WORD OF MOUTH
“People influence people. Nothing influences people more than a recommendation from a trusted friend. A trusted referral influences people more than the best broadcast message. A trusted referral is the Holy Grail of advertising.” – Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook
What is the best way to influence others? Word of mouth marketing.
We’ve heard this to be true - marketing best practice tells us so, and we know it of ourselves. When someone we trust tells us about a product or service, we are far more likely to make that purchase. Right?
Word of mouth marketing is a key part of any social media strategy. It’s one of the ways to unlock the secret chambers of our customer’s hearts.
One of the awesome things about social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn is that we can encourage word of mouth marketing. We can ask for reviews, testimonials and we can share content from our fans and customers that endorse our products and services.
When done well, this is powerful stuff. So how do we make it happen?
Here are 5 ways that you can encourage your customers to advocate:
1. Identify those who are ‘super fans’
Brand advocacy starts with converting customers who already know and love your brand into advocates who want to share their passion for your brand with their friends. How do you this? It starts with listening…
On Facebook, people can become eligible for a top fan badge on your Page by being one of the most active followers on your Page, which can include liking or reacting to content, and commenting on or sharing posts. People who qualify for and then accept top fan badges will have a badge next to their name when interacting with your Page's content. They'll also be publicly visible on a top fans list on your Page's Community tab. While it’s not the most user-friendly approach, you can start to engage with these people either through Groups or other offline conversations.
With Instagram, you’ll need a third-party app to help you with the analytics. We quite like Pixlee which is a free App you can download and also Followers Masters. Once you’ve got a handle on who your followers are you can use a few of Instagram’s in app tools for engagement, which we’ll show you shortly!
Other platforms are still catching up on this side of social monitoring, so you’ll need to be paying close attention.
2. Listen. Respond.
In today’s digital world, it is easy to listen to what your customers and potential customers are saying. Listen to conversations about your brand, product or service.
Obviously, you can’t tune in to every conversation that’s happening on the internet, so you’ll need a social listening tool to help you with this. Basically, these tools keep an eye out for mentions of your brand on all platforms and blogs.
We like Radian6 as it’s super easy to monitor specific keywords and phrases. Importantly, make sure your brand advocates know you heard them—respond to them, engage them, use the information they provide.
3. Love them!
One great way to get people to advocate your brand is to make them feel loved… I am using that beautiful word for good reason. Loved. Could you give them information earlier than your other customers? Could you give them freebies? Could you give them sneak previews?
What can you do to make them feel REALLY special. Get creative!
4. Entertain them
We all want to be entertained. In fact, we are constantly seeking it out. Whether it be reading a book, talking to our friends, learning a new language, using social media, working in the garden, or doing a crossword… we love the feeling of being engaged with other ‘worlds.’
What’s interesting is that when we are entertained, we like to share our experiences with others. We want to talk about the chapter of the book we are up to, or the new thing we learnt, or the success we had with Sudoku!
So the question for marketers is: what can you do to entertain your best customers to get their tongues wagging to their friends? One very important thing is to use the element of surprise to your advantage. Don’t keep on rolling out the same stuff. Do something different! Whether it’s a new product, or a new team member, or a new way of communication with your customers. Do something that they don’t expect! See what happens ….
5. Make sure it’s easy for them to share with friends
Once people are engaged with your brand, they’ll want to share. So make sure it’s easy for them to spread the word. One way to do this is to encourage and invite them to share with their friends. When they do, thank them publicly. Other things you can do include competitions where they need to interact with their friends, or product nights where you bring a friend. Whenever you do something, think about how you can make it easier for your super fans to engage with your product and share it with their friends.
SUMMARY
There are many, many other ways that you can build brand ambassadors. We can help develop a tailored brand advocacy strategy. Simply contact us today for a free, no-obligation discussion with one of our expert social media marketers.