Campaigns

How the Advocate Referral Program works

What is the Advocate Referral Program? Premagic's advocate referral program turns the people connected to your event (attendees, speakers, judges, and partner associations) into a promotion channel. Each advocate gets a personalized, ready-to-share poster. When they post it on LinkedIn or other channels, their network sees it and clicks through to your registration page. Those clicks are your referrals, and they are a powerful, low-cost way to drive registrations from audiences you couldn't otherwise reach. Key terms - Advocate: A person who shares their personalized poster. Advocates are usually segmented into groups such as attendees, speakers, and judges. - Referral: A person who lands on your registration page after clicking through from a poster an advocate shared. One advocate can generate many referrals, because their whole network sees the post. - Pending advocate: Someone who opened the link and started creating their poster (generated the poster) but did not actually share it. These are warm prospects worth a follow-up nudge. - Estimated ticket impact: An indicative number of registrations driven by referrals, calculated by applying your registration conversion rate to total referrals. How it works 1. Import your audience. Add your attendees, speakers, judges, and partners into Premagic so each person can be issued a personalized poster. 2. Distribute the poster. Share the campaign through the embedded registration widget, or send it directly by email if you can't add the widget in time. Each recipient gets a unique link to their own poster. 3. Advocates share. The advocate opens their link, generates their poster (with their headshot and details pre-filled), and posts it to LinkedIn or another channel. 4. Referrals come in. Everyone who clicks the shared poster lands on your registration page and is counted as a referral. 5. Track results. The dashboard shows advocates, referrals, spending advocates, and estimated ticket impact, broken down by audience segment. Reading your dashboard A few numbers people often misread: - Referrals are not the number of people who posted. They are the number of people who landed on your registration page because of those posts. A single advocate can drive dozens of referrals. - Referrals per advocate tells you how effective your posters are. As a benchmark, attendee advocates average around 4 to 5 referrals each. Anything well above that is a strong result. - Spending advocates are people who started but didn't finish sharing. A reminder email to this group is one of the easiest ways to lift your numbers. Estimating ticket sales from referrals To translate referrals into an estimate of actual registrations, multiply your total referrals by your registration conversion rate (the share of people who open the registration link and complete sign-up). For example, if a campaign generated 2,025 referrals and your conversion rate is 20%, the estimated impact is roughly 405 registrations. Using your own conversion rate gives you a realistic figure and a baseline to plan against for future events. Tips for getting the most out of it - Start early. The biggest driver of results is lead time. Launching the program well before the event, rather than a few weeks out, gives more advocates time to share and compounds your referrals. - Use the widget where you can. Embedding the registration widget makes sharing seamless. If your registration provider can't add it in time, email distribution works as a fallback. - Recruit more advocates. Referrals scale with the number of people sharing. Personally invite speakers, judges, and partner associations, who tend to have the largest, most relevant networks. - Follow up with spending advocates. They've already shown intent; a gentle reminder converts many of them into active sharers. - Find your conversion rate. Ask your registration team for it once, and your estimated ticket impact becomes a number you can actually plan budgets around. Need help? If you'd like help setting up an advocate referral campaign or interpreting your results, reach out to the Premagic team and we'll walk you through it. Related articles - Advocacy Campaign Best Practices: benchmarks, the five biggest drivers of success, and a campaign timeline.

Advocacy Campaign Best Practices

Overview Advocacy campaigns help turn attendees, speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, and partners into advocates for your event by having them share personalized event posters. By sharing personalized event posters with their networks, participants increase event visibility, generate referrals, and create buzz leading up to the event. This guide covers the key factors that drive successful poster campaigns and the benchmarks you should aim for. What Good Performance Looks Like While every event is different, the following benchmarks can be used as a guide: A successful campaign typically combines a healthy advocacy rate with strong referral performance. The 5 Biggest Drivers of Success 1. Implement the Registration Widget The registration widget is one of the strongest drivers of participation. By allowing attendees to generate and share their poster immediately after registration, events typically see higher advocacy rates and overall campaign engagement. We recommend implementing the widget on: - Registration success pages - Confirmation emails - Attendee portals 2. Launch Early The most successful campaigns begin at least 6-8 weeks before the event. Starting early gives participants more opportunities to share their posters and helps maintain momentum throughout the event lifecycle. 3. Prioritize Speaker Campaigns Speaker posters consistently generate the highest referral rates. Typical referral benchmarks: | Category | Average Referrals Per Advocate | | --------- | ------------------------------ | | Attendees | 4–5 | | Sponsors | 5–10 | | Speakers | 7–15 | We recommend running dedicated campaigns for speakers rather than grouping them with general attendee communications. 4. Run Regular Reminder Campaigns One campaign is rarely enough. Participants often require multiple touchpoints before they take action. Regular reminders help maintain engagement and improve participation rates. 5. Use Multiple Touchpoints The best-performing campaigns reach participants through multiple channels, including: - Registration Widget - Confirmation Emails - Campaign Emails - Attendee Portals - Event Apps - Speaker Communications - Sponsor Communications The more opportunities participants have to engage, the stronger the overall campaign performance. Common Reasons Campaigns Underperform The Registration Widget Was Not Implemented Without the widget, fewer attendees discover and share their posters, resulting in lower participation rates. Campaigns Started Too Late Launching campaigns shortly before the event limits sharing opportunities and reduces overall reach. Limited Speaker Participation Speaker posters are often the highest-performing campaign asset. Low speaker participation can significantly impact referral performance. Inconsistent Campaign Activity Long gaps between campaigns often result in reduced engagement and lower advocacy rates. Limited Stakeholder Participation Sponsors, exhibitors, judges, partners, and VIPs can all contribute to campaign reach. Focusing only on attendees may limit overall performance. Recommended Campaign Timeline 6–8 Weeks Before the Event - Launch attendee campaigns - Launch speaker campaigns - Enable the registration widget 4–6 Weeks Before the Event - Run reminder campaigns - Share updated poster assets - Encourage speaker participation 2–4 Weeks Before the Event - Increase campaign frequency - Run sponsor and partner campaigns - Review performance metrics Final 2 Weeks - Send final reminder campaigns - Focus on speakers and high-value advocates - Drive final visibility and registrations Frequently Asked Questions What is Advocacy Rate? Advocacy Rate measures the percentage of participants who share their poster. What is a Referral? A referral is generated when someone visits the event registration page through a poster shared by an advocate. Why are speaker posters important? Speakers typically have established professional networks and consistently generate higher referral rates than other participant categories. How often should campaigns be sent? We recommend maintaining regular communication throughout the event lifecycle, with increased activity as the event approaches. Do poster campaigns work without the registration widget? Yes. However, events that implement the registration widget typically see higher participation and advocacy rates. Summary The strongest poster campaigns start early, implement the registration widget, prioritize speaker participation, and maintain consistent engagement throughout the event lifecycle. By focusing on these areas, event organizers can increase advocacy rates, generate more referrals, and maximize event visibility through participant-led promotion. Related articles - How the Advocate Referral Program works: definitions of advocates, referrals, and spending advocates, plus how to read your dashboard.