Customers aren’t just looking for a product or service. They’re looking for partners.

Businesses that focus on customer advocacy will be the ones that customers frequently recommend and return to for repeat purchases.

What are customer advocates?

Customer advocates are loyal brand consumers who speak highly of the brand and are willing to defend it by sharing its philosophy.

Customer advocates are your best allies, your friends, your partners and there is no better example of their power than social media advocacy. You want to transform your customers into advocates through amazing products, top-tier customer support, and memorable experiences with your brand. Once you foster a community of passionate brand advocates, you can activate them to market for you.

Oftentimes, these customers will come to you simply because they’re excited about your product and want to partner with you. A customer advocacy program makes it easy for both your customers and your team to get in touch and make the most of the relationship. 

The principle behind it

Customer advocates can help you promote your product or service through a variety of outlets: blog posts, case studies, backlinks, and public speaking, to name just a few. This strategy works because people tend to trust other people—including their friends, family, colleagues, and fellow consumers—more than they trust brands.

Unlike influencers, who get paid for posts published on their social media, customer advocates have a better cost-benefit, and that is that advocates are paid through unique experiences and products from your company.

How to use customer advocacy for your brand

Given the widespread distrust of brands and advertising, customer advocates are key when it comes to building awareness and trust. Their efforts complement the work of your sales, marketing and support teams and make it easier for your brand to build relationships with new customers.

Building a strong customer advocacy program is all about relationships. Nurture relationships with your most loyal customers through intriguing opportunities and incentives, and take action on the feedback you receive from your advocates to improve your products and services.

Identify your potential customer advocates

You can’t have a customer advocacy program without customer cheerleaders. Find potential customer advocates by tracking and analyzing your data. You need to focus on developing a deep understanding of your customers. How can you truly deliver what they need if you don’t learn about their challenges? 

Use your Net-Promoted Score to start your program

Net promoter score (NPS) and feedback can serve as an important source to discover who your loyal customers are. You can set up NPS pop-ups in your product or on your website, those that are promoters and give amazing reviews are who you should reach out to. If they’ve had a great experience, they will recommend you. And they will appreciate your gesture of acknowledgment. 

Customer Success

You must be familiar with customer testimonials. Almost all company websites would showcase statements from happy customers.

Bring this up a notch by working with these customers and create marketing content such as customer success stories. You can demonstrate how specific product features are used and prove the benefits of with actual customer use cases.

Invite them to spread the word – Customer Advocacy Software

Purchase decisions are highly driven by word-of-mouth and the shared customer feedback of others. In a Nielsen study, they found out that 83% of customers would trust recommendations from the people they know: colleagues, family, friends, etc. And up to 50% of all purchases are influenced by WOM. To achieve this, you’ll need a customer advocacy software such as VoxFeed to invite your brand fans to participate, generate UGC and promote it through social media.

Turning a customer into a fan is hard enough. Turning a fan into a diehard advocate requires a type of loyalty that goes beyond business. This creates a deep emotional connection and a stronger customer base. Here are 4 tips for you to turn your customers into customer advocates:

#1 What you sell should motivate a conversation.

First and foremost, the product or service you offer must be something your fans are comfortable talking about. If it isn’t, you won’t be able to turn customers into advocates. It doesn’t matter how superior your customer service is. If you sell adult diapers, you may need to try a different approach.

#2 Introduce user-generated content

It’s great when someone posts something positive using one of your products, and naturally, you should engage with these posts with likes and comments. You can encourage user-generated content in many ways, including contests and challenges. With the content creator’s permission, you can use the most outstanding or inspiring user-generated content as part of your brand story.

#3 Create and develop your brand communities

Many brands find that, in addition to their normal social media presence, creating brand communities is a great way to engage more deeply with customers. Closed Facebook groups created around a brand can be a great way for people with something important in common (a love for your products) to come together and feel engaged.

This approach is also great for discovering more about your own products and services. You may even find new use cases you didn’t know about.

#4 Make it worth it

Thanking people who say positive things about your brand should be a given. Customers quickly lose enthusiasm for a brand when they feel it is indifferent to their comments. Today’s analytics make it easier than ever to identify a brand’s top advocates, and rewarding them with an occasional special discount, free shipping or a free sample of an upcoming product is a great way to let them know you recognize their loyalty.