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Product Sampling Campaign Activities

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Advocacy Platform Support
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Overview

Activities are specific actions or outputs approved expert applicant segments need to complete after receiving your product in the mail.

There are two different activity types:

  1. Initial activities: What approved experts need to review and do before they put your product to the test.
  2. Content-sharing activities: What approved experts need to do after they put your product to the test. 

When configuring your product sampling campaign, you can customize the instructions for each activity type in the Activities step. The primary goal of your instructions is to provide the expert with a high-level overview of their next steps for each activity and direct them to your campaign landing page for more information.

  • On the Activities tab of the campaign landing page, approved expert applicants will see a scrollable list of what activities they need to complete, instructions for what to do next, and when to complete the activities by. The campaign landing page copy is dynamic, meaning if you'd like, you can provide different instructions for different expert segments.
  • We provide default copy for each activity type but hope that you personalize these for your brand. You can preview what you’re creating on the right side of the page.

While there are up to six items to configure on the Activities step, ideally, the activities you select should align with your objectives outlined in your Product Sampling Campaign Discovery Brief provided by your ExpertVoice Account Executive. Please contact them for more information if you have not yet filled out a brief.

When you're ready, simply toggle the activities on or off using the toggle button, and customize the instructions for each. 

  • You can select various activities but cannot rearrange their order on the page.
  • The activities cannot be enabled or disabled once the campaign is scheduled to go live or is published.
  • All enabled activities are presented as required to the expert.

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Experts will receive automated reminder emails and notifications to complete your activities.

Each of these reminders will link experts to your Product Sampling Campaign landing page with more information. Experts can also click your campaign card on ExpertVoice to access your campaign landing page.

Note: All activity-related reminder emails automatically include your Campaign Image in their design. You cannot customize their image unless you update your Campaign Image. 

Initial Activities

Initial activities are what approved experts need to review and complete before they put your product to the test. These activities are required for experts to complete before the content-sharing activities and experts will receive automated messaging to complete them.

There are two different initial activity types:

  1. Receive the product: The goal here is to encourage experts to confirm that they got their product in the mail and mark it as “received” on your campaign landing page. It’s their first activity to complete. And as soon as the expert does this, 24 hours later they’ll get instructions with information on how they should get to know the product and put it to the test. 
  2. Get to know the product: The goal here is to encourage experts to spend time gaining hands-on experience with your product and remind them what they need to do between now and sharing their content. We recommend including any product-related FAQs here that the expert may have and encourage experts to use the product under the conditions you believe will help them develop an informed opinion about its quality and performance. As soon as the expert confirms that they have “gotten to know the product,” 24 hours later they’ll get instructions about their first content-sharing activity.

Here is more detail about the messages you can customize for approved experts in this phase of the campaign:

Activity message type Details Message timing and cadence

 

Receive The Product
(required)

You can customize the Expected Ship by Date for when products would start shipping

Option to provide each expert tracking information as well in the Shipping management step to supplement this copy.

1,000 characters maximum

Option to create different instructions for expert segments

This message is sent once per expert, up to 30 hours after you provide an expert with their tracking information and mark their product as "In Transit" in the Shipping management step and click Save.

Once experts receive this message they are encouraged to wait for their shipment and mark their product as received as soon as possible. 

Get To Know The Product
(required)

You can customize the Gain Experience by Date for when experts should finish evaluating your product and start the content-sharing activities

1,000 characters maximum

Option to create different instructions for expert segments

This message is sent once per expert:

Either up to 30 hours after an expert marks the package as "Received" on the Campaign Landing Page

OR up to 30 hours after the campaign manager marks their product as "Package Received" in the Shipping management step and clicks Save.

Content-Sharing Activities

Compose instructions for the initial activities that approved expert applicants need to do after they put your product to the test. 

These activities will be automatically promoted to approved applicants and are required for them to complete after the initial activities. The goal of the Content-Sharing Activities messaging is to continue to direct approved experts to your campaign landing page to view their next steps and post their required content.

Each of these messages are sent once per-expert, up to 30 hours after an expert completes the previous activity AND they have not yet completed an activity.

Activity type Description Example copy to add or customize

ExpertVoice Photos
(recommended)

The goal here is to provide experts with clear instructions for composing a photo that they will upload to ExpertVoice from your campaign landing page.

The photos that experts upload will be available to you in both the Campaign Manager and Content Manager.

Encourage experts to spend at least a minimum time experiencing your product beforehand. Provide a deadline for sharing the photo.

1,000 characters maximum

Option to create different instructions for expert segments

If you're interested in re-sharing experts' published photos on Instagram later, you can download them and/or create a Snapshot of them in the Content Manager. 

 
  • Preferred camera details
  • Staging and location direction
  • Encouraging (or discouraging) showcasing other products or brands
  • Image type (product details, lifestyle, etc) 
  • Any disclosures required
  • What activities an expert can expect (so they can prepare ahead)

ExpertVoice Recommendation
(recommended)

The goal here is to provide experts with clear instructions for composing a product review on ExpertVoice from your campaign landing page.

The reviews that experts upload will be available to you in both the Campaign Manager and Review Manager.

You will need the Product Code, the product code associated with recommendations produced for this campaign. Our e-commerce team will provide you with this.

1,000 characters maximum

Option to create different instructions for expert segments

 

If you have the ExpertVoice Recommendation Display set up, these reviews can be syndicated from ExpertVoice to your website if they meet your syndication criteria.

Reinforce the following:

  • Being specific about where and how you used the product, how it performed, and what you liked about it.
  • Sharing how the product could be improved if at all, and for whom you would recommend this product.
  • If you have relevant life or work experience that adds to your credibility as a product reviewer, please include that in your review. 
  • Including a photo with your recommendation (Note: If possible, avoid featuring competing brand logos)
  • Any disclosures required
  • What activities an expert can expect (so they can prepare ahead)

External Product Reviews
(optional)

The goal here is to provide experts with clear instructions for composing a product review or feedback on an external (Non-ExpertVoice) website of your choice.

The reviews or feedback that experts post will be linked in the Campaign Manager Dashboard tab for tracking purposes. However, these reviews will not appear in the Review Manager since they are published on an external website.

You will need the Review Site Link, the URL to the website where your reviews will be collected. (e.g, https://__)

1,000 characters maximum

Option to create different instructions for expert segments

Be sure to reinforce:

  • Being specific about where and how you used the product, how it performed, and what you liked about it.
  • Sharing how the product could be improved if at all, and for whom you would recommend this product.
  • If you have relevant life or work experience that adds to your credibility as a product reviewer, please include that in your review. 
  • Including a photo with your recommendation (Note: If possible, avoid featuring competing brand logos)
  • Any other requirements for navigating the external website
  • Any disclosures required
  • What activities an expert can expect (so they can prepare ahead)

Instagram Posts

(optional)

The goal here is to provide experts with clear instructions for composing a photo that they will upload to Instagram.

The photos that experts post will be linked in the Campaign Manager Dashboard tab for tracking purposes. However, these photos will not appear in the Content Manager since they are published on an external website.

Encourage experts to spend at least a minimum time experiencing your product beforehand. Provide a deadline for sharing the post.

1,000 characters maximum

Option to create different instructions for expert segments

You will need the hashtag(s) to track this campaign's photos on Instagram. Experts will be asked to share any hashtags you enter here as part of the Instagram posts.

Be sure to provide a unique hashtag to this Product Sampling Campaign, in addition to any additional brand or marketing hashtags.

In addition to other photo-specific messaging, we recommend:

  • Publish a minimum of two (2) in-Feed Instagram posts within two (2) weeks of receiving the product for testing and review.
  • All Instagram posts need to include the Paid Partnership Label offered by Instagram and add @brand as the Brand Partner.
  • With each in-Feed Instagram post include a minimum of two (2) slides Story (photos and/or videos) during a 24-hour timeframe, with the “Swipe Up” function or “Link” sticker, driving traffic to (Brand Name) website.
  • Include the hashtags (#brandhashtag), (#campaignhashtag), #ad, #advertisement and #expertvoice in the caption of all social posts. 
  • Tag @brandname and @expertvoice in your Instagram post.

Please include the following disclosure in your caption and elaborate on how the product performed:

For example, "I received this product for free from @brand and @expertvoice in exchange for my honest review."

Please share your Instagram post(s) and complete all remaining activities within the next few weeks.

How to configure product sampling campaign activities

You can customize the instructions for each activity required of the expert in the Activities step.

  • The activity instructions will be listed in order on your Campaign Landing Page. You can select various activities, but cannot rearrange their order on the page.
  • The selected activities should align with the information and objectives provided in your campaign brief and discussed with your Account Executive.
  • The activities cannot be enabled or disabled once the campaign is scheduled to go live or is published.

Click Save & Continue to save your work and advance through the activities configuration.

Deadlines that are auto-populated

In the Messaging step, the date you select for the Activity Due Date will automatically populate the following activities on the Activities step:

  • ExpertVoice Photos
  • ExpertVoice Recommendation
  • External Product Reviews
  • Instagram Posts

You cannot have separate due dates for these activities; they will all have the same due date.

If you would like to edit the Activity Due Date, click back to the Messaging step and edit it there.

Deadlines that you will need to insert

In the Activities step, insert deadlines for the initial activities. 

  • Receive the product - The latest date by which you expect all products to have begun shipping to experts.
  • Gain Experience by Date - Encourage experts to gain experience with their product ahead of sharing content over social media.

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