Harnessing Brand Advocates In Social Media

Prospects involved in online communities can have a multiplier effect on your marketing effort if you can convert them into brand advocates for your business.

In a recent eMarketer post we found a recent survey conducted by Synovate for word-of-mouth ad network PostRelease investigated just how likely Internet users are to talk about Brands and motivate consumers to become advocates. The study confirms that involved Internet users express this brand advocacy in many ways online and offline. This is called “earned media” in professional marketing circles…where brand messages get repeated in traditional media outlets, online in social networks or offline in recommendations and conversations. It’s free and very valuable.

The concept of earned media is important because it is the most powerful form of communication. Studies have shown for years that work of mouth communication is the most powerful form of motivating consumers. This study looks at (and confirms) how online brand advocates influence friends and family around them online and offline.

The most common word-of-mouth activity reported by respondents was helping a friend or family member with a purchase decision, but more than two-fifths also said they had shared advice offline about information they learned on the Web. Significantly fewer Internet users posted their own ratings and reviews online, and only about one-half as many shared links to articles or reviews about products.

As you might expect, participation in social media and word-of-mouth activities was highest among the younger set. Even more interesting, almost half of them gave offline (in-person) advice based on information they saw online. But the numbers are strong across age groups.

eMarketer reports that PostRelease also broke down respondents according to whether or not they participate in online forums, which about one-fifth of those polled did. Forum participants were significantly more likely to take part in all the activities queried. Notably:

• 65% of forum contributors give advice offline based on information found online, compared with 35% of noncontributors.
• 66% of forum contributors post online ratings and reviews, compared with 16.8% of noncontributors.
• 43.6% of forum contributors share links to articles and reviews, versus 12% of noncontributors.
• 20.6% of forum contributors publish a blog, compared with 2.1% of noncontributors.

Users of forums, who are already actively engaged in online social activity, make for “enthusiastic consumers and influential brand advocates,” according to a statement by Justin Choi, president and founder of PostRelease.

What does this mean for your business?

You know those fans you are collecting on Facebook, the followers you are collecting on Twitter and the readers you are engaging with on your blog? Those are people you want to make into passionate brand advocates. They will have a multiplier effect on your top line revenue that will give you the edge in your market. The key is to carefully and deliberately build your fans, followers and readers so that you have a real relationship with them. Nurture them and activate them.

What do you think?

Going Viral: Success Strategies for Viral Marketing

What is Viral Marketing?

Often referred to as word of mouth, creating buzz, piggybacking…

Viral marketing is a strategy that makes your current customers or people on your list visible, big supporters of your business (brand advocates). It’s a great straetgy to expand your user base to increase sales and customers. To make this work, your current customers need to feel comfortable and connected to your product or service, and willing to pass it on to others to consider.  Done right, the cool thing about viral is that you leverage a dynamic of the social graph that is hugely important…empowerment.  Think about it, if I can introduce my friends to something very special, cool, fun, money saving before anyone else does, just because they are my friend, that gives me more status in my social graph.

The key to a successful viral marketing strategy depends on your market, and what motivates target users.  You must mold your strategy to connect with your target prospects.  Viral marketing will never take off if you don’t have a high pass-rate within your market and you will not have a high pass-rate if your product/service does not have a solid reputation with your customers and a very cool “empowerment” concept.

How do you go about this?

Here are some tips to create your viral marketing strategy and create chatter within your target audience:

• Make your audience feel some type of emotion.  Whether they love you or they hate you, nothing is worse than feeling neutral.
• Do something that lets people notice you.  I always use the example that if there was a room full of green jackets, what would you do to stand out? Not wear a green jacket, of course.  Do not be a copycat.
• Identify something that you can offer that will make people want to share it (because of the empowerment concept) and make it very easy to share. Special discounts, unique products, exclusive content, private access are great tools.
• Now that you have your audience’s attention, they want to talk. Follow up with related content and value to get your new prospects to act.
• Don’t sell! Share, empower, cultivate, schmooze…

Viral marketing is a little like drilling for oil.  You will need to try different approaches to see what works. This is best done in quick cycles with good feedback so you can build on concepts that are getting traction.

Check out “Six principles of viral marketing” for some very specific ideas on how to execute a viral marketing plan.

What do you think about viral marketing?