Building an Advocate Community Examples from How Hootsuite Gets Their Customers Raving About The Brand

Head of Community, EMEA @DanSpicer

Dan Spicer

11M+ Users

worldwide

1600+ Enterprise Customers

744 out of the

Fortune 1000

*Gartner Predicts 2014: Seizing the Digital Business Advantage, by Jorge Lopez, Diane Morello, Stephen Prentice, and Rand Leeb-du Toit, December 11, 2013.

of businesses will lose market position

Social Business Incompetence

*Gartner Predicts 2014: Seizing the Digital Business Advantage, by Jorge Lopez, Diane Morello, Stephen Prentice, and Rand Leeb-du Toit, December 11, 2013.

cede dominance

Social Business Incompetence

1 in 5

of executives not engaged

*Brian Solis: New Slides and Data: The State of Social Business Evolution in 2013

Social Business Incompetence

2

Tweets All / No replies

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AT&T @RamblingRooney Resist the urge, Jay. We heard it’s dark, scary and no one can ever hear you. No one

Nov 26 @ATT

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Jay Rooney Just found out that @TMobile doesn’t charge extra for overseas data. What the hell am I still doing with @ATT?

Nov 26 @RamblingRooney

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T-Mobile @RamblingRooney You know there is an alternative to old-school wireless carriers, right? It’s called @TMobile, the #uncarrier ^ Lisa A

@TMobile Nov 26

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Tweets All / No replies

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AT&T @RamblingRooney Resist the urge, Jay. We heard it’s dark, scary and no one can ever hear you. No one

Nov 26 @ATT

Expand

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Jay Rooney Just found out that @TMobile doesn’t charge extra for overseas data. What the hell am I still doing with @ATT?

Nov 26 @RamblingRooney

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T-Mobile @RamblingRooney You know there is an alternative to old-school wireless carriers, right? It’s called @TMobile, the #uncarrier ^ Lisa A

@TMobile Nov 26

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Jay Rooney @ATT Hmmm… I could be persuaded by a discount on my data plan

Nov 26 @RamblingRooney

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T-Mobile @ATT Did your kindergarten panel write that for you? @RamblingRooney Global data at no extra charge vs. $$$$$$ #ItsNotComplicated

@TMobile Nov 26

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AT&T @RamblingRooney No gloves out here, Jay. It’s too close to the holidays to be so disgrunted. #HappyCarrier

Nov 26 @ATT

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John Legere @TMobile @ATT @RamblingRooney bet @ATT’s CEO isn’t going to join the convo. Come join the #WirelessRevolution!

@JohnLegere Nov 27

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Jay Rooney @JohnLegere You definitely caught my attention, good sir. Going to a @TMobile store to inquire tomorrow!

Nov 26 @RamblingRooney

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The State Of Customer Experience, Management, 2013

Companies view customer experience as one of their top priorities

Use customer experiences as a

competitive differentiator

92%

© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

60%

Yet, few companies deliver an outstanding experience

© 2014 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

53%

1%

1%

42% 37%

11%

Very Poor (0 to 54)

Poor (55 to 64)

OK (65 to 74)

Good (75 to 84)

Excellent (85+)

Source: January 121, 2014, “The Customer Experience Index, 2014” Forrester report

2014/15

2012

2013

How do we adapt?

just 20% of brands use advocate and experts programs in their marketing

YET…

*MarketingCharts2014

Who are your Brand Advocates?

Customers Influencers Employees

Advocate: one that argues for a cause, a supporter or defender Brand advocates are customers, employees or influencers such as bloggers who love your brand. The best advocates have a social presence and passion for your brand and industry.

Debra Trappen @debra11

15k twitter followers

Bryan Kramer @BryanKramer

117k Twitter followers

Diana Luong Works for Hootsuite

613 Instagram followers, 12k Instagram on her Etsy store

5.9m+ TWITTER REACH

15748 CHALLENGES COMPLETED

232 HOOTUPS

449 PUBLISHED CONTENT

PARTICIPATE IN GAMIFIED CHALLENGES

560

1K+ Ambassadors

34% INCREASE IN SELF-SOLVE RATE

Steps Toward Building An Advocate Community

Purpose

Utilise a set of targeting techniques to identify fans/super-fans in order to build/grow an advocate community

Develop a feedback loop/program and utilise advocate knowledge to improve brand/product/service

Layer in offline initiatives to complement online activities (targeted to specific shared interests/values within the community)

Define a purpose and a set of clear objectives for advocates

Implement long-term actions (gamification, exclusivity options, evergreen content etc.) to create a sustainable community

Feedback

Action

Offline

Identify

1 Define the purpose

Awareness

Consideration

Preference

Purchase

Loyalty

Advocacy

Funnel

Ambassadors Increase our Global Reach

Amplification Product releases shared with ambassadors to drive 200% more engagement & reviews

Insights Share regional insights, offer product feedback and support initiatives in 15 languages

Support Engage and support our 15,000 registered customers in the Support Forum with 80% response rate

Events Drive localisation efforts by hosting 200 events

Empower engaged users to act as brand advocates to help build and grow Hootsuite’s global community

Focus on customers, not influencers

2 Identify your best customers

© 2014 HootSuite Media Inc

Consume

Curate

Create

90-9-1

TIP

TIP

3 Integrate rituals in community life

Merge offline & promote cyclic events, like meetups and conferences 4

87% of 2014 Hootups led by Hootsuite Ambassadors

15,780 2014 attendees

57 participating countries

272 2014 Hootups

2014 Attendee Types

13% of prospects in 2014 Hootups converted to Hootsuite customers.

5 Show Your Listening - #FeedbackLoop

TIP

Beta test our new mobile app!

TIP

The Outcome: Engaged Advocates Who Review Our Product

●  Over 200+ blog posts written by our ambassadors in Q3/4

●  10% of app reviews on iTunes contributed by Ambs.

●  Total Twitter reach of #HootAmb: 4.5 million!

Key Takeaways ●  Define a clear purpose and set of objectives for

advocates ●  Target the super-user/super-fan (not the

‘influencer’) to launch your advocate community ●  Focus on long-term, repeatable actions to create a

sustainable community ●  Layer in offline initiatives aligned with shared

interests of the advocate community (education, inspiration, entertainment)

●  Develop a feedback loop and adjust strategy

on-going

Hootsuite University

https://learn.hootsuite.com/

http://signup.hootsuite.com/ambassador/ Hootsuite Ambassador Program

@hootsuite

/hootsuite

/company/hootsuite

/+hootsuite

Thank You!

Head of Community, EMEA Dan Spicer

@DanSpicer <- Let’s be friends J