How to Leverage the Power of Brand Advocates

Serina Fignole - December 26, 2017

Now that you know “How to Identify Brand Advocates,” next up is leveraging the power of brand advocacy to grow your brand online. The key is engagement.

Here’s are 4 easy ways to engage with your brand advocates.

#1 Recognize Your Advocates

When recognizing your brand advocates, it is imperative to omit any sales or promotional verbiage. Recognition should only be about thanking the advocate.  This type of acknowledgement will strengthen your brand and help create long lasting relationships. Here are a few ways you can thank your advocates:

• Publicly on your social profiles by tagging or @mentioning them
• Privately through a direct message
• Privately by sending them a handwritten note

#2 Ask for Their Feedback

A few reasons why a brand advocate has earned this title is because they frequently purchase your products, recommend your company to their friends and family, and interact with your brand’s social profiles. Therefore, they are the perfect individuals to help curate new user-generated content for your social channels about your company and products.

#3 Offer Incentives/ Exclusives

Offering your advocates exclusives, such as discounts, free shipping or a first look at a sale, will get them excited about your upcoming sale or marketing campaign. Referral programs are also a great way to incentivize brand advocates to recommend you brand to their friends and family. These types of actives can:

• Increase the likelihood that the advocates will make a repeat purchase
• Lead to them purchasing more than they originally intended
• Build more brand loyalty
• Lead to your advocates participating more often and more passionately

#4 Give Them Sneak Peeks

Who doesn’t love being the first person to discover a great new product or service? No one. When leveraging brand advocacy, it is important to capitalize on this fact. Giving them a first look at a new product you’re developing and asking for their feedback, shows them that you value their opinion and appreciate their efforts.

As with all things social media, social media brand advocacy should be an ongoing, interesting, and engaging conversation – but, most importantly, one that clearly offers a lot of benefits to a company and brand.