponsored ads), you soon realize that a strong majority of first-time program sign-up page visits will come to your page from a mobile device.
A strong mobile-first design:
- Stacks image and copy blocks to fit within the screen width of a mobile device.
- Uses clear imagery and buttons to drive a user to sign-up.
- Concisely explains the program (you have less than 10 seconds to convince someone to join).
Pro Tip: You don’t have to hire a team of designers and developers to build the perfect sign-up page. Our SocialToaster platform comes equipped with a powerful mobile-first sign-up page template that can start driving organic recruitment from day 1. Plus, our team of strategists and designers stand ready to work with you to design and build the ideal sign-up page.
2. Lean On Your Email Lists
Emails are a huge potential source of organic program growth. Of all organic channels, email sees the highest conversion rate at over 4%. They’re also a low-cost communication channel, allowing you to reach potential new advocates for pennies.
At SocialToaster, we recommend sending one or two emails every month that advertise your advocacy marketing program. As a best practice, these emails should:
a) Include an Eye-Catching Subject Line
People receive nearly 100 emails a day! To avoid the trash folder, your emails need to include a powerful subject line. Not sure which of your drafted subject lines is the stronger choice? Many email marketing platforms come equipped with the ability to split-test subject lines. Simply load up 2 or 3 of your favorite lines and let the software determine the better performing subject line.
b) Include a Strong Call-to-Action
Emails with a single, clear call-to-action have a 371% increase in clicks and can increase conversions by 161%. Your call-to-action (CTA) should give the reader a reason to join your awesome program. It should also clearly set the users’ expectation that if they click on your CTA they’re next expected action is to join your program.
c) Use Images
Images grab your audience’s attention. 65% of people prefer emails with images because they’re easy to understand and take seconds to mentally digest. You can include short text over the images to convey necessary information quickly.
d) Use Testimonials
You know your program is great. Your advocates know your program is great. But not everyone is in “the know.” Utilizing advocacy testimonials in your emails can help to provide the social proof needed to push your program growth to the next level.
3. Get Social
Your social media channels and audiences represent an ideal source for new advocate program members. After all, if a fan is engaging with your brand regularly on social media, they’re more likely to join and actively participate in your advocacy marketing program.
To jumpstart your social organic recruitment, keep these best practices in mind:
a) Post about the Program on the Regular
Posting once or twice about the program isn’t enough to drive significant growth. As a best practice, we recommend promoting the program through your social channels at least 2 to 3 times a month. Instagram Stories are a client favorite when it comes to driving organic program growth.
b) Mix Up the Content
If you’re posting on a regular basis (which you should be), you’ll need to mix up how you talk about your program on social media. If all you do is post content that says, “Come join our program!”, you’re not going to effectively drive recruitment. Instead advertise the program by providing a holistic view of everything the program entails including:
- Overview of current prizing
- Advocate testimonials and spotlights
- Examples of exclusive content being shared
- Showcase program winners to show the value
c) Use Unique Links for Every Post
SocialToaster comes equipped with a built-in link shortening and recruitment attribution tool. This tool allows brands to create unique links for each of their posts (and emails/ads). These links not only track how often a link is clicked on but also how many recruits joined using a specific link.
Use these links to split-test posts and identify which posts drive the most organic recruitment. Then incorporate more of those posts within your social publishing calendar.
Let’s Get Started
Ready to fire up an awesome advocacy marketing program? We are too! Contact us today to request your free demo for our award-winning social platform.
We’ll help you create and design an advocacy marketing program that entices and excites. Let’s get started today!
