Engaging Advocates: 5 Tips to Earn Brand Advocate Online Support

Think managing online reviews isn’t worth your brand’s time? Think again.

      88% of consumers have read reviews to determine the quality of a local business. Prospects who are unfamiliar with your brand are likely to reach out to the digital space to find what your customers say about you.

      72% of consumers say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more. Do you have advocates who are praising your brand on social media and encouraging prospects to trust you? Check out these 5 tips to help you earn and engage with your advocates!
  

1.     Focus on managing customer expectations. According to the Gartner Group, 80% offuture profits will come from only 20% of your existing customers. These are relationships are at your fingertips and deserve to be fostered. What do you expect from brands you love? How do those brands interact with you and show their appreciation for your business? Every point of contact you and your team have with your customers should begin with those questions in mind. Exceed their expectations and give them an experience they will talk about online. 

2.     Be proactive. If there is a mistake made, be aware and don’t wait for your customer to complain. Offer your customer something that not only makes up for the mistake but also the inconvenience. This level of attention and service is what prompts customers to speak out for your brand. 

3.     Establish a customer rewards program. According to Forbes, a rewards program for your top brand advocates creates “and environment of exclusivity” and is appealing because your advocates want to be first in line to get a peek behind the curtain. Customers love to share reviews on rewards they've earned. 

4.     Offer helpful (and shareable) original content. Walk your customers’ journey with them and anticipate their questions and needs. Include links to infographics, videos or other types of compelling content that focuses on answering those questions and making their journey more convenient and easy to understand. Customers will share this content online and talk about how it helped them. 

5.     Turn employees into brand advocates. Recent research shows that employees have “10X more followers than corporate social accounts” and that a “12% increase in brand advocacy generally generates a 2X increase in revenue growth.” Harness the power of your employees’ voice and social sharing clout to give your brand an authentic voice and to achieve higher ROI.

What would you add to this list? Tell us below or tweet us!

@RME360

By: Susan Gail Taylor, Social Media Manager and Copywriter at RME360

4 Marketing Mishaps Your Brand Can Avoid Today

Mistakes. Accidents. Mistakes. Disasters. They happen to the best and the most prepared of us. In marketing, they happen, sometimes quite historically  and sometimes at great expense. 

An effective marketing campaign sparks conversation about your brand and what it offers, so one could argue that Coca-Cola made a genius marketing decision as opposed to a mishap when it shocked audiences with New Coke in 1985. 30 years later we are still enamored with Coca-Cola Classic and thankful for its return. Does that have anything to do with how the company took the old version off the shelves during the 80s Cola War, a move that prompted notable negative response and resulted in a substantial increase in sales? Coca-Cola hasn’t admitted to such a ploy, but many pundits, fans and conspiracy theorists think otherwise.

If you have the next great New vs. Classic Coke strategy up your marketing sleeve, that’s great. But if you don’t, here are 4 marketing mishaps you want to avoid as you plan that strategy:

1.  Lack of research and testing

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice. How do you create a campaign that will speak to your prospects and clients and get them to respond? Testing, testing, testing. Don’t guess as to what your audiences wants from your brand; research their needs and test different offers, prices and packages. Begin your research by asking them; they’ll tell you.

2. Using too many social networks

 Of course your brand is represented on social media. (It is, right?) But there’s being on social media and then there’s being on the right social media. Who is your audience? What platforms do your audience members use?

Research shows that Facebook reigns supreme as the most popular social media and the level of user engagement has increased. That’s great information to have, but what exactly does that mean for your brand? What types of content do the 71% of online adults who use Facebook best respond to and engage with? More importantly, what types of content are your audience members seeking to engage with?

3.  Failing to retain customers

Research shows that 71% of customers have ended their relationship with a company due to poor service and that it companies focus more of their attention on customer acquisition rather than customer retention despite that acquisition costs 7x more. Don’t forget that your current customers have needs; failing to retain them as customer can impact the power of your brand and your bottom line.

4. Failing to use (or optimize) hashtags

There’s a triangular approach I like to keep in mind when it comes to hashtags:

  

Hashtagify.me can help you identify hashtags related to your industry, and RiteTag.com can help you determine if your hashtag is overused. Hashtags are now integrated in multiple social media platforms and have made a comfy home for themselves across pop culture. Using them effectively makes it easier to find you and your content as well as provides your brand with a convenient way to be a part of a variety of conversations. 

Isn't that exactly what your brand wants? 

By: Susan Gail Taylor, Social Media Manager and Copywriter at RME360