Every membership association has its superstar members—the ones who volunteer, work on committees, write articles, speak at events and seem to be rock stars at networking, connecting other members and building communities. Membership organizations should be looking to these individuals as influencers in promoting the use of their app as well as touting the value of its features.
Start by making a list of your most socially engaged members – you can tally retweets, shares, posts, and forum activity, or determine presenters or speakers with the best turnout or highest ratings. These members often appreciate the opportunity to keep a high profile. Incentivizing should be considered as well in order to make influencer promotion even more mutually beneficial. You'll then want to discuss the strategy. Once an influencer is on board, discuss your expectations:
Direct People to the App. Have them use their Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat and/or LinkedIn accounts to promote the app to their network of followers and connections.
Like, Comment, Share, Repeat. Be sure they engage with the content in the app by liking, sharing, and commenting on it. They should also do the same when your association or another influencer posts about the app on social media.
Create Forums and Polls. Have them participate regularly in forums and polls. Activity spurs interest.
Link to the App. Link to the app across platforms as often as possible to make it easy for people to download it.
Guest Blog. Have influencers periodically contribute to resources like blogposts and promote the content though their social media channels.
Make It Ongoing. Continue to reach out to members of different ages, demographics and regions. Your influencer program should be an ongoing arm of your marketing campaign. Check in with your influencers weekly and give them positive reinforcement. Additionally, have these members provide valuable feedback from themselves and their peers on their experiences with the features and functions of your app.
Using your engaged and influential members to help promote and market your organization’s app is an easy way to leverage their networks to help grow your user base. Start strategizing today!
