Presentation delivered by Dan Spicer, Community Lead, EMEA, Hootsuite, at the Digital Marketing Show Mid Term (2015).

1. Building an Advocate Community
Examples from How Hootsuite Gets Their Customers Raving About
The Brand
Community Lead, EMEA
Let’s be friends -> @DanSpicer
Dan Spicer

2. 11M+
Users
worldwide
1600+
Enterprise
Customers
744
out of the
Fortune 1000

7. *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

8. *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

9. of executives
not engaged
*Brian Solis: New Slides and Data: The State of Social Business Evolution in 2013
Social Business Incompetence
2

10. 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%

11. 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

12. 2014/15
2012
2013
How do we adapt?

13. just 20% of brands use advocate and
experts programs in their marketing
YET…
*MarketingCharts2014

14. 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

16. 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

21. 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

22. 1 Define the purpose

23. Awareness
Consideration
Preference
Purchase
Loyalty
Advocacy
Funnel

24. 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

25. Focus on customers, not influencers
2 Identify your best customers

26. © 2014 HootSuite Media Inc
Consume
Curate
Create
90-9-1

27. TIP

31. 3 Integrate rituals in community life

33. Merge offline & promote cyclic events,
like meetups and conferences4

35. 87%
of 2014 Hootups led by Hootsuite
Ambassadors
15,780
2014 attendees
57
participating countries
272
2014 Hootups

36. 2014 Attendee Types
13% of prospects in 2014 Hootups
converted to Hootsuite
customers.

37. 5 Show Your Listening - #FeedbackLoop

38. TIP

39. Beta test our new mobile app!
TIP

40. 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!

41. 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

43. Hootsuite University
https://learn.hootsuite.com/
http://signup.hootsuite.com/ambassador/
Hootsuite Ambassador Program
@hootsuite
/hootsuite
/company/hootsuite
/+hootsuite
Thank You!
Community Lead, EMEA
Dan Spicer
@DanSpicer <- Let’s be friends ☺