One of the most common questions we receive from clients, prospects and even our friends and family is, “Who are these Brand Ambassadors?” The answer is fairly simple, your Brand Ambassadors can be anyone you want!
Vagueness aside, to really answer this question it is important to get to highlight the inspiration behind SocialToaster. Our approach to social marketing boils down to two simple beliefs:
1. We believe that every organization has a core group of loyal followers who feel personally connected to the brand or the organization itself and as a result, would be happy to promote messages about the organization to their personal networks.
2. We believe that organizations can quickly and easily improve and expand their marketing reach by leveraging their greatest resource, their existing community of supporters.
Depending on your industry, organization, and marketing goals you may choose to target different groups of these loyal followers to fill this critical role in your social marketing campaign. Here are the major groups that we have found best serve as Brand Ambassadors.
Employees: Employees are a highly accessible stakeholder group and are generally an easy group to engage and “sell” on serving this role. Their personal stake in the success of the organization and pride in their work makes them highly willing participants in a Brand Ambassador program. Our client, Hair Cuttery has found a great deal of success in leveraging its network of stylists to promote the brand, drive retail sales, and generate salon visits.
Brand Enthusiasts: Brand enthusiasts, loyalists and other fans also make valuable Ambassadors with their passion, interest, and attachment to an organization, brand of individual product. Soliciting enthusiast to serve as leveraging the emotional attachment an individual may have with your organization and allows them to share their passion for your brand with their entire network. It is also relatively easy for you to incent these individuals with what they crave… more of your stuff! Discounts, giveaways, contests, and samples are all easy ways for you to entice your Ambassadors to spread your message.
Donors and Supporters: Non-profits have an advantage in recruiting ambassadors since their cause is often humanitarian and selfless in nature Chances are good that you have come across a social network post from a friend asking you to support their favorite cause or donate to a disaster relief effort. The recent earthquake in Haiti showed the world that donors and supporters of worthy causes are everywhere, we just have to utilize them to spread the word. People are more than willing to promote messaging that they believe will make the world a better place.
