As long as brands want to improve and increase social media engagement and fellowship, they'll need authentic, relevant, community-oriented content. One solution is to give consumers the chance to serve as brand representatives.
Social media ambassador campaigns can fit a wide range of industries and products. They succeed by targeting popular bloggers and “super users” of networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube. This type of partnership can be a successful strategy for all parties.
The brand wins if the selected ambassadors have strong voices to discuss the brand within relevant online communities.
The ambassadors win if the brand partnerships yield access to greater resources. Also, successful partnerships can help establish ambassadors as authorities in their fields.
The brand audience wins if content both online and offline becomes more relevant and exciting. The ambassador’s audience wins if the ambassador introduces audience members to something that excites, educates or entertains them.
But watch for challenges and pitfalls along the way. For instance, simply giving ambassadors an all-access-pass to your brand is inadvisable. The transparency and immediacy of social media means that any brand considering a social media ambassador campaign must first make some careful decisions about control, access and overall brand strategy before deploying a successful program.
We have identified what we think are the five most critical considerations before launching a brand ambassador program.
1. Populate the Candidate Pool
The first step in any ambassador program is to generate a pool of possible candidates. The process of finding, managing and maintaining the “talent” has yet to be simplified on a large scale, though companies like Business 2 Blogger have begun to develop solutions.
In most cases, brands will opt to find the ambassadors themselves, preferring to have total control. This process usually works like a web 2.0 version of the traditional talent search: researching people who might be good fits, compiling a list of favorites, approaching them, negotiating, and moving forward with the “talent.”
However, brands can also open the curtains on the process by employing elements of crowdsourcing. For example, Fila sought six real-life women for its Fall 2011 Body Toning collection. The brand chose five winners live via webstream, and the sixth was a “people’s choice” winner, accessed via the FilaToning Facebook Page.
A crowdsourcing campaign can drive awareness and engagement before brand ambassadors are even selected. In the case of Fila, influential fitness bloggers applied and drove their audiences to the FilaToning Facebook Page to vote on their behalf, which drove more Likes for the company -- before the ambassadors had even been selected.
Of course, crowdsourcing can also have its drawbacks. It lessens brand control, and could thus propel undesired candidates to the forefront. Each company will have to weigh its own long-term needs and short-term campaign elements to decide which approach is best.
2. Select your Ambassadors
Once a brand has built a pool of potential ambassadors, the hard work is narrowing down the list to the few individuals who best match its needs and values. Employing real people to be living, breathing extensions of a brand requires selection criteria far beyond that of a print ad model or paid spokesperson. Here are four key considerations.
Reach: How big is this person’s existing audience? Does it align with the target audience?
Perspective and voice: How does this person’s viewpoint reflect on the brand? Is his or her voice complimentary to the brand’s voice?
Authority: Is this person’s opinion valued on the subject? For example, T.J.Maxx selected fashion blogger Lindsey Calla to post and make appearances on behalf of the brand because her authority on fashion mattered to consumers.
Media fit: Consider whether this person is a good fit for planned media extensions across multiple media formats. Not all bloggers are great on camera, and not all YouTube stars can tweet.
3. Manage those Ambassadors
After choosing the ambassadors, companies need a plan to manage their access and activities. While professional talent often comes with an agent, everyday people do not — meaning that the obligation to train, inform, assist and manage the ambassador falls to the brand.
Ambassadors will use creative decision-making. This should be embraced and encouraged — it’s why they were selected. To channel and pace this enthusiasm, brands need to plan appropriately.
The biggest consideration in managing ambassadors should be clear, timely and concise communication. Companies must plan ahead and convey any needs and desires to participants frequently. Do not assume anything.
4. To Edit or Not to Edit
Real people have bad days. They curse. They cut and dye their hair. They have tattoos. They over-share. How will this affect the campaign? Deciding up front what sorts of filters to put in place is a key safeguard — and a unique process for each campaign.
Giving free reign to ambassadors to share their impressions is a risky move. Projects that encourage participants to candidly post their impressions of the brand — on Facebook, Twitter, and personal blogs — can result in rich, candid conversation. For the right effort, authenticity can pay off.
On the other hand, some brands require a higher level of control because they cannot be associated with certain content. In that case, editing ambassadors can be done through legal contracts and nondisclosure agreements, or by restricting or limiting social media posts.
5. Leverage the Content for Posterity
With a completed ambassador program, brands are faced with the challenge of longevity. How does an immediate and instant communication medium turn into one with lasting impact and influence?
Solutions are as varied as the campaigns themselves. Consider recording film footage of the ambassadors’ experiences and uploading to YouTube. Fila also created print ads featuring their real-life ambassadors. Coupon Cabin has created a blog corner for Kate Gosselin to post directly to their website.
When done correctly, long-term content planning can foster a partnership with social media ambassadors that will continue adding value long after the partnership officially ends.