<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"The introduction of Malcolm Gladwell\u2019s The Tipping Point in 2000 was a tipping point in its own right. Ever since that book was published, marketers have been obsessed with cultivating influencers \u2014 those members of the public whose messages go further than most.\nThe Tipping Point preceded social media as we know it today, but Gladwell\u2019s model of \"connectors + mavens = marketing success\" fits well in the age of Twitter and Facebook. For a marketer, the mission is pretty simple: Find a bunch of influencers, get them charged up and then sit back and reap the rewards.\nOf course, it\u2019s not that simple. Just look at the range of brands in the market. On the one hand, there's Apple which has a cult-like following that is so pervasive and dedicated that it doesn\u2019t even need to be on Twitter or Facebook. But if you\u2019re marketing something less buzz-worthy, like paper towels or frozen pizza, you might find that cultivating brand ambassadors is a bit more tricky.\nNevertheless, experts on social media marketing have a few tips that any brand in any category can use to create a devoted following. Here are a few.\nRate Your Fans\n\n\n\n\nDave Balter, the CEO of BzzAgent, a word-of-mouth marketing agency, says the first thing you should do is take stock of your existing fan base. \u201CUnderstand who is a fan and who is already an advocate,\u201D he says. Of course, there are tools on the market, like Klout, that let you do this. Audi USA is one of the first brands to integrate Klout scores on its Facebook Page, letting you earn a desktop or a ring tone based on your score.\nKlout uses an algorithm based on various factors to create its rankings, but it\u2019s tempting to try to short-circuit the process by looking at which fans have the most followers. Balter says a better metric is sharing: \u201CIt\u2019s important you place value on elements like how often they share and how often others engage with what\u2019s shared. Another, simpler way of identifying potential brand advocates is to simply ask them how likely they are to recommend the brand to a friend. When rated on a 1 to 10-point scale, that is known as the \"Net Promoter Score.\"\nGive Them Something to Do\n\n\n\n\nGetting people to \u201Clike\u201D your brand on Facebook is great, but you still have to generate discussion and activity. That can be fairly easy to achieve. Last year, for instance, Oreo got its fans to weigh in on a Pandora playlist, and Philadelphia cream cheese spurred conversation by soliciting ideas for recipes and offering how-to videos.\nAnother, simpler, way to create engagement is by asking fans questions. \"You have to create a compelling dialogue,\" says Paul Longo, vice president and group digital director at MediaVest, a media-buying firm. Such give-and-take should fit in with a brand's image and make the fans feel like insiders who \"get\" the brand. Here are a couple of recent status updates from the Skittles candy brand's Facebook Page. Both got tens of thousands of \"likes\" and thousands of comments: \"If you drop Skittles on the floor, you should abide by the 3 million-second rule,\" and \"I need to stop adopting every octopus that follows me home.\"\nUse Exclusivity\n\n\n\n\nGive your fans exclusive opportunities to make them feel special. For example, Walmart has been known to court mommy bloggers by flying them to its Bentonville, Arkansas headquarters and letting them test new products. On the other side of the marketing universe, Howard Stern lets his self-proclaimed \"Superfans\" host a call-in show on Sirius XM's channel 101 once a week. \u201COne quick way to turn someone into an advocate is to \u2018bring them into the fold\u2019 and to help them feel part of the deeper community,\u201D Balter says.\nPamper Your Advocates\n\n\n\n\nWalmart doesn\u2019t just give its Walmart Moms exclusive products and experiences. The company also hosts a blog and YouTube channel for them, using its huge media reach to reward its most loyal brand advocates. Similarly, Oracle has a program called Oracle ACE that spotlights various IT pros as Oracle experts. SAP's equivalent is the SAP Mentor Initiative, which recognizes SAP experts and gives them a forum (an SAP site plus a YouTube channel.) \nGo Up a Lifestyle Level\n\n\n\n\nSo if you don\u2019t market new computers and smartphones, how do you get people to care about your brand? Jeremiah Owyang, a partner at Altimeter Group, calls this practice \u201Cgoing up to the lifestyle level.\u201D For instance, it may be hard to get people excited about a tile cleanser that gets rid of soap scum, but keeping a house clean and germ-free is something people can feel passionate about. That\u2019s exactly what Lysol, the disinfectant spray, is doing. The brand has more than 460,000 fans on Facebook, whom it engages with live chats and tips on how to keep your house clean.\nBeyond those basic tips, MediaVest's Longo suggests something counterintuitive: Doing nothing. At least for a while, he says, let your fan base breathe a little bit and avoid heavy-handed interactions. \"In general, brands are so caught up in the technology because it's so cool right now,\" he says. \"But don't rush into anything.\"\n\n\n\n\nImages courtesy of Flickr, bnilsen, navets, Daehyun Park and iStockphoto, terraexplorer, Yuri_Arcurs"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/07/13/fans-brand-ambassadors/>