Have you ever noticed that when you talk about a restaurant you recently visited, everyone around the office is all ears? Or that when your friend upgrades his/her phone, you want to know all about the new features and unique capabilities?

I am in one of the groups on FaceBook called Wanderlust Diaries where people from across the world share their experiences with different service providers especially in the travel and tours industry.

This is where people give their honest reviews about services rendered, and if you are a brand with positive reviews, then that’s free marketing there. If you receive negative reviews, then that’s your chance to learn from it and improve.

This is for women, have you ever posted a photo on Facebook or Instagram and instead of your friends telling you how nice you look, they ask you where you bought the lovely dress or shoes that you are wearing?

Social Media is about achieving your customers’ advocacy of your own products and services. This involves creating an environment where your customers sell on your behalf.

It is not unusual to see celebrities mentioning where they purchased every piece of their attire from on their social media pages. Take the example below;

Image Source: Diana Marua Instagram

Whether they are paid to do it or whether it’s done for free, their audience is the first to know where they can get such looks should they want or need them. So many other people, especially celebrities like Betty Kyalo, Janet Mbugua, Yvonne Okwara, Joy Kendi, Maina Kageni, always mention where they got their shoes, dress, hair and other accesories from.

Brands have also realized that using this category of customers is very rewarding by virtue of their social media following.

B2B buyers are more social than ever. And what types of content are they looking for?
They want social proof that your products or services deliver results … particularly unbiased reviews from customers who have used your solutions.

Creating an advocacy program is one of best things a brand can do to start building meaningful relationships, engage their most loyal customers, and empower organic word-of-mouth both online and offline.

The key is to make it easy for advocates to generate content by giving them online tools to create the following:

⦁ Highly positive reviews that will increase ratings, combat negative word of mouth, and improve SEO
⦁ Glowing stories and testimonials that will boost awareness and brand reputation
⦁ Answers to prospects’ questions that will increase sales conversion rates
⦁ Tweets, Facebook posts, and comments that will drive positive word of mouth for your brand
⦁ Videos, photos, and other multimedia content to boost engagement

The most important thing to remember for a successful customer advocacy program is that you are in it for the long haul. You need to plan ahead to keep members engaged and interested – don’t be afraid to go the extra mile to build strong relationships with them and show them that you truly care. And when the time comes and you need their support, they will be there to have your back, every single time.

Chances are, many of your customers are already singing your praises on their social networks. Since they have the power to influence others, you can create massive interest in your brand if you use customer advocacy to get these influencers or advocates to spread the word on your behalf.
This means that after you’ve motivated your advocates to take action, they can do the rest of the work.

Through customer advocacy, they can convince others to download your content, attend your events, sign up for product demos and more.

Comments

comments