If you’ve ever faced the challenge of creating a startup, you’ll know that the work involved in getting your brand name known is immense. Not everyone is blessed with a large advertising budget, useful marketing channels, or an enthusiastic customer base in the beginning. So how do you spread your brand around when you’re hardly known? One solution that has worked out for hundreds of startups is to utilize brand ambassadors.
Finding Brand Ambassador Online
Deciding to try an ambassador approach and actually having those willing to participate are completely different matters. Just because you want to do it doesn’t mean you will have people flocking to you. You have to go and seek out people to represent your company and your brand for you. In this scenario, the internet can become your best friend. Within the vastness of the internet are sub-communities of people, some of whom may be very interested in what you have to say.
Your challenge in looking for online ambassadors is to know where you should go. Because of the sheer size of the internet, you need to narrow down your search and focus on a few websites while ignoring others. In recent years, other startups have been finding success in Reddit, the online discussion site geared towards younger, opinionated users. The nature of the site makes it easy for people to give your company a shout out or to help engage with other users about your company.
Why Reddit Ambassadors are Useful
Reddit is a source of huge internet buzz as well as one of the number one places to catch onto viral trends and debates about ongoing issues around the world. Imagine inserting your brand into this kind of environment where there are so many people online searching for something to interest them. If you can become that interesting thing, you might just find yourself getting a lot of exposure, not just within Reddit, but elsewhere on the web. Starting at Reddit means that your ambassadors are more likely to spread information about you to other networks they are part of, such as Facebook, Twitter, various blogs and forums, and elsewhere. Even if you don’t receive this sort of exposure, you may find that Reddit users will engage in conversations with each other about your brand or your products within the website, helping you to answer questions and advertise your products.
How to Get Reddit Ambassadors
As with any other effort to seek out brand ambassadors, there are certain strategies that will help you more on Reddit than in other places. Here are a few ways you can make your search easier:
1. Don’t spam
Post you content only in relevant subreddits, or else you risk getting downvotes and bad karma. These things reflect negatively on your account and your brand, meaning people will pay less attention to anything you post in the future. If you stick to the proper topics, follow rules given by those topics, and keep a more informational tone rather than 24/7 advertisements, you will have a better chance of keeping people’s attention.
2. Offer incentives
Simple affiliate marketing strategies can go a long way. Do people like your products? Offer them a way to earn back something for themselves either in cash or store credit when they refer friends to buy from you as well. Promotional codes, affiliate links, referral programs, and more can help you boost your customer base without breaking the bank on advertising schemes. Personal recommendations are the fastest way to gain trust from new customers, but you can only utilize them if you are willing to give back to whoever supplies them.
3. Start your own subreddit
Don’t only look around for existing places to post. Create your own topic where you can discuss all things related to your startup and industry. Make sure you stay active in all your posts, responding to comments and posting new material, or you may just lose the fan base you were building up. This also gives people a place to refer others to when they are talking about your company.
4. Help people feel invested in your company
Most people are more willing to hop on board of an ambassador program if they feel like they are important to your success in some way. Do what you can to make your brand ambassadors feel valued and appreciated. Additionally, you may consider asking people for suggestions about different problems or opportunities you are facing. Getting input from others and then acting on it will give people the sense that you actually listen to what they suggest and are willing to pay attention to their unique ways of thinking.
Conclusion
Startups can be difficult at times, but if you employ the right strategies, you may just be able to lighten your workload. Brand ambassadors will help you spread the word about your company without you having to directly control everything going on. While there are a lot of ways to find these ambassadors, Reddit can be one of the most helpful places if you know how to use it. Be respectful of how the site works, post about useful and relevant things, and give people a reason to feel invested in your company. These tips can help you to create a large and well-functioning ambassador program for your company today!
