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Brand ambassadors are the vital ingredient in getting your content strategy for social media off the ground and running. Your brand ambassador program requires a solid employee advocacy platform to bring structure and purpose to your strategy.
Apostle has developed a Social Reach Optimization adoption program that informs users about what they’re doing, why and the results they can expect to achieve for both themselves and their company.
However, sometimes new programs lose their initial momentum after an initial burst of success, so you need to work at keeping things fresh. It’s important to regularly schedule time to invest in motivating your ambassadors. You need to commit to this not just in the initial ambassador activation phase, but on an ongoing and regular basis to ensure they stay activated.
Here’s some of our tips for how to activate your brand ambassadors ánd keep them active and inspired in the long run!
It’s easy to send out blank invites, but how successful will this be when you need people to really engage and feel that they have something special to contribute to the program? When there’s someone you absolutely must get on board, we recommend taking the time to drop by their desk or give them a call. Of course, with very busy people this still might fail! Send them a personal note or e-card, asking for a quick catch up, and include an inspiring fact or statistic about the program. We’re sure it’ll catch their attention!
Let’s take it all the way back to the start. Getting the right messages across in the onboarding session will save you lots of time later. Your potential brand ambassadors need to learn about the strategy behind what they're doing, what is expected of them and the benefits and successes it will lead to. Set clear goals they can contribute to and give them an opportunity to get to know the platform.
Gather your team of content creators once a month to collect ideas, share results and inspire each other to do more. Ask them to share examples of interaction, leads and successes with the group. Always conclude with a brainstorm to really get the creative juices flowing. What will happen in your business sector over the next few months, or internally? How could these developments support the pillars of your content strategy? This will create a valuable bank of content ideas, and a continuous stream of authentic content.
Gamification is now a typical method to increase engagement. In Apostle we make it meaningful and tie rewards into the objective of increasing your company’s social reach. You can set your own incentives that are unlocked as users rise through the leaderboard, and keep track of each individual ambassador’s progress.
Every company has influencers: these may be senior colleagues, a good networker or just someone who gets to work across departments and brings people together. Use one of these people to advocate for the program in a keynote session. Include everything people need to know about the program and platform, but focus on successes and targets. Sell it as an opportunity, and ensure that good news and achievements from your initial pilot are highlighted and celebrated.
The Apostle e-learning program is supported by both a pioneering SRO principle, and easily digestible modules that cover every aspect of the platform. You can revisit these as a quick refresher at any time. You could do this at random, or use them to address any specific areas that colleagues tell you they need help with.
Ensure that the individual benefits of participation aren’t lost behind the messages focusing on how the program will move your company forward. There are multiple benefits to the individual that need to be consistently communicated, such as boosting their personal brand and showcasing their contribution to company success. But also think about the magic that occurs when open, honest conversations become the norm in any company. Social media invites further interaction, and the ideas and support gained can help with problem solving and work prioritization - leading to less stress. All of this contributes to a greater level of satisfaction, reduced absence levels and best of all, improved employee wellbeing.
When you need to create a constant stream of content, you need to always be looking for ways to keep it interesting. Once you’ve run out of internal happenings, look outside. Are there relevant events taking place in your sector? Keep an eye on sites that list upcoming awareness days and report launches. And don’t forget, if you have some great content that could work harder for you, use Apostle’s AI feature to create new versions and ensure that no one misses it.
Encourage your employees to use the mobile app, as this way they’re unlikely to miss any notifications or announcements about the availability of new content.
As your colleagues go about their daily work, they may be missing something that followers would really enjoy learning about. The ability to see behind a corporate brand to the heart of a company is what makes your content strategy so unique. Remind them to keep sending in suggestions - slick marketing content has its time and place, but your SRO strategy is about real work and the people who make it happen.
There’s always plenty that you can do to keep your users motivated. Hopefully this has given you some starting points, but keep listening to your colleagues and ask them for ideas and feedback. Overall, try to keep contact frequent and a consistent flow of content and you’ll soon start to see even more results from your work.
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