Connie Bensen, Community Strategist
Who are the “evangelists” for your community or site — the advocates and the influencers? And how can you empower them to further your community goals, get them revved up? Community Strategist Connie Bensen did a series on just this. Here are highlights and links.
Who are these Evangelists, Advocates, Influencers?
According to Connie, they are those who
- LOVE your product & tell everyone
- Are actively talking about it & are helping others.
Supporting Advocates
How do you find and identify your advocates? By listening, says Connie.
Where and how? By participating actively in your online community, using Google Alerts, Technorati, Google Analytics and social media monitoring tools.
When you identify people that are evangelizing for your brand, Connie says, engaging your advocates, interact with them.
She suggest that you be helpful, answer questions about your products or services. But also, thank them, identify yourself as a representative, and express your brand’s point of view.
To support and enabling your advocates, create a communication area with resources. Then interact but allow them ownership. Involve them in projects and planning. Be sure they have resources.
Read the links for more of Connie’s advice and examples.
And How Are You Helping Your Advocates?
Got more ideas on how to involve and support your community advocates? Please leave me a comment.
