{"id":4330,"date":"2012-09-02T05:06:51","date_gmt":"2012-09-02T05:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/?p=4330"},"modified":"2012-09-02T18:49:41","modified_gmt":"2012-09-02T18:49:41","slug":"want-to-scale-social-messaging-get-your-customers-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/want-to-scale-social-messaging-get-your-customers-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Want to Scale Social Messaging? Get Your Customers\u2019 Help!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The social space is getting so crowded that brands have to work DOUBLY hard to achieve any kind of traction in social messaging. How do you develop awareness around your product or service when the stream is so busy you can\u2019t get a word in edgewise? Here\u2019s one often-overlooked resource in amplifying your message online\u2014consumers. And not just any consumers, your own customers!<\/p>\n

Whether you are a retailer or your market is B-2-B, your consumers are always on the lookout for validation, especially if you\u2019re selling the same thing as the brand down the street. Why should they buy from you versus them? Believe it or not, the customers you already have can help you out with this\u2014and all you have to do is ask.<\/p>\n

But this is where a lot of companies fall down when using social. They get so tied up in the parameters of the platform that they forget to think outside it. They sink money into platform advertising, contests, and mobile apps to attract new followers, but forget completely to tap the one source that could exponentially increase their reach\u2026 the people who have already bought from them!<\/p>\n

Brand advocacy doesn\u2019t come from advertising spend or buying followers via any other social mechanism, folks. It cbromes from people sharing their experiences with your brand via their networks. So how do you get them to do this?<\/p>\n

The brand Zaggora does it by going after \u201cambassadors\u201d of their HotPants\u2122 women\u2019s exercise clothing and rewarding them for sharing their stories. If you take a look at their website, you can see that they\u2019ve got some press going, a magazine they share with their growing email list, and also a healthy Facebook presence, all of which is focused on leveraging the customer\u2019s story. Zaggora understands that their market wants to hear how others have achieved success, lost inches or gained strength before they plunk down their money\u2014so they\u2019ve pulled out the stops to create a great customer experience and reward their ambassadors for spreading the word. It works like magic.<\/p>\n

B-2-B companies can tap into the same power. In fact, according to customer advocacy data from the Zuberance.com blog, 50% of B-2-B customers are highly likely to recommend a service or product to their networks, 30% of advocates recommend the first time they\u2019re given an opportunity, and a whopping 70% of those advocates\u2019 contacts respond to recommendations.<\/p>\n

So how do you dig up potential advocates among your followers? Here are three tools to help you find influencers who are active on social channels and are already sharing your content:<\/p>\n

Traackr \u2013 This app shows you who is influential in your space, as well as what content they\u2019re sharing and how they share it
\nTweet Reach \u2013 Use this tool to find out who is sharing your tweets and who they have touched
\nReFollow \u2013 Peruse your Twitter followers, identify influencers and engage them
\nOnce you find these folks, reach out to them! Think of ways you can thank them for sharing your content or recommending your brand. Remember, your customers have a wide array of networks, so look for potential brand evangelists wherever you have a connection, not just on social channels. Mine your email list, tap into the influence of bloggers, speak to customers (god forbid) in your place of business\u2026 find them wherever you can!<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, making it your policy to develop good relationships with your customers is what will differentiate your brand from the others. Make that your priority. Create conversations that matter, to those who matter to you. Think engagement, not media. Perform for the promises you\u2019ve made before making new promises. Strive to make every experience with your brand\u2026 not routine, but remarkable. Remember\u2026 an initial purchase does not make a shopper a customer; repeat purchase is what makes a customer.<\/p>\n

Then find and take care of your advocates in social channels and they\u2019ll shout your message from the rooftops!<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.\u201d ~Maya Angelou<\/p>\n

Originally posted at\u00a0TedRubin.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The social space is getting so crowded that brands have to work DOUBLY hard to achieve any kind of traction in social messaging. How do you develop awareness around your product or service when the stream is so busy you can\u2019t get a word in edgewise? Here\u2019s one often-overlooked resource in amplifying your message online\u2014consumers. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tedrubin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4330"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4336,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330\/revisions\/4336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}