Brand ambassadors or "superfans" are one of the most powerful ways to market your product or service. This is a presentation I've delivered at a few conferences. The slides describe the superfan program I created and currently manage for Boingo Wireless.

1. Social Media Superfans:
Brand Ambassadors in the Social Age
Baochi Nguyen // Boingo Wireless

2. Discussion Topics
• Social Media Superfans as Brand Ambassadors
• Identify and Keep Track of Superfans
• Get to Know Your Superfans – Engage!
• The Superfan VIP Treatment
• Precautionary Superfan Tips
• Additional Superfan Tips
© 2011 Boingo Wireless, Inc. Page 2

3. The Birds and the Superfans
Where do brand superfans come from?
Great Product
Great Service
Great Community
© 2011 Boingo Wireless, Inc. Page 3

4. Superfans: Brand Ambassadors
• Social Media Superfans are customers/enthusiasts who engage, praise or
recommend your brand via social networks – and they do so without
monetary compensation!
• Superfans can be your brand’s best marketing assets
• 74% of consumers rely on social networks to guide purchase decisions
(Gartner, July 2010)
• Brand advocates are 83% more likely to share information about a product
than typical web users (BzzAgent, May 2011)
“…companies need to take satisfaction
to the next level and create advocates
of their customers…Advocacy strongly
differs from satisfaction, or even
loyalty. It is a business strategy built
upon trust, an enduring competitive
edge…”
- Harvard Business Review, May 2011
© 2011 Boingo Wireless, Inc. Page 4

5. Identify Superfans Through a Combination of Criteria
Superfans respond to brand posts on a regular basis via likes,
Engagement comments, tweets, etc.
Kudos Superfans post about their positive experiences with your brand
Superfans recommend or gift your brand’s products/services to
Promotion friends via their social networks
Superfans send suggestions for improving your brand’s
Feedback products/services
Even when the going gets tough, superfans stand by and even
Support defend your brand
Use free online tools, e.g., Twitalyzer, to Don’t choose superfans based on the size
discover top members interacting with your of their social networks. Make the selection
brand. process an authentic one.
© 2011 Boingo Wireless, Inc. Page 5

6. Keep Track of Your Superfans
• Create a public superfan Twitter list and add members
when they meet your superfan criteria
• Create a private superfan Twitter list for potential
superfans
• Maintain a record of:
• People who regularly like and comment via each of your active social
channels (blog, LinkedIn, Flickr)
• Blogger superfans who write positive posts about your brand’s
products/services
• Flag superfans in your CRM/CMS platform
• Subscribe to blogs written by superfans
• Post a Flickr gallery of your superfans
© 2011 Boingo Wireless, Inc. Page 6

7. Keeping Up With Boingo Superfans

8. Get to Know Your Superfans – Engage!
• Read superfan blog posts and leave comments
• Converse with superfans about topics relevant to your brand
• Get to know a superfan’s passions outside your brand topics and
occasionally comment or send helpful info
• Always thank your superfans for brand shout-outs and ask about
suggestions on making your product/service even better
• Be genuine and likeable
“When you enchant people, your goal is
not to make money from them or get
them to do what you want, but to fill them
with great delight.”
“Enchantment is a process, not an event.”
- Gary Kawasaki, Enchantment
© 2011 Boingo Wireless, Inc. Page 8

9. Boingo Community Engagement
© 2011 Boingo Wireless, Inc. – Confidential – Page 9

10. The Superfan VIP Treatment
• Provide superfans with exclusive/pre-release information
• Support your superfans with linkbacks and re-tweets
• Feature your superfans via social channels and special events
• Ask superfans for input about fun stuff, like contests
• Surprise your superfans with appreciation gifts
• Give superfans shout-outs for positive events unrelated to your brand
• Or, if they’re having a bad day, send them a cheerful message
Boingo
Superfan of
the month!
© 2011 Boingo Wireless, Inc. Page 10

11. Superfans Featured on Boingo Blog
© 2011 Boingo Wireless, Inc. Page 11

12. Superfans Honored in Boingo Anniversary Celebration
© 2011 Boingo Wireless, Inc. Page 12

13. Boingo Superfans in Action
© 2011 Boingo Wireless, Inc. Page 13

14. Pre-cautionary Superfan Tips
• Loop in your legal department to define
and document the superfan relationship
to your brand
• Heed the FTC Blog Disclosure rules
• Inauthentic engagement with superfans
may tarnish your brand’s image
• Too-frequent engagement will scare
away your superfans
• Don’t solicit superfans to endorse your
promo or defend your brand – keep the
requests for participation easy and fun
• Don’t overdo the public superfan hype
– you may alienate other community
members
© 2011 Boingo Wireless, Inc. Page 14

15. Additional Tips on Superfans
• If someone asks to be included as a brand
superfan, let them in and thank them
• Be extra-responsive when a superfan
needs customer care or has questions
about your product/service
• Provide a public definition on your superfan
program and a simple criteria for what
makes someone a superfan
• Engage with potential superfans – they
don’t grow on trees
• Connect your superfans to each other (see
Reed’s Law)
• Take a no-strings approach
© 2011 Boingo Wireless, Inc. Page 15

16. Questions?
Baochi Nguyen
bnguyen@boingo.com
Boingo Wireless
www.boingo.com
@boingo
© 2011 Boingo Wireless, Inc. Page 16

17. your name | your title
boingo wireless | 10960 wilshire blvd., suite 800 | los angeles, ca 90024
your phone number | your email address@boingo.com