A brand advocate is a satisfied customer who promotes your brand for you. Think of brand advocates as unpaid marketing reps. In fact, brand advocates don’t even necessarily have to be customers; they may just be people who share social media content that you’ve created. Because social media encourages interaction and participation among your customer base, you can use social media to create brand advocates. When people share your content on Facebook, for instance, they’re essentially endorsing your brand.
You can create brand advocates by energising your customer base.
Offer free, useful content to your audience. Provide stellar customer service and take every opportunity to engage your customers. If someone posts on your Facebook page, reply to their message as soon as possible and try to open up the conversation to others. If someone replies to your Tweet, thank them quickly and engage them in a conversation that will grow and vitalise your online community. It’s easier now than ever before for people to tell us when they love us – and it’s just as easy for people to tell us when they’re not happy with us. Pay attention to both types of messages. Criticism is valuable to your brand because it gives you a chance to interact and put it straight. You can ignore criticism, which is bad PR. Or you could shoot back with a negative attitude, which is bad PR. Or you could take the opportunity to impress people by taking the issue seriously. Some of the most valuable brand advocates are those who see that you’re willing to resolve issues for customers. Now, there are some people known as “trolls” who have no real criticisms; they only want to attack others online. Just ignore the trolls. They’ll go away when they realise they’re not getting attention.
Focus on energising your brand advocates and they’ll do the work for you.
Do you have tips for creating brand advocates through social media? We’d love to hear from you. Add to comments and let us know.
