28% of Americans have a strong preference to be among the first to try new technology. Ask any technology brand and they’ll tell you, the secret to success in the technology space is getting as many of these early adopters as you can to use your product as quickly as possible. From driving app downloads to launching new products, early adopters are a critical market-making force behind early success. When attracting early adopters (and keeping your current adopters engaged), your technology brand needs a program that helps build and support your community of early adopters.

At SocialToaster, we’ve worked with dozens of technology firms that use advocacy marketing programs to help nurture their community of early adopters. We’ve analyzed these programs and have identified best practices that these programs have in common.

Who Are Innovators and Early Adopters?

Remember the cool kids in school? They always had the latest toys, their parents bought them the hottest styles, and they always knew about the newest fad long before the rest of the class. But even though school is out, those cool kids still exist. Now instead of capturing the attention of school children, they’ve got the attention of tech companies and other emerging brands. They’ve traded in their school clout for physical clout in the form of tech products, mobile apps, and SAAS platforms.

What else do we know about these market makers?

As a start, the majority of early technology adopters tend to be male, high-income earners, and have an innate preference for new technology products. From there, this market segmentation splits into two sub-segments:

Innovators

Innovators make up about 2.5% of individuals. Innovators are often the first to adopt an innovation. They’re the youngest in age and are as such, more willing to take risks. They enjoy high social status (aka, they’re cool) and their risk tolerance allows them to adopt new technologies with minimal risk, thanks to their financial resources or lower opportunity cost.

Early Adopters

Early adopters are the second fastest category to adopt new innovations and technologies. They make up about 13.5% of individuals and are typically younger than innovators. They also have a high social status, are well educated, and socially outgoing. They are more discreet in their adoption of new innovations because they want to retain their central communication position and are slightly more risk-averse than innovators.

Attracting Early Adopters And Innovators Using Advocacy Marketing

So, how do you build an advocacy marketing program that attracts these individuals, who are extremely similar, yet different in their approach to adopting new technology? Follow these three best practices while setting up your advocacy program:

1) Build a Community

Do you know why platforms like Instagram or Twitter are so popular? Or why, even after Vine died, people still rallied behind its revival? Because these platforms have created an emotional bond between platform and user. The user becomes emotionally invested in the success of the platform because the platform is assisting the user in fulfilling their needs (work, status, acceptance, affection).

Successful technology companies understand that building a strong community around their brand is more powerful than simply going after a bunch of isolated users. Through an advocacy marketing program, your brand has the opportunity to identify and segment your largest supporters – your advocates.

This VIP treatment can act as a catalyst for strengthening emotional ties with your brand supporters while also creating opportunities for your advocates to interact and communicate with each other.

2) Stay Connected with Your Community

In the “Age of Instant”, it’s essential for your brand to keep an open line of communication between you and your community. Poor communication, lack of information, and lack of authority online can lead people to jump from your brand to another at the slightest whim.

An advocacy marketing platform is an ideal method for communicating with your advocates. Instead of sharing your content one-to-one, or mass mailing it to your email list, you’re able to send your content directly to your advocates with a few clicks of the mouse.

Furthermore, your advocates can then easily share that content with their friends and family. This additional exposure can help drive brand awareness, increase your brand’s social proof, and even drive new potential early adopters and innovators to check out your brand.

Creating content that your readers can interact with and share can help to ensure your successful introduction to innovators and early adopters. Some of our favorite early adopter content topics include:  

• • Regularly recurring blog posts

• • Product updates and company innovations

• • New hires and funding announcements

• • Product tutorials

• • Community shout-outs

• • Honest acceptance of feedback

• Bug alerts and revision logs

Attracting early adopters and innovators and keeping them engaged is vital. It often helps to try a few different types of content to see which resonates most with your audience.

3) Solicit Feedback

Repeat after us: “Communities are built on conversation!” If you’re only shouting your messages through a megaphone and not listening to your advocates, you aren’t going to be able to forge a strong community.

Surveys, questionnaires, and other feedback solicitation tools can be an ideal method for encouraging your innovators and early adopters to speak up and share their feedback about your technology brand. These tools have several key benefits including:

• • Accuracy – Participants enter their responses directly into the system so the margin of error is reduced.

• • Easy to Use – Time is a precious resource! Surveys allow users to pick if and when they want to participate in a survey.

• Easy to Analyze – Because online surveys can be analyzed at any time, it makes accessing and utilizing the data easier and faster.

Pro Tip: SocialToaster’s built-in survey functionality lets you easily create and disseminate surveys and questionnaires directly from your advocacy marketing platform.

Let SocialToaster Build It and They Will Come

To make the most out of your marketing content and campaigns, and to capture those precious innovators and early adopters, be sure to use an advocacy marketing platform like SocialToaster. An advocacy marketing platform helps build and connect with a community of innovators and early adopters who can share your content across multiple social media platforms. With the right content managing platform, you can make it simple for your audience to stay engaged, informed and interact with your brand.

If you’re ready to take your marketing content to new heights, we want to talk! SocialToaster wants to help you get your advocacy marketing program started. Send us an email, request a free demo,  or give us a call at 855.62.TOAST today. Don’t let innovators and adpoters pass you by anymore. Capture their attention with an advocacy marketing program.