App Masters · Jan 23How to Start & Grow a College Ambassador Program
A college ambassador program grew it to over 1 million downloads. Reps chalked sidewalks, handed out shirts on gameday, ran monthly Snapchat takeovers, and pitched bars on paid push notifications to passersby.
Tips
- Pay campus reps with milestone bonuses tied to downloads▶ 5:59Drunk Mode paid reps on milestones, with 500 DAUs around campus as one benchmark of a rep doing well.
- Treat campus reps like real employees and pay them▶ 6:26Many Drunk Mode reps later became staff, so the program doubled as a way to build the team.
- Use your campus rep program as a talent pipeline▶ 3:49XMode's Director of Sales started as a campus rep at the University of Colorado Boulder, the Director of Marketing was the rep at the University of Alabama, and the CFO was once a rep at her Virginia university.
- Recruit your first reps from your most engaged users▶ 3:29That first rep went on to become CMO of the company.
- Give reps a clear role: represent and build your brand on campus▶ 6:13
- Let reps take over a brand social account to keep them engaged▶ 7:16Reps were lining up to take over the Snapchat account every month.
- Build a team identity for reps with group chats▶ 6:58
- Run creative guerrilla stunts to introduce the brand on campus▶ 8:24
- Hand out swag on gameday and at Greek events▶ 9:40Even a security guard asking them to leave asked for a t-shirt.
- Check campus permit rules before handing out giveaways▶ 9:13Jake was kicked off campus by security on gameday for handing out t-shirts without a permit.
- Write outreach emails to look like they come from the university▶ 0:38The email led Jake to download the app and become the first campus rep.
- Combine rep work with early monetization tests with local businesses▶ 10:05
