Notes for the presentation: Tips for Building Brand Loyalty with Social Influencers
Museum Computer Network | November 2018 | Denver | Lori Byrd-McDevitt
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[NOTES] Tips for Building Brand Loyalty with Social Influencers
1. NOTES:Tips for Building Brand Loyalty with SocialInfluencers
MuseumComputer Network, Denver, 2018
Hi everyone. I’mLori Byrd-McDevitt,the Managerof Digital Content&Social
Mediaat The Children’sMuseumof Indianapolis.
I manage all of the museum’ssocial channelsandthe blog,andI strategize
contentdistributionacrossourwebsite andeNews.
I’ve beeninmyrole for 6 yearsnow,and my mostfavorite thinghasalways
beenworkingwithoursocial influencers.
So I’mveryexcitedtoshare aboutthat withyoutoday andgive tipsto help
youcapitalize onyourinfluencercommunitytoo.
For some context,here are some quickfactsaboutThe Children’sMuseum.
In 2017 we were one of the 20 most visitedmuseumsin NorthAmerica
We have 13 permanentgalleriesinadditiontoanew 7.5-acre outdoor
sportspark.
We average overa millionvisitorsannually
…and have over35,000 memberhouseholds.
Before we startat the beginning, Iknow the real firstthingyou’re askingyourself
isabout compensation.You mayfeel likeyoudon’thave moneyforthis.
You hearthat influencers needmoneytosurvive,andyouworrythatif
youdon’thave a budget,youcan’tpay to play.
Don’tletthat guiltyouintofeelingasif youhave to write themacheck
to engage withyou.
There are a lotof waysto compensate aninfluencer,andyouhave a lot
of valuable in-kindassetstoprovide.
So as I’msharingsome examplesandtips,be thinkingaboutwhat
resourcesand experiences youhave thatinfluencers are lookingfor….
Annual museummemberships?
Invitestoexclusive events,societies,orclubs?
Early filmscreeningsordebuts
o These couldbe crossoverbenefitswithdonorsandsponsors?)
Influencer-onlyexhibitpreviews?
Collectionstours,curatormeet-and-greets,andbehind-the-scenes
opportunities
Productreviewsortesting,orjustgivingStore productsasgifts.
Or even Fanrevealsintheircommunitiesof secret“eastereggs”during
exhibitdevelopment,orotherfun ideasyoucan cook up.
2. So how do we begintoconnectwith these…“Influencers”?
I’dsay… Slow and steady...andconsistent...winsthe race.
Your LOW-HANGINGFRUIT isgoingto be toKeeptrack of those who
email orDM you ontheirown.
o Askthemif they want to be put onyour exclusivesocial
influencerlistforfuture perks.(Ijustmaintainaspreadsheet
withinfoabouteachinfluencer).
Don’tuse these emailsforanyotherpromotional purposes(oraddthem
to youreNews).
o Onlycontact that list if itis a direct,personal email aboutan
exclusivebloggeropportunity.Thisbuildstrust.
Keeptrack of userposts(bothtaggedwithyour locationandyour
handles) thathave a lotof engagement,checkingtosee if the useris
local and regional andhasa lotof followers.
o Follow andDMthemand invite themtojoinyourlistof
influencersforexclusiveinvitesandopportunities.
o Thissort of invitationculturecanbe reallyupliftingand
empoweringforthem.
Go deepwithresearchingfor exhibitswithspecifictopics thatmay have
niche influencers orsuper-fans.
o Those whoengage withyouwiththisexhibitcouldremainloyal
influencersforyoulong-term.
Track the majorInstagramhashtagsin yourcity to stayconnectedtothe
popularInstagrammers.
o Personallyinvite themtoyoureventsandbuildarelationship
withthem.
o AttendTHEIR eventstoo,toput a face to your name.(YOU’REan
Instagrammer–don’tbe afraidto joinin!)
Join FacebookGroups in yourcommunitythatmay have relevant
bloggersorinfluencersthatyoucan connectwith.
o Introduce yourself.(Justbe sure tofollow the grouprules!)
o Share opportunitieswiththem. Youmayfeel likeaninterloper,
but know thatthey’re seekingcollaborations.
o As longas you’re humanandauthentic(notpromotional),
puttinga face to that org social account can feel like acool “in”.
Keepyoureyesandearsopen.
o Once you start throwingevents,otherswillstartcomingoutof
the woodwork.
o Often, yourcore influencerswill suggestevenmore thatcan
helpyournetworkgrow exponentially.
Who countsas an Influencer?
That’s upto you andyour goals.
Whenyou’re justgettingstarted,anyone whoreachesouttoyouand is
willingtoshare yourcontentforyoushouldbe givena chance,no matter
theirfollowercount.
o Everyinfluencerneedstostartsomewhere,too.
Thisis Anna,who’sbeenaninfluencer of oursforforever.
o At under900 Instagramfollowers,she maynotseem like your
traditional big-deal influencer.
o But she’sa powerhouse withherloyalty,connections,andabilityto
accuratelyshare our message withoutevenbeingasked.
Whocountsasaninfluencer?
According to BIG brands…
● INFLUENCER: 1 mil + followers
● MICRO-INFLUENCER: 10–100k followers
● NANO-INFLUENCER: 1,000 followers *NEW*
3. What’smore importantisthatthey’re relevanttoyourbrandand that their
audience will care aboutwhatthey’re sharingaboutyou.
o You alsowouldn’twantyourcontentbeingassociatedwithan
account that youwouldn’totherwise be proudtobe linkedwith.
If you’re a largerorganizationthatreceivesmanycold-callsorcanned
emailsfrombloggers,youshouldaskthemtoillustrate theirvalue toyouby
providingtheirMediaKit.
o Anybiggerinfluencerwillhave amediapackage withtheirwebsite
stats,followercounts,andotherbasicinformation.
I oftenrequestfollow-upbyemail withtheirpreferredsocial media
handles,website, andemail.
o Thisshowsme they’re seriousaboutworkingwith us,andalso
savesme a lot of time.
Once you findthem, whatdoyoudo withthem?
The Children’sMuseum’sgo-toinfluencerperkisthe exclusive exhibit
preview party.
It’sa few nightsbefore the exhibitopens,andit’splannedasa
networkingevent forthemtoconnectwithone another,as well.
For largerexhibits,theygetafull dinnerandgoodie bags,inadditionto
plentyof time forphotosandlive video,andaccesstoexhibitteamstaff.
There are alsolargergiveawayswithproductfromthe store.
Unique activitiesdependingonthe exhibit –costume contestduringthe
POPopeningandan astronautmeet-and-greetduringourspace exhibit.
Our hashtagtrendson Twitterlocallyateachof these events.
We donot explicitlyrequestcoverage ontheirsocial channels,itjust
naturallyhappens.
Thiswas our initial waytoinvite thisaudience in,toshow themthatwe
value theirsupport,andtomake themfeel like apart of the museum
family.
Eventslike thisestablishgoodwill. Yougive a little.But you geta lot.
Our exhibitpreview partieshave been goingonforoverfive yearsnow,and
have become somethingof a tradition inthe influencercommunity.
We now have about50 core,loyal influencersthatconsistentlyattend
mostevents,and130 local and regional influencerswhoremainactively
on our list.Throughthe yearswe’ve beenintouchwithover200.
o Thisdoesn’tinclude families,whoattendeventswiththem.
The openingof our new,outdoorsportspark – whichessentiallycaused
us to double insize,wasourmostmassive preview partytodate,and
whatwe considertobe our mostsuccessful inregardstoattendance
and results.
Withover225 attendees.
30 separate influencersrunningInstagramStories.
97 photosand videosbeingpostedinthatnightalone.
And13 longer-formblogs,vlogs,andFacebookLIVEcontentresulting,
some of which were fromsignificantinfluencersthatwere huge getsfor
us.
4. One tipfor a successful exhibitpreview event -- TeamupwithPR.(If YOU’RE not
alreadyPR.)
Influencerslove the mediabeingattheirpreview partiesbecause it
makesthemfeel reallyspecial,andgivesthemanetworking
opportunity.
Medialove the influencersbeingthere becauseitgivesthemachance to
have interestingfolkstotalktofor theirstories.
You getto share the resource loadandplanningwithanotherteam.So
that’sa win-win-win.
Once you’ve connectedwith yourinfluencers andhave thrownafewevents,
thenconnectionsstartturningintocollaborations.
You can start to ask for more,while still continuingtogive.
Testa projectwithinfluencerswhoyou’ve learnedcanbe greatbrand
ambassadors.
Be clearinyour expectationsandguidelinesupfront,andthensee how
these chosen few handle it.
Whensomethinggoeswell,run withitina biggerway!
These beautifulladies,SierraandKaty,are an example of that.
o Theyare not onlysocial influencerextraordinaires,they’ve also
become true friendsthroughthe years.
o I can pull upmy personal FacebookandDMthemto run a
questionbythematany time andthey’ll be upfrontwithme
withfeedback,orthey’ll share apostwiththeirchannels.
o Andthey’re notthe onlyones.
Here are some unique wayswe’vecollaboratedwithinfluencersthroughthe
years…
They’ve beentappedtobe brandambassadorsat adults-onlyevents,
sharingaboutthe funon theirpersonal social channelsinexchangefor
tickets.
o We trustthemenoughto notbe inappropriate.(AsaChildren’s
Museumthisis importanttous.)
They’ve writtenHolidaytoyreviews ontheirblogsforourstore.Inone
case,a toywasn’tthe qualitytheywere expecting.
o Insteadof blastingitontheirblog,theycame to us firstto letus
know.
Theyare oftencommercial andphotoshoottalent,whichishelpful forus
inbroadeningourmarketingmaterialsandit’sfunforthemtobecome
little local “celebrities.”
Because of the loyaltyandtrust we’ve built,theyare naturallyoureyes
and earsin Facebookgroups,onthe NextDoorapp,or otherprivate
online settingswhere complaintsordebatesmayoccur.
o Theywill alertusto issuesandoftenwill come toourdefense on
our behalf.
While we greatlyrespectourinformal emaillistwe’ve establishedover
the years,on rare occasionswe’ll share veryimportantor timelynews
that we feel they’ll findvaluable toshare withtheiraudiences.
o For instance,whenwe extendedthe hourstoour Haunted
House to “save Halloween”whenthe citycancelledTrick-or-
Treatingdue to a terrible storm.Ourinfluencerswere ourPR
cavalry.
5. If the corner-office is talkingabout“communitybuy-in”youshouldalsobe
talking“influencerbuy-in.”
Whenplanningforournew dynamicpricingadmissionmodel,we anticipateda
lotof backlashdue to confusionaboutthe change…
One way toget aheadof the negative communityresponse wasto
capitalize onoursocial influencers.
We hadselective meetingsaheadof the announcementwithkey
bloggers,including“The Queenof Free,”Cherie,shownhere,whochose
to use hercolumnin our citytourismblogto share the information.
She isat the pointof no longerdoingunpaidblogginggigs,butdue to
herrelationshipwithusandthe circumstancesof the announcement,
she sharedthe news because she feltwasmutuallybeneficial.
We alsocreateda social mediakitthatwe distributedtoourinfluencers
on the morningof the announcement,withanopeninvitationtoaskus
any questionsif theyhadany.
Thishelpedusgetstartedon the rightfootin manyof the FacebookGroups,
where thingscanget outof handquicklyif there isnegativityorconfusion.
It comesup inmeetingsoften,“HeyLori,can we use yourinfluencersto
getthe wordout aboutthis?”
But we are verycareful withthemasa resource andsee themas friends
whotrust us as muchas we trustthem.We remindourcolleaguesof
that frequently.
Andrarelycall upon ourlistof influencersfora”favor” unlessit’svery
important.
The ultimate collaborationwithourinfluencerscame inthe formof our
CommunityBloggingprogram, whichwe call the BlogAmbassadors.
Ratherthan bloggingonTHEIR blogs,thisiswhere theyare writingforthe
museum’sblog.
We selectourAmbassadorsthroughanapplication-basedcall out.
Initiallywe reachedouttoaround75 active bloggersandreceived24
applications,which,at1/3 of the community – wasmuch more than we
anticipated.
In exchange fora membership andotherperks, fourbloggerswrite one
bloga monthfor six monthsabouttheirexperience inthe museumand
how it theninspiredthemtoextendtheirlearningathome.
Thisis an example of the brandedgraphicswe use ondifferentsocial
platforms,whichare personalizedforeachblogger.
We’ve begunusingaMemorandumof Understandingwithourbloggers
so that we can furtherclarifythe expectationsonbothsides.Thisjust
helpsprovide more structure,withoutbeingtoooverlyformal.
We’ve now runfive separate classesof BlogAmbassadors,beginning
withour pilotin2013 andour latestthat kickedoff ourSportsLegends
Experience with8bloggersoverthisyear.
For the sportsexperience,we hadover30 applicationsandimmense
buzzin the community.There wasmuchfanfare whenthe 8 were
announced,andwordevenmade itto New YorkCitywhere our PR
Directorwas doingdesksidevisitsandwastold,“I heardyouannounced
your latestblogambassadors –soundslike agreatline-up!”Ithinkthis
was one of my proudestmoments.
6. All of that said,we’re still lookingtothe future of thisprogramand whatwe can
do to make our influencercommunitystrongerand more connected.
Eventhoughwe’re innoway shuttingdownourmuseumblog – the
premise of a“Blog Ambassador”doesn’tcarryas much cloutas a general
“Brand Ambassador”forthe museum.
What doesthislooklike?We’re stillfiguringthatout.
Thishas implicationsforourinfluencerexhibitpreviewsandotherevents,as
well.
Look at the differencejustafew yearsmakes.Bloggersaren’tjust
bloggersanymore.
They’re influencerswhomaybe have ablog, (butprobablynot).
We needtoclarifyourexpectationstoensure we’regettingthe mostout
of whatthey’re willingtooffer.
Quickly Read Slide.
One bigchallenge we’ve found istracking successinregardsto metrics.
We usedtosimplyshare how many blogscame out of an event,
or how many attendeesdid giveawayswithticketswe provided.
But nowit’sjust in-the-momentpostsand live contentthat disappears.
While othersare doingwhole vlogsandputtingeffortin,orFacebook
Liveswithlotsof viewers.
Some influencersthatare biggermayjustdo one InstagramStory post.
o Thisyear we’re consideringdoingaplatterof optionsthatour
inviteeschoosefromandare requiredtodo inorderto attend.
But whatdoesaccountabilitylooklike?
One answerwe’re consideringisrequiringreport-outsforthingslike
InstagramStory stats.
These are thingswe’re thinkingonaswe prepare for2019 and the future of our
social influencers,
Because as we all know, the social mediaenvironmentisalways
changing.
I’dlike toendby saying -- don’t worry about the dollar signs,thiscan be
aboutthe experiences,the relationshipbuilding,andbringingthe long-
term, human connectionback intoyour museum.
AndI wouldlove totake some time to share any thoughts withanyone
abouthow thiscould be appliedintheir museum,no matter its size.If we
have time for questions,I’dbe happyto answer.