Happy customers can be the most effective advertising tool in your strategic weapons. And advocacy marketing is how you put them to use.

According to a Collective Bias study, 70 percent of millennial consumers are influenced by peer recommendations.

Another study discovered that more than 80% of shoppers conduct online research before purchasing, with the presence of brand advocates influencing their decision to buy.

What is the issue?. It is much easier said than done when it comes to advocacy marketing.

While people enjoy discussing products they enjoy, they do not always discuss your products. You may need to incentivize and encourage them to share their experiences at times.

As a result, we will go over everything you need to know about advocacy marketing in this post. We’ll go over how to turn your current customers into brand advocates.

What exactly is advocacy marketing?

Advocacy marketing aims to get customers to talk about your company and products. Meaning that satisfied customers spread the word about your brand via social media or direct word-of-mouth, potentially leading to people in their network becoming customers.

Why Is Advocacy Marketing So Effective?

People are more likely to trust their friends than your advertising, even if they don’t know them.

In addition, people want to share their positive experiences. Consider the last time you had a fantastic time at a restaurant or event. Have you told anyone about it? I’m sure you informed everyone who would listen.

It’s because sharing is connected to our brains. One of the most rewarding things in the world is to give someone the gift of a wonderful experience.

That is also why advocacy marketing is so inexpensive. It does not necessitate any additional effort or expenditure. Just keep your customer happy and satisfied with your product/service. That’s all.

How can you Generate Brand Advocacy?

According to the statistics, brand advocacy is one of the most effective marketing strategies for accelerating your success.

But how do you create brand ambassadors? And how can you best motivate them?

Here’s what you should know:

Sell a high-quality product

It all starts with your product. I don’t care how wonderful your experience is; people will complain that smells bad if you sell garbage.

On the other hand, a great product can often compensate for a bad experience. Even if you bought something you loved but disliked the people who sold it to you, you’d still recommend it to your friends.

This is because, as businesses, it is difficult to find a product that is significantly better than average. The majority of things are occasionally effective but not truly amazing.

What is the story’s moral? If your product is bad, improve it.

Examine your own or your competitors’ complaints and respond to them. Utilize the feedback to improve the product you’re selling. Otherwise, you might as well give up now.

Encourage your customers to share user-generated content

One way to reward brand advocates is to encourage them to share user-generated content.

That is, things like:

• Reach customers to post selfies with your products.

• Developing hashtag campaigns.

• Sharing customer content on your business’s website or social media channels – and remembering to credit them in your posts.

According to studies, user-generated photos are 5 times more likely to convert customers than non-UGC photos. Furthermore, 47 percent of the top-performing content marketing teams, UGC, is heavily used.

Encourage product reviews

Product reviews are one of the most important parts of a product page.

After all, we all like to read about what other people think and have experienced before purchasing a product.

According to Reevo, having 50 or more reviews can result in a 4.6 percent increase in conversion rates. Furthermore, ReachLocal discovered that 89 percent of buyers would buy a product within a week of reading reviews.

So, how do you increase the number of product reviews?

• Inquire (via automated follow-up WhatsApp messages)

•  If necessary, incentivize.

What Should You Do Now That You Have Customers Who Promote Your Brand?

Now you’ll want to display all of the positive feedback and content that your brand advocates shared with you on your online store. Integrating this content into the buying process can boost 10-15% conversion rates. Check out how Reviewbit uses customer advocate photos on thE product pages to boost conversions.

Conclusion

Use your current customers to advocate for new visitors and potential customers.

Learn how to do this by reading up on social Proof or by using reviewbit for free on your e-commerce store.