Turn Your Early Adopters Into Big Time Ambassadors

Some of the social sharing platforms today are what we call no-brainers. They get tons of hype, receive millions of  unique monthly visitors and have user growth that rivals the first few years of Facebook.

image via wikipedia

However, 43% of Tumblr visits come from 2% of users and only 5% of Instagram users have uploaded more than 50 photos.  These highly engaged users are known as early adopters  – they probably joined these platforms in the early stages and are now experts in how to use them.

These small audiences are the trendsetters – and should be a priority target for brands.

An early adopter is not an influencer, nor a creator; they are experimental and always trying new things, whether to genuinely gain insight or to provide their critique. Here’s how to befriend an early adopter – and drive them back to your content:

1. Put on the Detective hat.

First, utilize your social media and community management to find where people are gathering online to talk about topics that relate to your business (first step: search).  Most likely they will be on platforms, forums and online communities centered around their interests.

Some ways to start are Soundcloud if you are in the music business,

 Hulu for entertainment (each TV episode has a full forum)

 Chictopia for fashion,

and self-improvement from Pinterest.

2. Do as the Romans do.

When you find your early adopters, mimic their behavior when trying to engage so you are not intruding.

Create a profile and fully disclose your business, or say that you (as a person) work at your business. Find out what they are discussing and share your opinions as they reflect your brand’s stance on a subject.

If there are information gaps your business can answer, lead them back to your own property so they can find the information they are looking for. After you answer, share a link to a post, as long as it is actually a usable reference.

3. Make a happy home.

After you direct people to your company blog, they need to be able to easily find the information they need. Your site should already be primed with all the key buttons, so these early adopters can follow your company’s handles, add your RSS feed, and begin to routinely come back.

The overall goal is that these early adopters will share your content with the people who trust their opinion. And if you are good, the Internet will take it from there.

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