Brand loyalty is a relatively easy marketing concept to grasp.

We all have our favorite clothing line, toothpaste, food item or whatever. Companies are banking on our purchases, conversations and, now, social-media interactions reflecting those allegiances and leading to additional interest.

An economic region as brand of choice? That idea might be a little more difficult to grasp on first glance.

Consider, though, what the Northwest Arkansas Council is doing with its Digital Ambassador program. Launched in November, the social-media campaign is an attempt at harnessing the devotion to Northwest Arkansas that so many of its residents have.

Whether a lifer, recent transplant, longtime resident or frequent visitor, you likely have a favorite thing about the area. Education, employment and entertainment options are plentiful. Quality of life, particularly for a region this size, is top-notch.

So the council wants that shared on Twitter and Facebook in hopes of reaching folks outside of Northwest Arkansas. Every week or so the council will send its “ambassadors” an email with a pro-NWA message to distribute to the masses.

Spreading the gospel of Northwest Arkansas via social media is a small part of the larger Greater Northwest Arkansas Development Strategy, an initiative aimed at getting Northwest Arkansas into the job-site conversation on the level with towns like St. Louis, Tulsa, Kansas City, Mo., and Little Rock. Site selectors polled in recent years by the council didn’t have a negative perception of this part of the state, per se; they just didn’t seem to have much of an opinion at all.

Through the Digital Ambassador program, the council is banking on the story of Northwest Arkansas being distributed by its biggest fans. It’s an approach suggested by a New York public relations firm.

Folks in New York might not know much about Northwest Arkansas, but they do know branding. On the PR firm’s advice the council signed up with Social Toaster, a service designed to help companies harness their most brand-loyal customers.

From the description page at Social Toaster: “GIVE YOUR SUPERFANS SUPER POWERS! Social Toaster helps you engage your fans and makes sharing your content over their social networks easy.”

This local Digital Ambassadors initiative is no different from what Social Toaster has developed for the Detroit Lions, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or the Lifetime Network. Other towns participating in similar campaigns include Tampa Bay, Fla., and El Paso, Texas. As you might expect, Northwest Arkansas is largely outperforming its peers.

Digital Ambassadors debuted Nov. 15 with a post about the Northwest Arkansas Airport. There have been nine other NWA-specific messages since the campaign launched with 70 handpicked participants. As of this week, 315 folks had signed up to sing - well, tweet - the region’s praises. A recent post trumpeting where the region ranks nationally in private job growth (No. 4, if you’re scoring at home) was shared nearly 200 times.

That doesn’t seem like much, but I’m told that translates to more than 1,000 people seeing the message. It’s much like the concept that multiple readers come with a single newspaper subscription.

It’s a safe bet, thanks to the reach of social media, that not all of the people seeing these“Ain’t NWA a great to live and do business!” messages currently live in Northwest Arkansas.

Included among the list of leading Digital Ambassadors are the usual suspects: chamber of commerce types, municipal leaders, TV personalities, employees at local attractions and universities. You might also notice there’s a certain business reporter/ columnist with a Twitter addiction who signed up to get a feel for how this program works.

A quick look at the list invites the question: Wouldn’t these folks, for the most part, be touting Northwest Arkansas and its amenities anyway?

Of course.

What the council hopes to accomplish through the ambassadors program, though, is lending some organization to the conversation and then making sure it’s amplified.

This is Marketing in The Age of Social Media 101.

If you have a tip, call Chris Bahn at (479) 365-2972 or email him at [email protected]

Business, Pages 65 on 01/26/2014