The effectiveness of traditional television and print advertising is on the decline and has been subordinated to web based media
	Friends and people we know remain the most trusted source of product recommendations
	Because of their increasing reach and this trust factor, consumers who advocate for brands increasingly drive long term profitability health

What is an Advocate?

A brand advocate is a customer who communicates favorably about a brand or product, passing on positive word-of-mouth (or electronic) messages about the brand to other people. Advocates are extremely valuable to cultivate as their individual buying value is multiplied exponentially by their influence on others.

Advocates generally fall into one of three categories1:

Mavens – are passionate about a product category and they know everything about it - they will educate people on the product and compel them to buy from a particular retailer. To target these users, retailers need to build their database of user data by adding questions into their feedback processes that measure their knowledge about the category and how often they exhibit maven- style behavior.

Connectors – have many friends and casual acquaintances. They thrive on having numerous shallow relationships and often introduce people to one another. Connectors can be easily identified by the number of friends they have on social networks like Facebook.

Salespeople – they are critical at getting something to “tip” in terms of adoption as they often use their great social skills to peer pressure people into trial.

Why the Advocate is King (or Queen)

“Growth [at leading brands] occurs because their customers love doing business with them and sing their praises to friends and colleagues.”

Fred Reicheld, The Ultimate Question, 2007.

Advocates are the lifeblood of any growing business as they effectively create zero cost salespeople through their passion for the brand. A world without advocates would be a frustrating place for companies. Marketing would spend inordinate amounts of money bringing customers in but the retail experience would be a leaky bucket. Marketing would constantly be trying to fill the void that having no advocates would leave – and the only way to fill it would be by throwing more dollars at advertising.

Enter the advocate. She loves your brand and what’s more she is extremely well connected and likes to tell her friends all about you. Guess what? She has a great experience and would like to tell the world – but how will she do it? She needs an easy way to let her friends, family, even casual acquaintances know about it.

Leveraging the Advocate as a Channel

This is all interesting, but what do brands do with advocates today? The answer currently is “not much” and this is a huge untapped opportunity. The first thing to recognize is that advocates want to talk about your brand. In fact, Empathica has found that over 70% of customers fall into this camp2. Engaging with people that are passionate about your brand and will “shout this from the rooftops” if given the opportunity is the key to promoting your brand. This can be done by keeping a few simple rules in mind:

	Tap into advocates existing social networks by using platforms like Facebook and Twitter to help get the word out about their positive experiences.
	Give your advocates simple tools– don’t make advocates fill out long forms or jump through hoops to recommend your brand – make it simple and intuitive.
	Take advantage of the medium – a lot of useful data can be gleaned from social networks that will you identify the “mavens”, “connectors” and “salespeople”. In addition, new technologies can help you both find the issues that are most important to your customers and to respond in real time to improve their experience.
	Reward them for helping you – set up programs for your advocates. Online media provides the opportunity to stay connected to your most loyal customers and to reward them for their referrals.
	Don’t go it alone – partner with a company that understands the power of social media, has tapped into the voice of your advocates, and can turn that voice into positive recommendations online.