💬 It's no secret that ambassadors and micro-influencers (whatever audience size you define), can really help with reach into targeted communities/followers, and also help create network effects to bring exposure to brands.
And more than ever now where new brands popping up in competitive verticals (what feels like all the time), and acquisition channels becoming tougher to compete/get cut-through in, if you can better engage your ambassadors that have 'clout', then you'll increase chances of seeing revenue success through key quality audience/followers networks.
💬 These are some tactics/strategies that can help with participation rates, with many being potential 'quick wins', and others that require some more strategy brainstorming (but worth exploring).
There are a few ways to incentivise ambassadors/micro-influencers, and these are my personal favourites - gift cards, store credits, commissions, first dibs on new products (to test, try and then buy), and even free gifts.You should treat your the incentives structure similar to what you would do with loyalty programs.
For instance, offer tiered rewards for say when ambassadors successfully refer new customers - and even potentially referring other top ambassadors (why not use them for recruiting/sourcing too, right?)
I've got a guide to show off what some key elements you should have on an ambassador landing page which you can check out.
My top piece of advice is not to do something which is half-baked, which I tend to see many companies do with pages like this.
I haven't implemented this strategy specifically with ambassadors before, and it's a bit more unique and something you normally see with SaaS companies or just general forums, but it's potentially a good idea to consider to help motivate ambassadors to promote.In relation to gamification, what you do see in other forums/leaderboards are the use of badges or icons for "levels".
It's a strategy/initiative more on the advanced side, but could be a cool consideration.
I have great news - there are numerous options in the market that make it really easy to setup, manage and scale ambassador programs.
Especially features for automation, segmentation, tracking performance/analytics, and a lot more.
Totally worth the investment to at least trial out, and I'm sure over time you can maximise ROI. I can tell you from experience, this strategy totally delivers ROI. Plus, custom build is too costly/time-consuming.
Managing many influencers at scale can become quite challenging, and one way to tackle this is through creating helpful guides/resources for ambassadors to check out/read/watch.
The goal of these resources is to help activate them to get better at promoting your brand (and hopefully promote more over and over again).
I've mentioned the importance of community-building as an initiative a few times if it makes sense for your brand.
When it comes to ambassadors, you don't need to create a full-fledged community. Rather, an exclusive, tight-knit community of advocators is certainly an initiative worth doing.
They can then help with collab, answer each other if any have questions, learn from each other, and more. Plus, it's a good way to send messages to all of them in one place - treat it like a mini forum.
Hard to optimise and continually improve your program and specific ambassador performance without the right tracking in place.
The good news with the tooling options that exist in the market, is that they can help you with setting up tracking links for specific ambassadors (as well as coupon codes).
The setup process for tracking links with these programs is easy as.
Of course, it's important to measure effectiveness and investment that your brand is making. Whilst the end sales goal is critical, it's important to take into account other key metrics that play a role with ambassador performance, including - impressions/engagement/reach, shares, traffic, referrals, emails, and of course, revenue.
You'll then also be able to then tie it back to overall acquisition/performance metrics, such as CAC (i.e. did it reduce? Are we willing to pay for this CAC? etc.)
Stating the obvious a bit here - treat your ambassadors like you do your customers when it comes to feedback.
They know their audiences/communities/followers like no one else, so it's key to hear them out when it comes to what should be promoted to market, etc.
Get to know/hear their feedback on the pros/cons directly related to the program.
It's totally worth adding more incentives and bonuses for those who go that extra mile to promote your brand, in order for more awareness/sales.
Loyalty and recognition with great advocators pays off for long-term performance.
The final point here I'll make is ensuring that you make it obvious that an ambassador program exists in the first place.
Whilst you may be actively recruiting and reaching out, potential candidates will come across your brand and could be an awesome option to become an advocator.
Plus, some of your best customers could awesome ambassadors themselves - just need to make sure to promote via socials, newsletters, and your site.
