Every day, hundreds of millions of posts appear on social media. Consumers are often inundated with content from brands, while retailers and brands find themselves shouting into the void. 

To stand out among the marketers jostling to be heard on social media, you must be smart, not loud. The best strategy is leveraging user-generated content (UGC) creators from your ideal customers. This approach will help you go beyond the once-and-done buyers and reach consumers who shop again and again. Let these loyalists become your brand advocates. 

Consumers want to build relationships, connect emotionally, and support the brands they cherish, especially during a tough economy. You just have to guide them. Here are some strategies for targeting and nurturing loyal customers to become your brand advocates. 

What is a brand advocate?

A brand advocate is an individual who shares their positive sentiment and experiences about your brand with their followers and friends.

Brand advocates are true loyalists. They enjoy your products, interact with you on social media, and appreciate opportunities to share feedback with you. It’s more than just whether people are spending money with you — it’s about emotion and identity.

According to Leonie Brown, Qualtrics XM Scientist, “True loyalists understand your product and brand, believe your offering to be good value, and identify with your product on a personal level.” 

Why you need brand advocates

Brand-generated marketing is important in a healthy marketing mix, but it’s impossible to meet consumers’ demands for content with traditional marketing messages alone, especially when your marketing team has a lean budget. Consumers also actually prefer UGC created by their peers. 

Brand advocates, who are real customers and love your brand, are the mouthpiece you didn’t know you needed. Because brand advocates are just regular people and not affiliated with your company, they’re highly influential. 

Consumers trust other consumers more than anyone else. 100% of shoppers say they’ve purchased a product based on a recommendation from another shopper that they saw online, and 78% trust everyday social media users just as much or more than they did a few years ago. 

Most shoppers say they won’t buy anything without consulting UGC first. They especially seek out customer reviews and photos or videos from other shoppers. 

Encourage a peer-to-peer recommendation environment by tapping into your brand advocates. 69% of marketers today are working with smaller creators, like everyday consumers and social media users. Partnering with these creators brings higher engagement, trust, and authenticity than traditional marketing — and, it’s cost-effective, scalable content. 

The creator economy is booming and is currently valued at $16.4 billion. Over half (53%) of shoppers consider themselves to be UGC creators, according to the Bazaarvoice Shopper Experience Index. 17% of these creators actively create UGC, and 36% will do so when asked. 

5 ways to find brand advocates

Both shoppers and marketers are tightening their budgets these days. Activating brand advocates makes other consumers feel more confident shopping with you, and this strategy offers a high return on investment when marketing teams need to do more with less. 

Consumers are leaning more into the expertise of everyday social media users and subject matter experts to discover new products, learn about how something can meet their needs, and purchase with confidence. 

We’ve found that about 1% of your community — your loyalists — can produce about 90% of your content. You just need to target your brand advocates and harness their power. Here’s how to find them. 

1. In-person events

Events like in-store holiday activations, sports-themed contests, or awareness month campaigns are a fun way to engage shoppers in real life. In-person events can help you stand out by offering something unique and memorable. 

In-person events also help you get to know your most loyal shoppers. Pay close attention to those who show up, as well as consumers who make an effort to speak to you, ask questions about your brand or products, and purchase from you. 

Loyalists tend to show up organically to an in-person event. But, you can reward them and make them feel extra special by peeking into your shopper data and personally inviting them to attend. This approach will build and nurture relationships with brand advocates. 

Another way to leverage in-person events is to see who usually attends similar activations. For instance, we spoke to digital creator Marina Mitrakos, whose passion for fashion and beauty led her to create content for brands. One way she’s developed her business is by attending fashion and beauty events and posting about them on social media. 

2. Email list/newsletter

While people enjoy receiving messages from brands in their inboxes, sending a mass blanket email to everyone on your list isn’t the best way to find brand advocates. People stay on email lists for years and never actually interact with brands. 

So, go beyond the people that are simply on your email list. Instead, track engagement on email content, like clicks on coupons, responses to polls and surveys, or email replies. These interactions showcase the consumers who are genuinely interested and invested in your brand. 

Emails are also a great way to ask customers for feedback and collect UGC, ultimately turning them into brand advocates. Our Shopper Experience Index revealed that 43% of consumers prefer brands and retailers to use emails to ask them for their opinions on products they’ve purchased. 

Sending an email after someone purchases from you to say thanks and ask for reviews and other UGC yields big results. We’ve found that review request emails increase review content by 4x to 9x, and sending a follow-up may lead to a 50% increase in review volume — or much more. Clothing brand MeUndies, for example, has seen a 218% increase in review collection since optimizing review request emails.

When requesting UGC, consumers like it when you tell them exactly what kind of content you want. For example, 60% will take a photo if you ask them to. 

Shoppers appreciate it when they feel like brands care about what they have to say and are listening and responding to their needs. They’ll be more than willing to respond to your request, create UGC, and become a brand advocate. 

3. Cause-related marketing campaigns

Cause marketing refers to marketing strategies that strive to increase revenue, while also taking action to improve society in some way. This might involve raising money or awareness for an issue or charitable organization or highlighting your sustainability or corporate responsibility initiatives. 

If your brand values a specific social, environmental, or humanitarian cause, be vocal about it — and take note of who’s interacting with content related to your cause. Consumers want to support and advocate for brands and retailers that also support the issues they care most about. 

For instance, if being eco-friendly matters to your brand, share your sustainability efforts and regularly promote that you’re cutting down on boxes and shipping to target customers who prefer to shop with sustainable brands. These efforts pay off. 

According to a Bazaarvoice survey of the Influenster community, 78% of shoppers said they prioritize using sustainable products across categories, and 77% will pay more for products promoted as “sustainable” or “clean.” 88% will purchase from new brands if they claim to be more sustainable. 

4. Pay attention to your social channels

Who are your most engaged followers? Most shoppers do follow their favorite brands on social media, but you should hone in on the followers who interact with you most. 

Knowing who frequently comments on your social posts, shares your content, enters giveaways, tags other users, and talks about your brand on social is crucial. These social media users make compelling brand advocates!

Social media is an amazing platform for starting conversations and getting noticed. Nearly 60% of shoppers discover new products and services on social media, where they research items and make purchasing decisions. Most shoppers also buy things directly from social media. 

Keeping tabs on who’s talking about you on social media is important, but don’t neglect people who are sliding into your DMs. Direct messages are an excellent place for one-on-one conversations and connections. 

Responding to any DMs, posts, or other customer feedback is crucial for relationship-building. Consumers expect a response from brands when they offer feedback, and responding heightens trust and showcases your authenticity. 

5. Targeted shopper communities

Using a product discovery and reviews platform like the Influenster App, gives you the opportunity to target the largest community of everyday consumers and skilled creators to generate the highest-quality UGC — including reviews, photos, videos, and social content. This, in turn, increases brand awareness, lets you reach new audiences, and helps you convert more customers across brand and retail. 

Influenster matches your product to your ideal audiences based on over 1,000 data points for each of the community’s 8 million global members. You can activate unique segments, such as loyalists and competitive users, members who shop at key retailers, and consumers with specific skincare or dietary needs. 

The ability to hyper-target consumers based on behaviors and other characteristics beyond typical demographics was a key benefit in choosing Influenster

Elizabeth Northrup, Associate Brand Manager at Kraft Heinz

Influenster members are also prolific content creators. Based on Bazaarvoice Sampling Community data from June 2023, here’s a look at what these members bring to the table: 

• 500,000+ new pieces of UGC each month
• 73 million total monthly impressions for Influenster social campaigns
• 34,000+ posts for Influenster social campaigns
• $5.5 million total monthly earned media value for Influenster social campaigns

One of the most effective ways to tap into the Influenster community and reap these benefits is through product sampling. This strategy gets your products into the hands of your ideal customers. In turn, they create authentic content about your brand in the form of social posts, reviews, photos, or videos. 

Beauty giant Rimmel sent its new Wonder Ombre Holographic Eyeliner out to target consumers through sending custom sampling boxes. This helped the brand collect over 1,200 product reviews, which are displayed on Influenster, the brand’s website, and syndicated across its retail partner websites. 

Rimmel’s sampling campaign generated real impact for the brand, including: 

• 44% higher sales lift versus benchmarks for average digital campaigns in the beauty category
• 69% higher sales life versus benchmarks in the product categories of the sampled products
• 73% of samplers said they would likely purchase something from Rimmel in the next 6 months 

Targeting your ideal customers to be brand advocates

One-time or some-time customers are great. But, marketing to all-the-time customers is a winning strategy. These shoppers are your ideal customers, who love your products, your mission, and the experiences you provide, both online and in-person. 

Finding and building relationships with your brand advocates builds trust with other consumers — helping you stand out and helping them feel confident and appreciated.

If you’re struggling to find advocates for your brand or you don’t know where to look, Bazaarvoice affable.ai is an AI-driven influencer marketing platform that lets you easily find your creators, manage collaborations, track your campaigns, and measure your performance.

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What is brand trust?

Brand trust is the amount of loyalty and support customers have for your brand and how strongly they believe you can fulfil your brand promises. It’s based on customer experiences with your brand as well as company messaging and reputation.

Brands and retailers who can’t establish trust with consumers, or even worse, who lose established trust, will struggle to win business. We’re in an age when consumer opinions are shared on a massive scale and directly influence brand perception. 

In a Bazaarvoice study, 54% of consumers said that if a brand hasn’t broken trust, they’d still buy from them again — even after a negative experience. 

5 ways to build brand trust

It’s simple. When your customers trust you, they’ll be loyal to you almost no matter what. Here’s how to build consumer trust in your brand. 

1. Work with a trustworthy UGC provider 

One way to increase brand trust in e-commerce is by getting your consumers to advocate for your brand for you. Shoppers trust user-generated content (UGC) in the form of reviews more than they trust family and friend recommendations. Instead of trying to control what people are saying, brands and retailers should embrace this conversation and amplify it.

However, to maintain brand trust, reviews must be authentic. According to our survey of 10,000 global shoppers, if shoppers suspect a product has fake reviews:

• 81% will avoid using that brand again
• 48% leave a negative review
• 25% wouldn’t purchase from the website
• 16% will post negatively about the brand on social media

That’s why a good UGC program requires strong content moderation. A trustworthy UGC provider that values authenticity can help your brand sort through reviews and eliminate fake ones that hurt your credibility and destroy consumer trust.

For example, Bazaarvoice evaluates UGC through a process of machine learning and human moderation to ensure it isn’t fraudulent and that it represents a customer’s genuine opinion about their experience with the product(s).

27% of consumers think brands with fake content should be fined up to 30% of their revenue — and governments are taking note. The FTC recently fined one company over $4 million for suppressing authentic content, so not only will fake content harm your reputation but it will harm your wallet too.

2. Publicize company values

According to Edelman’s Trust Barometer, consumers today grant brand trust based on two attributes: competence and ethical behavior. Like doing the right thing and working to improve society.

Consumers want to see what your brand believes in and how you follow through on those beliefs. And with the various significant events taking place across the globe, they especially want to know how your brand responds to your community in times of crisis. This is particularly true when it comes to Gen Z, who value brand trust, transparency, and authenticity above all else.

Creating content about your values for your website is a good start, but make sure this messaging is also visible on your social channels. About 35% of consumers look to a brand’s social media to seek out content about company response and values. 

You also need to be mindful of who your brand partners with. Any influencers or partners you collaborate with should share your brand values and have a solid reputation. They’ll connect with consumers in ways that are relevant and sensitive to their needs and help authentically communicate your brand’s values. 

3. Focus on great customer service 

90% of consumers say a brand’s level of customer service is an important factor in their choice to become a customer. A proactive customer service strategy should include responding to customer feedback and reviews, both negative and positive.

Around 60% of consumers say that negative reviews are just as important as positive reviews in their decision to purchase. And the way you respond to these negative reviews can speak volumes about your brand’s values and may even convert more browsers into buyers. A consumer’s willingness to purchase a product with a negative review doubles when seeing a brand’s response, as opposed to seeing the negative review by itself. And, up to 70% of dissatisfied customers will do business with a company again if their complaint is resolved.

When you see a negative review, take the time to craft a quick, but personal, response. Consumers want to talk to a real person, not a review response bot. Show them that you sympathize with their issue and that you’re learning from criticism. Mention that their feedback will be used for future improvements. This will only boost your brand trust.

In your online response, ask the customer to contact you offline. And be clear about why. Are you trying to understand the problem because your team is working on product improvements? Are you looking for details on the issue so you can prevent it from happening again? Was there a defect, and you need their contact information to send the new product?

Don’t forget to give the customer a way to contact your brand, whether that’s via a preferred phone number or email address. 

4. Create high-quality products

Reviews are excellent sources of information to analyze how consumers feel about your products’ quality. When you pay attention to common customer pain points, you have the opportunity to fix issues before your products earn a negative reputation and win back customers before you lose them entirely.

Look for key topics in your negative reviews. Do customers complain about particular product features? Long shipping times or damaged delivery? Is there something missing that they wanted from the product? Was the product description inaccurate?

Share this customer sentiment with your product quality or manufacturing team (or with vendors if you’re a retailer) to make improvements that keep your products competitive and meet consumer expectations. 

5. Price your products fairly 

According to Prisnyc, a competitor price tracking and monitoring company, about 60% of consumers consider pricing as the very first criteria of their buying decision, and 86% say it’s important to compare prices from different sellers when shopping. 

When’s the last time you compared your product price to the competition? If it’s been a while, it’s time to re-evaluate. How do your prices differ from competitors? 

Consumers value transparency. If your product is significantly more expensive than the competition and there’s a reason for it (like you use a higher quality material), don’t be afraid to call that out on your product pages. 

Build brand trust with the voice of the customer

To protect consumer trust, your brand must prioritize honesty and transparency in everything you do, from reviews to customer service to product pricing. One of the best ways to gain insights into how customers feel about your brand and communicate trust is through ratings and reviews. 

Leverage the authentic voice of your customers to build brand trust and sell your products. Taking the time to invest in your ratings and reviews program will help you build the foundation for long-lasting relationships and brand trust with your customers, leading to more sales — after all, customers who interact with UGC are 2x as likely to convert.

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Unfortunately, once companies decide to build a customer advocacy program, they often jump straight to the tactics to build programs, like implementing a sampling program, launching a blogger outreach campaign, creating gamification, or starting a social media page on a new platform.

But there’s steps to take and questions to ask yourself before diving in. Before we get into that though, there’s one question that first needs answering.

What is customer advocacy?

Customer advocacy is the method of nurturing relationships with your existing, loyal customers so that they champion your brand, products, or services in return. A strong customer advocacy program will turn your loyal customers into vocal ambassadors for your brand. Why is this important?

Because according to Gartner research, over 75% of B2B buyers consult three or more sources of advocacy before they make a purchase decision.

So the more acts of advocacy you have, the higher your chances of making a sale. But it’s not just new sales that are impacted — the customer advocacy cycle impacts every stage of the buyer journey.

Customer advocates want to share their experiences with your business and help other customers get the most value out of your product or service, which includes upselling and cross-selling. Advocates are who shoppers want to hear from, which is why at Bazaarvoice we have a strong focus on customer advocacy.

Types of customer advocacy program

There’s multiple customer advocacy strategies you can use to enhance the voice of your customers, from simple case studies to guest speakers on webinars.

• Speaking engagements. What better way to advocate for someone than to hear it directly from the customer’s mouth? Inviting a customer to speak on a webinar or at an event is a powerful form of advocacy, which also provides your customer with a brand promotion opportunity.
• Reviews. 88% of shoppers turn to reviews when evaluating a product or service, so having customer reviews on your website and social pages inspires confidence in potential customers. Platforms like G2 are a great source of business reviews.
• Case studies. Probably the most common customer advocacy program, case studies tell the success stories of your existing customers. Prospects don’t need to hear your sales pitch, they want to see how other similar businesses have performed and the potential ROI they could see too. Case studies to just that
• Customer quotes. Often easy to source and even easier to display, quotes are a quick way for customers to share their experience with your brand. They can (and should) be shared across websites, social channels, and email

What to consider when building a customer advocacy program

When there’s more than one strategy on offer, it can be difficult knowing where to start or which is best for your brand. Taking a step back to consider the three points below can help you choose tactics that work best for your advocates and your company — and build a successful program from the start.

1. Why do customers buy your product or shop in your stores?

Often, the answer to this question will be based on research you have already done or insights gained through social media monitoring. As you build your advocacy program, you’ll start to clarify why customers shop with you. But it’s important to have an idea in the beginning to see how to best interact with your consumers.

For example, advocacy programs for a business that knows that people buy its products to belong to a group versus one that knows customers choose its products because of convenience will be completely different, with different messaging and tactics.

2. What motivates customers to be advocates?

This is key for your customer advocacy program. Step into your customers’ shoes and ask why they would want to interact with you. Understanding this will help you bring what’s valuable to your customer to your program.

For example, if you look at what Sharpie did to engage with its fans online, you can see that they know that its customers want to show off their creativity. So Sharpie provides a place for advocates to receive recognition for their creative powers.

Sister company Prismacolor engages its audience in a slightly different way: Prismacolor loyalists define themselves as artists who want to give advice and learn from other artists, so the Prismacolor studio provides an avenue for artists to collaborate.

The tactics are similar, but the messaging and interactions are different, based on differences in their advocates.

3. How do I make it easy for my customers to advocate?

The big question. The easier you make it for advocates to talk about your products or services, the more volume you’ll see. Consider how customers interact with you today and where you could easily add a new touchpoint to encourage them to advocate. Or, how are they already advocating? Are they using particular hashtags or sites more than others? These behaviors might be ones you can noninvasively participate in, too.

Often the easiest way to build customer advocacy is through a brand community. These communities provide a platform for customers to engage with your brand and encourage them to share stories about you.

Customer advocacy examples

Diving down into these three areas can help you get the most of your customer advocacy program and help you decide on your next steps. The answers to these questions can help you decide which tactics would be most effective — and which to avoid. So, what will your advocacy program look like?

Although brands understand influencer marketing’s importance, shoppers are no longer looking to their favorite celebrity for purchasing guidance. The tide has changed, and shoppers want to follow individuals they feel like they know and trust. 

Bazaarvoice research suggests shoppers prefer content from micro-influencers such as brand employees, because they are more relatable, genuine, and authentic. Micro-influencers could easily be their next-door neighbor or best friend who genuinely enjoys and uses this product or service. 

Employee influencers strategies

With this revelation, some brands’ influencer efforts are shifting to the people who know their products or services the best — employees. As the micro-influencer trend begins to ramp up, here’s the companies are leading the pack. 

Spotlighting behind-the-scenes initiatives

Walmart is no stranger to the impact of social media. Beginning with local Facebook groups for almost 5,000 locations, Walmart gave its stores the autonomy to post unique content about the goings-on in their location. To take social media a step further, Walmart’s launch of their Spotlight program has begun to transform 500 employees into pint-sized influencers.

Under this Spotlight intuitive, employees become the brand by sharing behind-the-scenes content on their personal social media accounts. From the #WalmartHolidayShuffle TikTok trend to the Thanksgiving-themed Instagram campaigns, not only does the Spotlight program give shoppers an insider look at the brand, it also rewards employees for their influencer efforts.

The program is still in its infancy, but Walmart hopes to grow the influencer program to roughly 1,500 employees soon.

Purely social engagement 

Dell has always been a social media pioneer. The company realized big dreams early on by launching response analysis and social media monitoring technology. Dell’s forward-thinking spirit inspires the brand advocacy of its employees. To capitalize on their employee’s brand passion, Dell created an employee-driven social sharing content strategy.

With over 10,000 employees participating in the program, Dell encourages advocates to use their platform to share inspirational content relevant to Dell customers. Only 20% of Dell’s content is about the brand itself, while the other 80% highlights the organization’s passions. Empowering the employees has exponentially grown brand advocacy and loyalty.

Strengthening company culture online 

Zappos’ free-spirited persona seemingly attracts a large audience. To give shoppers insights into the brand’s daily operations, Zappos encourages their Zappoians (aka employees) to share content about all things happening within the company walls. From simple meetings to costume extravaganzas, Zapponians can post freely on the EyeZapp – Zappos’ official Twitter page, using the hashtag #CompanyCulture.

As a result of Zappos’ employee influencers efforts, shoppers and employees alike flock to be a part of its culture. 

Coffee lovers unite

Early on, Starbucks understood the weight of empowering employees to share their voices. To amplify the impact of their brand’s message, they created the “partners” platform for their employees to share their daily activities with Starbucks enthusiasts worldwide.

Calling employees partners and encouraging them to share their love for all things coffee under the Starbucks brand increased its authenticity and allowed employees to have a sense of closeness and accountability. 

As part of the Starbucks mission to engage employee influencers and brand advocates, they also crafted a social media account specifically for its partners, which grows weekly.

Exercising social media opportunities 

In 2020, Peloton sought micro-influencers in the fitness community to broaden their reach, ramp up user participation, and increase their long-term bottom line. By combining social media, virtual events, and its digital power, Peloton enhanced the way instructors connected with riders while enriching their fitness experience. 

Peloton continues to rely on its instructors and fitness enthusiasts’ love for promoting and sharing content about products and experiences they love. 

Turn your employees into influencers

On average, research suggests that employee content sees 8x more engagement than content shared through a brands channel. Empowering employees to become micro-influencers and brand advocates not only builds trust and shopper confidence, but the employee feels valued and appreciated for their expertise – an overall win-win for any brand.

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Chapters:

1. What is a brand ambassador?
2. Why you need an ambassador for your brand
3. How to identify and market to your ideal brand ambassador
4. Six ways to nurture relationships with brand ambassadors
5. Examples of successful brand ambassador partnerships
6. Use the power of UGC to find your brand ambassadors

Picture this: you’re scrolling through your Instagram, and you come across two different ads. One’s an obviously paid endorsement for some shapewear worn by a celebrity, but the other’s an ad with a person who seems more like a peer you’d meet at a kids’ playgroup or the grocery store. 

Which option seems more believable to you? Likely, it’s the person who isn’t all over your TV or your social media platforms already. That person is a brand ambassador — and they can unlock a series of benefits for your business, too.

Harness the power of ambassador marketing for your e-commerce business to build brand awareness, create more authentic relationships with your audience, and increase product sales.

What is a brand ambassador?

A brand ambassador works with a brand to represent it in a positive light while promoting its products or services. They help create an emotional connection between that brand and its customers.

For example, the online children’s clothing store Heart Blaster uses an ambassador who goes by DJ K Sprinkles. She’s a 17-year-old who plays at events across the country and shares her experiences with the brand on social media and in-person. 

“We connected through social media and initially supported each other’s pages. I admired K Sprinkles for her fun spirit, ambition, and her work ethic. Most importantly, our values and ethical principles align in a community effort,” said Sophillia Tagaban, CEO of Heart Blaster. 

DJ K Sprinkles promotes Heart Blaster clothing and its mission to commit to treating all people equally. And in return, the brand provides her with free merchandise and partnerships through her own personalized link. 

“Kaitlyn is a growing teenager who understands the importance of advocacy,” Tagaban said. “The kind of advocacy that helps us connect with people.”

Brand ambassadors will share their stories and experiences with your brand on their social media channels, whether it’s on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube. They also might attend live events and conferences to promote your products and services in person — DJ K Sprinkles is attending NAAM Music Festival this year and will talk about Heart Blaster while she’s there.

Sometimes, brand ambassadors may be college students. They’ll share your brand’s products with others on their school campus. Others might be subject matter experts in an industry and you can use them to promote niche products to their audience. Organizations might also elect to use employees as ambassadors.

No matter how the ambassador represents your brand, they should be compensated in return. Usually, it’s free products, some kind of discount, or even monetary rewards.

Brand ambassador vs. celebrity influencer

Brand ambassadors and celebrity influencers both promote products, but the main difference lies in the amount of influence they have. 

A celebrity influencer has a large social media following and can reach a global audience (think about how many people follow the Kardashian-Jenner clan) to market a brand through paid advertisements. 

Brand ambassadors have a smaller following, usually more targeted to a certain demographic. In this example from Barks and Crafts, see how they’re searching for brand ambassadors who are specifically active in the Instagram dog and cat community. They want ambassadors who can reach their target audience of pet owners vs. a larger untargeted following.

Why you need an ambassador for your brand

If you want to build trust with your audience and increase sales through your social media channels, then you need a brand ambassador — and in some cases, more than one. When you have the right person advocating for your brand, they can: 

• Build authenticity with your audience: A brand ambassador will provide honest feedback about your products and services to your target market, making their posts more believable. Potential customers see their user-generated content, and not just your company’s product photos or a super famous celebrity who’s known to cash in on every and any deal that comes their way. It makes it easier to connect with your audience and build relationships based on trust
• Help increase sales and ROI: 35% of people say their purchases are influenced by social media ads. But if those ads aren’t grabbing their attention, they’ll move on to ones that do. Your brand ambassadors will create content that the audience can relate to so they’ll engage with your brand online. The ambassador already has a small, niche audience that trusts them and their recommendations, meaning they’re more likely to convince people to buy from you. Also, your ambassadors can drive that audience to make a purchase with a discount code 

How to identify and market to your ideal brand ambassador

Looking for a brand ambassador involves a few important steps, whether you’re recruiting via social media or talking to existing customers. 

Search for people in your target audience 

You want an ambassador that your target audience will identify with, which means your brand ambassador should also be in that group. Think back to our shapewear example above. Women who are looking for shapewear want to see someone who looks like them in an ad. It gives them a better idea of how the product will actually work for them, rather than on a celebrity who has personal trainers and nutrition plans (and probably plastic surgery ).

Look for people in your target audience who have a decent following on Instagram, TikTok, and other social channels. You can search through your followers on each platform or reach out to people directly. 

Another way to find ambassadors who will hype up your brand: search in your existing customer base. Use user-generated content (UGC) and look for hashtags associated with your brand to find loyal customers who are already engaged with your brand and ask them to be ambassadors.

Or you can look at people who participate in your customer loyalty programs. If they’re already in love with your brand, they might be willing to help.

Advertise your search on social media

Many e-commerce stores post on their social media pages about their brand ambassador searches. Encourage people to apply so that you’ll have a large pool of potential candidates. This strategy has the added benefit of reaching people who already follow you and are thus likely to be part of your target audience. 

Post about the search and include all necessary qualifications so the applicants know what’s going on upfront. For example, baby accessories brand Bubby Bow Company tells potential candidates from the beginning that they’d need photos of their kids modeling bows and other accessories. 

Give a due date for submissions and have candidates create a video to show you how and why they’d be a great fit for your brand. If they’re going to make content for your business and you’re paying them in some way, you need to make sure you’re getting the right person for the job.

Use agency tools to help you find candidates

Sometimes you might need help to locate ambassadors or track their ROI, and the right agency or company can do that for you. Heart Blaster worked with PR teams in the past with some success, Tagaban said.

There’s several companies out there that specialize in finding or recruiting different types of brand ambassadors, such as:

• Brandbassador: This brand ambassador marketing software tracks each ambassador in your program, provides metrics on their performance, and keeps ambassadors engaged through gamification 
• Campus Commandos: If you’re looking specifically for student ambassadors, Campus Commandos helps put brand ambassadors on college campuses. They’ll recruit them for you and manage the entire process from start to finish 
• Roster: The ambassador management platform Roster lets you collect UGC, reward ambassadors, and recruit new ones. If you also use influencers, you can manage them on the platform as well
• Premier Staff: If you’re marketing at an in-person event and need people to get your products out to the masses, Premier Staff helps find brand ambassadors for corporate events
• Influenster: While not specifically a brand ambassador marketing business, Influenster is made up of an engaged community already advocating for their favorite brands — one of those could be yours

Six ways to nurture relationships with brand ambassadors

Once your ambassadors are on board, you’ll need to find ways to keep them engaged and work on your relationship with them. They’re putting in the work for your brand, so make sure you’re rewarding them and tracking how their efforts impact your business.

“It is important to us that we support our influencers just as much in return,” Tagaban said about her Heart Blaster reps.  

1. Hire a community manager

If you have the budget for it, bring in someone who is responsible for overseeing your entire ambassador community, like a community manager. This person will handle every ambassador question or concern. Giving ambassadors one point of contact makes the process much simpler when they need to reach out to your company about a specific campaign and other important matters.

A community manager will also make sure the ambassadors’ marketing efforts align with your company’s marketing strategy and overall goals. Other staff members may not always have time to monitor every social media channel, and it’s important to guarantee your ambassadors are presenting your brand in the best possible light. If there’s an issue, that manager can contact the ambassador and assist them. 

Along with that, your community manager can also recruit new ambassadors and keep current ambassadors engaged with rewards and other campaigns.

2. Offer discounts or free merchandise

Your brand ambassadors need something to entice them to sign up, so give them discounts on purchases or offer free merchandise based on their performance. It’s a way to reward them for their work. An added bonus of discount codes is that you’re still bringing in revenue from their purchases. 

You can also offer discount codes for them to share with their followers. Doing this encourages ambassadors to remain enthusiastic about your brand and partnership and keeps them posting about you regularly, which will bring in new business from their followers.

3. Give ambassadors commission on purchases they encourage

We know Biggie said, “Mo’ money, mo’ problems,” but for those of us in the normal world, that doesn’t usually apply, right? 

Money motivates us all, let’s be honest, so use that motivation to encourage your ambassadors to make sales off a link made just for them. That way, you can track the sales they bring in and give them a commission off those purchases. They’ll up their efforts to sell your products, which then increases the ROI from your partnership, as well as an increase in your profits. That’s a solid win-win.

4. Let ambassadors build their professional network

Brand ambassadors want to build their network just like any other professional in their field of work. Offer them networking incentives if they reach a certain sales threshold, or if they post a certain amount of times. Give ambassadors the chance to meet with your CEO or other company leaders, or to get career counseling and mentorship from them. 

Another option is to host either in-person or virtual networking events so they can connect with your other brand ambassadors. While they’re there, let them swap strategies and ideas. After all, that helps your brand build a better online presence if they’re learning from each other and collaborating.

5. Provide exclusive access to new products

The whole point of a brand ambassador is to hype up your brand, so in the wise words of Bonnie Raitt, “let’s give them something to talk about.” 

First, offer them exclusive access to your new products and product lines. Think about how excited you’d be if your favorite brand let you try out their new line before it was released to the public. That’s how your ambassadors will feel. They’ll show it off on social to their followers, which will help build up that anticipation. Have them share the drop date for your new items, or offer their followers early access through their custom link. 

This helps create more buzz for your brand, and also rewards your ambassadors since they get exclusive items before anyone else.

6. Gamify the ambassador process to keep them engaged

Games are addicting. Who hasn’t played hours of Candy Crush Saga when they were supposed to be working instead? Or spent too much time (and money) trying to get enough stars in the Starbucks app to get that free drink? Use that to your advantage when you work with brand ambassadors through gamification marketing. 

Xbox and gaming go hand-in-hand, and they use gamification to reward their ambassadors with special reward points. As their points accumulate, they move up levels. And for someone who already loves gaming, that’s an incentive in itself. Ambassadors can redeem points for exclusive Xbox swag or digital items.

This tactic works for smaller businesses too. While your brand may not have as much game as Xbox, you can still offer reward points to your ambassadors for completing certain tasks, like generating different levels of sales or adding new followers to your company’s Instagram account. Let them use their points toward your store’s products.

Examples of successful brand ambassador partnerships

If you need some ideas on how to build your brand ambassador partnerships, check out some inspiration from these real-life companies that have found different ways to reward their ambassadors.

Patagonia

Patagonia takes a slightly different approach to using brand ambassadors, as the company is working to try and reduce its carbon footprint. Through its Worn Wear program, it encourages brand ambassadors to show ways they’ve fixed their worn-out clothing. 

It seems to be working well, as Patagonia has established itself as one of the world’s most sustainable brands. Using brand ambassadors to talk about the company and its practices shows new customers that Patagonia is truly passionate about its social responsibility and true to its brand values.

Lululemon

Lululemon is a very popular brand of workout and fitness clothing, and they build their ambassadorships locally through each store as they believe in fostering a sense of community. 

They look for candidates who embody the “sweat life,” made up of three pillars: sweat, grow, and connect. Each ambassador receives the latest Lululemon apparel, gets development tools, and a chance to network with like-minded people. 

3. Red Bull

Red Bull may give you wings, but it also has a pretty solid brand ambassador program for in-person events, restaurants, clubs, and more. They call their ambassadors Muskateers, and want to build long-term partnerships with them. Musketeers get to attend exclusive events and meet with managers of the coolest clubs in their area as they work to promote Red Bull. 

Along with Muskateers, Red Bull also works with student marketeers on college campuses across the country. These college brand ambassadors get chances to network and build their sales and marketing skills while earning a degree. Some even go on to work full-time for Red Bull.

Bumble

Swipe right for a chance to be a Bumble Honey, aka brand ambassadors who act on behalf of the popular dating app. Bumble Honeys promote the app on their college campuses as a part of Bumble’s goal to help people cultivate meaningful relationships. 

These brand ambassadors plan events, give out Bumble merch, and get to work with Bumble’s staff on marketing campaigns. Honeys are compensated and also get bonuses like gift cards and travel vouchers.

Sephora

Sephora uses the power of user-generated content to form its own Superhero Squad — aptly named the Sephora Squad. The beauty company encourages customers to sign up for all the #squadgoals where they’ll be a part of a larger community full of diverse members. 

Every year, Sephora selects a few applicants to partner with, and they’ll do a paid partnership with them. Members can go to their Los Angeles Creator Lounge, as well as get one-on-one training with Sephora staff. Even after their year is up, Sephora Squad members can still get alumni perks. 

Use the power of UGC to find your brand ambassadors

Chances are, your customers are already posting a wealth of great content about your brand on social media. User-generated content, whether it’s on social or an online review, is a powerful way to find those customers and turn them into champions for your brand. 

Search for customers who are already raving about you by tapping into existing communities. Once you find those people who love your company, reach out and reward them for their loyalty by turning them into official brand ambassadors.

The Influenster App, for example, is an engaged community of over 7.5 million members, who create over a million pieces of authentic content about brands every month. They’re already advocating for your brand, you just need to tap into it.

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In short: yes. Brand loyalty is essential if you want your brand to succeed today. Or any day. Using the latest research and Bazaarvoice data, we’ll detail how brands can grow loyalty, highlight brands with high levels of loyalty, and explain how they achieved it.

Spoiler alert: It’s because customer retention is much more valuable than finding new customers.

Chapters:

1. What is brand loyalty?
2. Types of brand loyalty
3. The importance of of brand loyalty
4. How to build brand loyalty
5. Brand loyalty examples
6. How to measure brand loyalty
7. Brand loyalty is key to long term growth

It’ll come as absolutely no surprise that e-commerce is a saturated industry. For any shopping-related search, there’s pages and pages (and pages) of search engine or social media results that follow. With all the options consumers have at their disposal, how can brands earn their loyalty?

As McKinsey & Company partner Jess Huang stated in a McKinsey interview:

“It’s not that consumers are necessarily becoming less loyal. Now it’s just so much easier to access them and so much easier for them to try something new. So brands are really trying to figure out a way to develop and maintain that relationship with the consumer.”

In a crowded playing field where shoppers are fickle — especially Gen Z — how can brands win loyalty from their customers? And why should they? In a rapidly expanding market, companies have to keep up with what drives consumers’ brand loyalty. And, in particular, the tactics that will consistently win them over.

What is brand loyalty?

Brand loyalty is when shoppers continue to make repeat purchases from a specific brand, in spite of there being similar (or cheaper) offerings on the market. It’s important for businesses because brand loyalty means higher retention rates and higher growth rates, leading to a recurring revenue stream.

Types of brand loyalty

Brand loyalty can take multiple forms. There’s customers who are loyal because of how they perceive and relate to a brand. And there’s those in it for the rewards. Both are valid and contribute to the growth of your brand.

• Community building. This is when the customer derives meaning and alignment with a brand because of a shared purpose or values. It’s how customers become psychologically attached to a brand
• Rewards programs. The more traditional brand loyalty definition associated with loyalty programs. It includes rewards in the form of customer points, perks, and discounts

The importance of brand loyalty

What’s the benefit of having loyal customers? On a personal level, it creates a sense of community. From an ROI standpoint, it increases customer retention and creates natural brand ambassadors. As a result, it ultimately boosts your bottom line.

After all, it’s easier — and much more lucrative — to sell to existing customers than new customers. According to a Semrush report, there’s a 60-70% probability of selling to a previous customer and only a 5-20% probability with a new customer. Furthermore, previous customers are 31% more likely to have higher average order values (AOV).

Another valuable outcome of loyal customers is that some become brand ambassadors — at no extra cost. Unlike influencers who require a fee or freebie, brand ambassadors do it out of sheer love for your products/brand.

So, these customers-turned-brand-ambassadors promote your brand through word of mouth and user-generated content (UGC).

How to build brand loyalty

Now that you know what drives brand loyalty, implement a strategy to strengthen your own. These are the actionable steps and qualities needed to grow brand loyalty.

Define your goals and target customers

First, decide what your end goal is for your brand loyalty strategy. What do you want to gain: loyalty program members, higher AOVs, subscribers, better product launches? All of the above? Identifying your desired outcomes will help you focus and plan your efforts.

Next, know who your target customers are so you can better serve and reach them. Your current customers are your best resource. Because not only are they your target customers, but they’ll also help inform what will attract the loyalty of new customers. As Huang points out:

“Look at your customers’ transaction-and-engagement data and understand how they’re interacting with you. Do your consumer research to learn what they want and what you can offer them before you even start thinking, ‘Well, I want my loyalty program to look like X.’”

Analyze what they like and don’t like about your brand. Review the questions they ask. Survey what needs or requests they have from your brand to illuminate opportunities for improving brand loyalty.

Align with the values of your target customers

Increasingly, consumers are looking to do business with brands they identify with. An Accenture survey of over 25,000 customers found that modern consumers, “are purposefully seeking to influence their communities and the environment” through their shopping behavior. As a result, they’re willing to switch brands and pay extra for those that take visible action for a positive societal impact. This is especially prevalent since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brands must grow with this shift if they want to compete. This means re-evaluating their approach and standards and, subsequently, their communication and operations.

According to a McKinsey study, “As many as 30 to 40 percent of consumers continue to switch brands or retailers, driven primarily by younger consumers seeking value, combined with greater emphasis on purpose-driven alignment and quality.”

Offer Membership and loyalty programs

One of the primary and most common ways to build brand loyalty is through a member-based program. These types of brand loyalty programs provide members with deals but also deeper access to your brand, a certain level of status, and exclusivity. Consumers enjoy being part of a club, and for some, the prospect of not being a member can result in fear of missing out (FOMO).

VIP tiers, loyalty programs, and clubs are all ways brands can offer membership to their customers. Credit card companies and airlines are examples of brands that have mastered VIP tiers. With each membership level, customers achieve more perks, like bypassing lines, fee waivers, and upgrades.

• Clubs are ways for companies to offer customers who are interested in particular products more of what they love. And they can do so on a consistent basis. For example, wine shops that offer a monthly wine club. Or, perhaps the biggest club in the game — Amazon Prime. Club membership can include perks like free shipping, discounts on future purchases, exclusive access to sales and additional features, etc

• Loyalty programs are rewards-based, where customers earn points with every purchase, like a digital punch card. Think Sephora’s Beauty Insider program. This is a popular choice because it’s easy to execute for brands. Also there’s no additional financial investment or risk for the customer

For more revenue and customer loyalty opportunities, brands should consider adding tiers to their loyalty program.

Provide a high-quality shopping experience

The high expectations that consumers have for the physical shopping experience are just as important for e-commerce brands. The speed, usability, and presentation that shoppers are met with on an e-commerce site all matter. Especially for first-time and repeat buyers.

Exceptional customer service is also one of the leading drivers of brand loyalty. Quick response times, empathy, and a solutions-oriented approach are among the customer service elements shoppers expect. Bazaarvoice’s Questions & Answers tools provide a streamlined portal for easily and efficiently answering customer queries. As well as increasing conversions by as much as 98%.

We’re living in an age of digital immediacy. These days, 47% of customers expect websites to load in two seconds or less. Website speed directly affects the shopping experience, from the home page to product and checkout pages. As for Gen Z, this particular customer segment has a low tolerance for slow or poorly functioning websites. 

Promote affordability with discounts and deals

Savings continue to be a top motivator of brand loyalty for consumers. According to a GWI research report, almost four in 10 shoppers actively seek discounts and offers, and about three in 10 buy lower-priced products more frequently.

Promo codes, email subscriber-exclusive offers, loyalty and membership program discounts, flash sales, a diverse product portfolio. Just some of the tactics for offering discounts and value items to customers.

Be strategic about offering discounts so that it doesn’t compromise your bottom line. Offer discounts on slow-moving items, during downtimes, for an exchange like a newsletter sign-up. Or increase conversions with free shipping, for example.

Leverage user-generated content (UGC)

In a competitive, fast-paced online marketplace, the focus should be on the customer. You need to provide the best service, value, and experience for them. UGC puts the customer at the forefront with marketing that shoppers trust, as opposed to only promotional content from the brand.

Reviews and visual UGC are very influential for shoppers. Product reviews can increase conversions by 74%, making product pages the prime location to showcase UGC. As demonstrated below:

Bazaarvoice’s reviews and gallery tools help brands acquire and display UGC across their product pages and websites. This way, shoppers can see the social proof and realistic representation of products that UGC offers.

But it doesn’t stop at product pages. Social media is another extremely effective platform for sharing UGC. In fact, UGC from social media highly impacts the purchasing decisions of nearly 80% of shoppers. Social media enables brands to engage directly with their audience. UGC makes that connection even stronger, fostering brand loyalty in the process. When customers post authentic UGC of your products, that presents the perfect opportunity to engage with, and repost, their content.

Bazaarvoice customer Parachute perfectly demonstrates how to showcase visual UGC on product pages. Simply with a link to see more on their Instagram Shop.

Consider an Augmented Reality feature

If it makes sense for your brand, augmented reality (AR) is the one. It’s e-commerce’s new solution to shopping for products you can’t physically test or try on. According to GWI, online shoppers’ interest in AR is high. Especially so in the automotive, fashion, home decor, and electronics categories. Particular interest in these categories stems from consumers’ preference for experiencing high-priced and aesthetic products before making an investment.

AR takes the interactive experience to the next level. The beauty industry has already made good use of this trend. MAC’s YouCam makeup simulator resulted in a triple increase in engagement for the brand over a two-month period. And similarly, consumer engagement from the introduction of Estee Lauder’s virtual lipstick try-on feature increased by 133%. AR is nearing mainstream adoption if Shopify’s YouCam Makeup app is any indication. Brands that implement this innovative tech early will be leaders of this growing trend.

Brands that offer an AR feature present another opportunity for their customers to interact with them. At the same time, they create an enhanced and elevated shopping experience that adds value by solving a specific need.

Conduct predictive analysis

Predictive analysis is particularly helpful for designing your loyalty program. It’s the practice of analyzing consumer behavior to project future interests and purchasing decisions. This strategy can help guide consumers to products of potential interest based on their purchase history. In turn ensuring the loyalty program is mutually beneficial. As Huang goes on to say:

More companies are trying to identify specific things that they want to do through their loyalty program by understanding the analytics. Which is really important, so that they don’t give too much away to the consumer.

Predictive analysis can also determine the best timing for certain promotions. How? By looking at time periods with high engagement and sales spikes.

Encourage subscriptions

Subscriptions inherently guarantee brand loyalty, as long as they’re executed well. By signing up for a subscription, the subscriber is willingly agreeing to make repeat purchases on a regular basis. To make this kind of commitment, the subscription must be something they already enjoy, or it solves a pain point. Some brands offer subscriptions as an additional service line. For others, like HelloFresh and BarkBox, it’s their entire business model.

The subscription model is booming. From 2012 to 2018, subscription businesses grew more than 300%, approximately five times faster than S&P 500 companies’ revenues. Since then, the pandemic accelerated the subscription economy, and its revenue is projected to more than double by 2025.

The key to a successful subscription strategy is to deliver an unmet need. That can be having products consumers love delivered to their doorstep every month. Or it’s full access to publications like The New York Times. Best practices for a sustainable, successful subscription program include excellent customer service and providing value, convenience, variety, and flexible pricing.

Use a sampling strategy

One sure-fire way to get the attention of customers is to send samples to them directly. This can apply to product launches or hero products that might need a market refresh. People love free products and delight in receiving a delivery. 

On this note, we recently surveyed 6,000 Influenster members who had recently participated in a sampling campaign. Of those we asked:

• 53% said the product became a staple for them
• 49% followed the brand on social
• 95% wrote a review about the sampled product
• 88% recommended it to family and friends 

For each target customer, sampling led to several successful key brand loyalty metrics.

Brand loyalty examples

Learn from the pros. These top brands show how to expertly generate high brand loyalty from their customers.

Adidas Creators Club

The Adidas Creators Club is a membership-based rewards program. It’s a genius model that rewards customers for engaging with their brand. Members earn points by creating an account, completing their profile, reviewing products, and participating in Adidas training sessions and events. As members earn more points, they are eligible to advance to the next club tier.

The four Creator Club tiers come with their own collection of perks. They include exclusive rewards and the chance to partner with Adidas to give back to causes. Aka, combining multiple brand loyalty motivations into one program.

Microsoft Rewards

Microsoft Rewards is cleverly crafted to drive engagement and purchases toward focus products. For example, members earn points by using Bing, Edge, and Windows 10 for their online searches and activity. Like Adidas, their rewards program includes automatic donations to selected causes with acquired points. And, as with credit cards, members can earn one point for each dollar spent on Microsoft products.

Microsoft Rewards also features daily gamified challenges for extra chances to earn points. Points can be redeemed for gift cards, sweepstakes entries, nonprofit donations, and more.

Home Depot Canada’s Seed Sampling

Bazaarvoice customer Home Depot Canada gets it. The brand is a prime example of how to strategically make a sampling program that hits the trifecta:

Partnering with Bazaarvoice, Home Depot Canada launched a Managed Sampling campaign for their most loyal customers to generate buzz around their high-priority items.

This tactic produced enthusiastic reviews from the target customers. But more importantly, it doubled conversions for products in the seed campaign. This resulted in successful product launches for Home Depot Canada vendors.

BEKO

Beko is an appliance and consumer electronics brand that relied on UGC for a successful expansion into the Australian market. Working with Bazaarvoice, Beko accumulated over 8,000 customer reviews and syndicated them on their retail partners’ websites, which increased their exposure to their target market, strengthened their retail partnerships, and converted new brand advocates.

Petco

Petco focuses on building trust with its customers to increase brand loyalty. With its partnership with Bazaarvoice, Petco accrued 80% of their 1.5 million reviews through syndication. This large volume of UGC inspires confident purchases in other shoppers. Beyond reviews, Petco recognizes its responsibility as a supplier to pet parents who care deeply about their pets’ health and happiness. In addition to selling quality products to pet owners, they’ve become a trusted resource through Bazaarvoice’s Questions & Answers tool.

With Bazaarvoice Connections, Petco can team up with their vendors to efficiently and effectively answer any customer questions or concerns. This allows them to connect with customers and gain valuable product feedback.

For further reading, a few more brand loyalty success stories can be found here!

How to measure brand loyalty

With the many tactics to build brand loyalty comes multiple ways to track it:

Customer satisfaction surveys. Want to know the level of loyalty your customers have for your brand? Ask them. Luckily for you, we just produced a guide on how to do exactly that!

Engagement. Website visits, customer reviews, social media followers, social media interactions. All are indicators of how invested your customers are in your brand.

Track repurchasing behavior. Use your customer and inventory management insights to track repeat purchases. The number of customers who continue to buy from your brand will tell you how high your brand loyalty is.

Number of loyalty and rewards program members. Track how many people are enrolled in your membership, club, or loyalty program and the trends over time. Determine what could be attributed to the rise or fall in members to identify areas of opportunity and improvement.

Number of subscribers. If your brand offers a subscription, or is subscription-based, how many subscribers you have is a key indicator of brand loyalty. If you’re not consistently gaining subscribers, you should reevaluate your subscription’s price point, variety, and value to the consumer.

Brand loyalty is the key to long-term growth

Clearly, building brand loyalty requires a multi-faceted, holistic approach. It’s not one simple step but many to achieve a high level of brand loyalty. But once you get it, you’ll have returning customers who make repeat, and often larger, purchases.

According to Accenture’s study, the majority of consumers are willing to pay more to brands that meet all their needs. And according to a McKinsey survey on loyalty, 62% of members in a paid loyalty program are likely to spend more with that brand. That amounts to increased revenue over an extended period of time. Something every brand wants!

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Chapters:

1. What is employee advocacy?
2. Benefits of employee advocacy
3. Types of employee advocacy
4. How to create a successful employee advocacy program
5. Innovative employee advocacy examples

Cultivating employee advocacy is a growing trend and priority for brands. According to the 2022 Sprout Social Index, 68% of the marketers surveyed reported having a program for employee advocacy on social media. Additionally, one of Forrester’s B2C marketing and innovation predictions for 2022 was that, “over half of CMOs will make employee experience (EX) essential to brand planning.” 

Employee experience is the essential ingredient to producing authentic and effective employee advocacy. According to LinkedIn research and insights, 70% of professionals aren’t willing to work at a company with a bad workplace culture. And with trends like quiet quitting on the rise, expect that number to increase. So what makes a good culture? Answer: a people-first approach that elevates the overall employee experience. 

Facilitating an employee-first culture that inspires and supports employee advocacy is a win-win situation for the company and its employees. The absence of either or both puts your business behind the times and in a vulnerable position.

While many brands are supporting employee advocacy to some degree, the ones who create and implement a dedicated program will evolve beyond and outperform the competition. Learn all about how employee advocacy can benefit your brand and the ways you can achieve it. 

What is employee advocacy?

Employee advocacy is the promotion of an organization, including its products, services, and brand messaging, by the people who work for it. These employees can be in any position or department in the company. Employee advocacy is another type of user-generated content (UGC) that provides brands with digital marketing materials to extend their reach and impact. 

Employee advocacy essentially turns employees into influencers. Employees can share content created by the brand itself or create their own content to promote the company’s products, accomplishments, events, milestones, and more. Beyond just brand promotion, it’s a chance for employees to express what they personally love about the company they work for. They can share content online to their own personal audiences or on other organizations’ platforms and outlets, like a podcast, email newsletter, blog, or magazine.   

Major brands have adopted their own employee advocacy programs with great success, including Walmart, Dell, and Starbucks.

Benefits of employee advocacy

Strong employee advocacy produces a range of benefits for both companies and their employees. For companies, it amplifies and reduces the cost of their marketing efforts while strengthening their employer brand and attracting more quality talent. For employees, it creates networking and thought leadership opportunities to advance their career aspirations. 

Some specific positive outcomes of employee advocacy include:

• According to LinkedIn research, content shared by employees garners twice the amount of engagement
• The top result of employee advocacy, according to a Hootsuite survey, is increasing the reach of messaging without the need for social media ads
• The same survey revealed a boost in brand health and employee engagement as the subsequent top benefits of employee advocacy programs
• The 2022 Sprout Social Index identified increased brand awareness as the most important business outcome according to the marketers they surveyed
• Recommendations and UGC from family and friends are a top trusted source of brand promotion and news, so employee promotion earns more trust than when it comes directly from brands
• The social content created by employee advocates in which products are featured and tagged can be repurposed on e-commerce product pages, leading to an increase in conversion rates

Types of employee advocacy

There’s a variety of ways employees can promote and share positive messages about their companies. 

Employee advocacy on social media

Social media is the primary channel for employees to share content about their employers and the products they sell. Social media should be the priority for any employee advocacy campaign because it reaches the largest audience and has the biggest impact. For 63% of consumers, social media content from credible influencers like company employees is more trustworthy than the brand’s own content.  

Employees can use channels like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok to post fun, visual content. This can include giving a behind-the-scenes glimpse of company culture or sharing products they love from the brand. Twitter and LinkedIn are effective channels for thought leadership and sharing company news. For example, your employees can share successful programs or campaigns they’ve worked on and the insights they’ve learned.

For example, #LiveBV is the branded hashtag Bazaarvoice (that’s us!) and our employees use to share their social media content about company activities and initiatives. 

Representing company merch

Providing merch for employees is a nice perk and a low-lift way they can promote your brand. This can be t-shirts, coffee mugs, water bottles, tote bags, phone wallets, and anything else you can put your company branding on. Or, you can gift employees product samples so they become familiar with your brand’s products, recommend them to their network, and post about them on social media. Everyone, literally everyone, loves free stash.

Content marketing

Employee-created content on digital channels outside of social media is another great way to extend your employee advocacy initiatives. You can leverage your blog or a microsite for longer-form editorial content that your employees can contribute to, like the Adobe Life blog or the Bazaarvoice Culture tag within our own blog. This gives them a chance to share their experiences, lessons learned, and expert industry knowledge gained from their professional roles. Contributing blog content also offers employees a chance to get published, adding to their professional development.

Employee bios on your brand website are another form of content marketing that helps humanize your brand. Different team members within your company can share their backgrounds, fun facts about themselves, what they love about the brand, and anything else relevant. Integrating video elevates your content marketing strategy with fresh and diverse content that connects with your audience and keeps them on your website longer. The following example shows video bios of Bazaarvoice employees explaining what’s unique about the company and their professional experience. 

How to create a successful employee advocacy program

Developing a strong employee advocacy program takes dedicated time, thought, and planning, but it’s definitely worth it. As more companies catch on to the importance of employee advocacy for their marketing efforts, the ones who do it right will stand out and enjoy positive results. In addition to establishing a sustainable program, it will drive other benefits, like empowering employees and creating helpful internal resources across departments.

Create and nurture an employee-first culture

Here’s a wild idea: happy employees are engaged employees. So, to implement an effective employee advocacy program, you first need to create a positive environment and experience for your team. Doing so will encourage genuine interest in being brand advocates and ambassadors. 

To design and maintain a thriving workplace culture for your employees, focus on what matters most to them. According to LinkedIn research, the top factors that keep employees at their companies for more than five years include other team members who they can be their authentic selves with, a sense of belonging, and strong benefits.

To make employees feel like they can be themselves at work, you need to foster a welcoming, honest, transparent, and friendly environment. That also means making diversity and inclusion a priority, so everyone feels comfortable. Create a feeling of belonging by recognizing everyone’s accomplishments and progress, giving honest and useful feedback, and inviting employees to express themselves. The most important benefits for employees include health coverage, paid time off, and parental leave.

Results of engaged employees include 50% who post content about their employers on social media and 33% who share praise and positive feedback. Employee advocacy isn’t the only important outcome of increased employee engagement, though. Gallup research shows that companies with a high percentage of engaged employees generate a:

• 23% increase in profitability
• 18% increase in sales productivity
• 10% increase in customer loyalty and engagement

Establish and maintain a strong employer brand

According to Forrester, “brand building in 2022 will be as much about employer branding as it is about traditional consumer marketing.” Having a strong employer brand contributes to your overall brand identity and reputation. It’s also critical to recruiting and retaining employees.

If you want to communicate and present your employer brand effectively, you need to have a compelling mission and values that your company embodies. Then, you can amplify those tenants of your employer brand using your company blog, career and about pages on your company website, social media channels, and through your current team members. 

Patagonia is a brand with a bold mission that they live and breathe: “We’re in business to save our home planet.” It’s simple, clear, and to the point. Their core values align with their mission in the way they do business. “Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to protect nature, not bound by convention.”

The brand’s employees can trust in their mission and values because Patagonia lives up to them by making sustainable products, donating to environmental non-profits, and being engaged in activism. Because their mission is central to their entire operation, it’s also what attracts employees who want to be involved in the climate movement.

In addition to including your mission and values, your employer brand should include your employee value proposition (EVP). Your EVP should describe your company culture and offer your best pitch to prospective new hires.

Set goals for your employee advocacy program

Once you have a solid workplace culture and employer brand in place, you can start officially developing your employee advocacy program. The first step is to identify your goals, so your actions can align with them, and you can determine the key performance indicators (KPIs) or objectives and key results (OKRs) to measure success. 

Think about what you want to accomplish with your program. What would be the most beneficial to your brand? Examples of suitable goals include:

• Driving sales leads
• Increasing organic traffic to your website
• Growing your social media communities
• Increasing employee retention
• Improving your brand reputation

To set your performance goals, refer to an employee advocacy benchmark report in your industry to establish what success looks like in numbers. Analyze data like the number of posts and shares and social media reach and engagement generated from employee advocacy. 

Build and implement a strategy

The next step after defining the goals for your employee advocacy program is to actually build it. This is the meat and potatoes of your program and the ultimate guiding policy for how you’ll implement it. Below are the five main elements of a strong strategy you can use to inform your own:

1. Create a social media guide. Since the main focus of your employee advocacy program should be on social media, you need brand and style guidelines for your employees to follow. While you should encourage your employees to use their own voice and personality, you should also provide the types of content that make the most sense and anything they should avoid.
2. Nominate employee advocacy leaders. To kickstart and set the tone of your program, make a proposition to more senior employees, who are already active on social media, to lead the charge. This way, they can lead by example, get the program up and running, and generate interest for other employees to get involved. 
3. Define your content distribution plan. A content distribution plan is important to inform team members about what content types they should focus on (primarily social media and blog content), the channels where they should post, the posting cadence, and recommended timing of content, like particular days and times to publish.
4. Introduce the program during onboarding. Bring new hires into the loop from the beginning so they can start thinking about participating and be aligned with the comprehensive effort.
5. Include incentives. Motivate employees to become advocates with incentives, like bonuses, perks, or swag. Make sure this is clearly communicated or included in the program details.

Provide resources

Once you’ve defined and outlined your strategy, create resources that your entire company can use and reference. These will provide all the details, use cases, guides, and parameters that employees need to become active advocates. 

One of the main resources will be the social media guide, which includes messaging and content examples that employees can take inspiration from. For branding and tracking purposes, make sure to include hashtags specific to the advocacy program (#bgenerous) and any brand accounts employees should tag in social media posts.

If your program includes content marketing, include example blog posts and the points of contact so employees can send their pitches and submissions. And if you want your team members to add their bios to their LinkedIn profiles or your website, provide examples or even a template they can use. 

You should also provide any relevant supplemental materials that will support the program, including your brand mission and values. Since your employee advocates are representing your brand, they need to be familiar with and practitioners of its culture and values.

In addition to written documents, you may want to have lunch-and-learn sessions and create short-form video tutorials to show all the social media features that employees can use for content. 

Keep employees engaged

Nominating advocacy leaders and integrating the program in the onboarding process are important for launching advocacy efforts. But, you’ll also need to keep employees interested and engaged to maintain ongoing, consistent participation. 

Providing shareable content, offering incentives, and recognizing standout advocates in meetings or public company forums are all great ways to support a sustainable program.

Measure performance

The final piece of the puzzle is measuring the program’s performance. This will ensure that you’re meeting your goals, and if not, it will give you insights to optimize your strategy. Some metrics and data to consider when analyzing your results include:

• Overall adoption rate and recent adoption rate: The percentage of employees who have participated overall and within the last 90 days.
• Most popular content types: Identify the content with the most engagement and reach, whether it’s thought leadership posts, images or videos of products, blog posts, company bio landing pages, or company culture-themed content.
• Specific goal performance metrics: Track data specific to your program goals, which we previously mentioned. Those may include sales leads, revenue earned, organic traffic, employee recruitment, or employee retention, for example.
• Top contributors: Discover which team members are making the most content and contributing the most impactful content. You can use this data to reward them, acknowledge their efforts, and empower them to stay engaged.

Innovative examples of employee advocacy in action

Brands that have thriving employee advocacy programs make them accessible to their audiences by repurposing content on their social media accounts, on their blogs, and in any other brand-owned digital spaces. The following examples are brands that have built dedicated communities and highly engaging content with innovative approaches.

Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts is a video game developer and merchant with a full-scale employee advocacy program called EA Insiders. EA Insiders is an active community of thousands of engaged employees. True to its consumer brand, EA Insiders is also gamified with challenges and competitions to encourage participation.

EA encourages its employees to use the #WeAreEA hashtag in their posts, so they can be easily featured on the brand’s social media accounts and used to track participation. EA Insiders was created to foster connections between employees in different locations and build a more cohesive culture. The program has delivered great results, with over 1,000 participants, reaching over 1 million people in total, and driving over 6,000 monthly engagements.

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Dunkin’ Donuts

The major food and beverage retailer, Dunkin’ Donuts, stays on trend and relevant by focusing its employee advocacy efforts on TikTok. The brand designates “crew ambassadors” to post insider content featuring their favorite Dunkin’ products, signature recipes, unboxing videos of Dunkin’ merch, and more. TikTok videos tagged with #dunkinemployee have over 58 million views and feature fun, behind-the-scenes content, the majority of which is created by their lead employee influencer, @mollygruber.

@mollygruber Comment drink ideas #dunkin #dunkindonuts #dunkindrinks #secretdrink #dunkinsecretmenu #drinkrecipes #drinkideas #dunkinemployee #yummy #cakebatter ♬ MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) – Lil Nas X

MeUndies

MeUndies, the quirky underwear brand, leverages employee advocacy to inspire shopper confidence. Employees are encouraged to leave reviews because they know the products and services best, so they can provide realistic expectations for prospect shoppers which drives purchases.

Most of our customers read reviews before purchasing, and they expect our reviews to be extensive, cover every detail of the product, and to be recent

Ross Houslander, Senior Retention Lead, MeUndies

Their employee review collection strategy is working, because so far 32% of staff reviews already have helpful votes. Helpful votes mean a review is an accurate depiction of a product. In turn, this inspires new customers to make purchases and boost sales for the brand.

Manage your social advocacy program

Once it’s time to launch your employee advocacy program, ensure you have an efficient and seamless system to make it run smoothly. Social media management tools will allow you to track the performance of your employees’ content on social media and easily share it on your brand channels.

Performance insights will show how successful the program is and identify your top contributors. And sharing that UGC on social media and your e-commerce site will provide more trustworthy content about your brand for your customers. Now you just need to master the UGC best practices needed for success.

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The human brain is hardwired to seek rewards, and research shows that consumers are 80% more likely to choose a brand that offers a satisfying loyalty experience over competitors. It’s no surprise, then, that a proportionate number of businesses want to reward their loyal following.

Brand loyalty programs are a win-win for customers and businesses alike because they reward the customer and transform them into long-term brand advocates. Looking for inspiration? Check out these winning brand loyalty examples to get you started.

Most popular types of brand loyalty programs

There’s several types of loyalty programs that brands can choose from. They all reward customers for spending and advocating for the brand, but the right fit comes down to your specific customer base’s purchasing behavior.

Point-based brand loyalty programs

This type of brand loyalty program offers points — a type of branded currency that can be exchanged for rewards — when customers complete purchases or other activities that demonstrate their loyalty to the brand.

They’re simple to understand and easy for consumers to adopt. It’s the same concept as a child’s piggy bank, where a small amount of currency is accumulated over time and then used for a reward. And for anyone who had a piggy bank as a kid, we know how satisfying that is.

The most common example of brand loyalty program, point-based programs are ideal for frequent purchasers. Customers that buy items regularly — gasoline, groceries, or hygiene products, for example — are perfect for point-based loyalty programs because points will inevitably accumulate.

Brands can get creative with how points are awarded, too. Nordstrom, for instance, awards more points to Nordstrom credit card-carrying members and those who redeem points through the iOS app.

It really comes down to how you can entice your members and tease their psychological reward and pleasure centers. It might sound manipulative, but if you’re offering real value to your members, it’s beneficial to all sides — and therein lies the advantage of points-based loyalty programs.

Tiered loyalty

Tiered loyalty requires consumers to reach a certain benchmark to be upgraded to the next level. Instead of accumulating points, spending them, and starting back at zero, the benefits of reaching a higher tier are permanent.

Alongside our psychological need to be rewarded, when humans achieve something, they almost immediately start looking for the next accomplishment. If someone gets a promotion at work, suddenly they’re thinking about the nicer car or home their newfound success would allow them to afford. They’re thinking about that sweet prestige that comes with their higher-paying job. Tiered brand loyalty programs are effective because they make consumers work toward a goal, and it provides that sense of achievement and status once a higher tier is reached — spending more along the way.

And tiered loyalty programs are great on the business side as well. They remove challenges from maintaining points-based programs, such as points expiring or needing to be meticulously tracked. Different tiers also allow you to segment your customers better, offering a more personalized and exciting experience to each bracket.

Tiered and points-based loyalty can actually complement each other. Growing bag retailer Caraa actually combines a point-based structure with a tiered reward program. The customer’s tier is determined by how much they spend and also affects the number of points they receive for birthday purchases and other special events.

Paid membership

Paid members pay a recurring fee for access to exclusive deals and VIP treatment. This can be a hard sell, but once customers are in, they’re really in.

There’s value in that commitment, too. Research from McKinsey found that members of paid loyalty programs are 60% more likely to spend more on a brand after subscribing, versus only 30% for free loyalty programs. Equally as impressive, 70% of consumers would be willing to pay for a premium loyalty program provided the benefits were relevant and desirable to them.

Paid brand loyalty programs are best suited for customers that know what they want and crave an “insider” experience. If you look at many subscription models, you’ll see they’re actually premium loyalty models that offer tangible incentives to join.

Take Watch Gang, for example. Nobody is going to join a subscription with that name unless they are interested in building a watch collection. They pay their recurring fee and receive a watch each month, but they’re also paying for massive exclusive discounts on the online store as well as the chance to win premium-tier watches every week. 

The rewards align with the customer’s lifestyle perfectly, offer an exclusive experience, and provide the business with an opportunity to upsell their loyal members.

6 brand loyalty program examples to inspire you

These brand loyalty program examples should give you a great idea of how to get creative — and what works. Many of them combine parts of points-based, tiered, and paid programs to deliver a dynamic loyalty experience.

1. Sephora offers flexible rewards to members

Sephora’s Beauty Insider program is enormous, boasting 25 million members and making up around 80% of annual revenues. Sephora is an excellent brand loyalty example because it combines point and tier memberships.

What makes Beauty Insider unique is the flexibility in how points are spent. Members not only get access to point rewards, but also discounts, savings on shipping, exclusive gifts and events, sample products, and more. Points can even be redeemed for more exclusive offers like limited edition products or personalized beauty consultations.

2. Starbucks makes its app central to customer loyalty

Starbucks was the first brand to make its app the home of a rewards program. Customers take advantage of the program by ordering and purchasing through the app, earning “Stars” in place of points to redeem for rewards.

The app is the go-to for members to order, pay, and redeem points for personalized rewards. 40% of Starbuck’s total sales come from the Rewards Program, with some same-store sales rising by as much as 7%.

Centralized loyalty purchasing through one channel gives the brand a goldmine of customer data. Popular menu items, popular locations, and customer lifetime value are all insights that help Starbucks improve its experience and offer more relevant rewards.

3. Cineplex expands SCENE rewards to combat slow cinema traffic

Canadian cinema chain Cineplex broadened its SCENE loyalty rewards to increase traffic during the pandemic. This is a fantastic example of how a dynamic brand loyalty rewards program can breathe life into a business during slow times.

SCENE points were originally collected to be used for free movie tickets. Now, the possibilities have spread to a growing network of stores for members to enjoy. SCENE expanding how members can redeem points means they can take advantage of savings at their favorite retailers even if they aren’t going to the cinema.

Just because most people weren’t going to the movies doesn’t mean their hard-earned points shouldn’t be put to good use.

4. Amazon Prime membership wins customers from the competition

Amazon is an e-commerce titan, but certainly not a monopoly. There’s plenty of competition from other giants like Walmart. Amazon maintains its edge through its Prime loyalty membership and the benefits that come with it.

Members pay a flat annual fee for exclusive perks, including free rapid shipping, discounts, Prime Video, music access, and more. As of 2019, around 65% of Amazon shoppers were Prime members, demonstrating the loyalty program’s enormous appeal.

Amazon leverages its robust fulfillment network and software infrastructure to deliver benefits to its loyal members. Smaller brands won’t have the same assets, but can apply a similar paid loyalty program at a smaller scale, provided the benefits deliver real value to their members — especially if that loyalty program offers better deals than competitors.

5. Costco highlights exclusive appeal as a selling point for members

Costco started as a wholesale distributor that eventually evolved to selling wholesale product volumes to shoppers in a warehouse-like setting. It has always used a paid loyalty model, using exclusivity to elevate the value of its brand.

Members pay an annual fee for the right to shop in-store and online at Costco locations worldwide. Executive membership entitles members to percentage rewards and exclusive deals. As of May of this year, Costco has 110 million paying members.

The original membership-only retail experience, Costco has maintained die-hard brand advocacy with its members since its beginnings. “The Costco story begins in 1976, when entrepreneur Sol Price introduced a groundbreaking retail concept in San Diego, California. Price Club was the world’s first membership warehouse club, a place where efficient buying and operating practices gave members access to unmatched savings.”

Brands can benefit immensely from similar paid loyalty programs — provided they offer value that members can’t resist.

6. The North Face delivers exciting lifestyle rewards

The North Face’s XPLR Pass brand loyalty program is a great example of appealing directly to a customers’ passion — in this case for the outdoors. Offering rewards specific to customers’ lifestyles creates a closer connection between the brand and its buyers.

Rewards are collected and given in ways that align with outdoorsy lifestyles and environmental protection. Members can earn rewards by checking in at iconic natural locations or using a reusable shopping bag, for example.

Points can not only be redeemed for discounts and products but also for the chance to “field test” products and for excursions like hiking trips and mountain climbing expeditions. This shows a deeper understanding of what North Face’s customers value, creating a stronger bond and driving loyalty.

Brand loyalty programs pave the way for brand advocacy

Customers who are satisfied with their loyalty rewards are twice as likely to recommend the brand to others. That advocacy is incredibly valuable, as it’s the point where the customer has evolved from just someone who buys from your brand to one who has joined it.

Brands that want to build a strong community and relationship with their customers should focus on delivering valuable and relevant rewards. Following in the footsteps of some of the most popular and creative examples of brand loyalty programs is sure to help.

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In 2018, Warby Parker began working with Warby Parker-wearing musicians, authors, chefs, and other creative individuals to showcase what its customers accomplish.

In addition to making sponsored posts, the influencers were featured on the brand’s Wearing Warby page, where customers could learn about the influencers, watch them try on various frames, and get product suggestions to help them create a similar look.

The campaign began with just seven influencers and resulted in more than 55,000 likes on Instagram and an average engagement rate of nearly 3.5%. It was such a success that the #WearingWarby campaign continues today.

Why was it so effective? Because it’s authentic and mutually beneficial for both Warby and influencers. The brand specifically reached out to influencers who were already fans of the brand and had made non-sponsored posts featuring its product. And it gave them the freedom to make their #WearingWarby posts using their own voice and aesthetic, so it fit organically into their feeds and appealed to their audiences.

8 ways to reach out to influencers

If your brand wants to follow Warby Parker’s example and launch a successful influencer campaign that’s truly a partnership, you first need to know how to reach out to influencers and make them an offer that piques their interest. Here’s how to do it

1. Follow them

When it comes to influencer outreach, it’s important to take the time to establish a relationship before making contact. Especially if this is the first time you’ve reached out to that influencer.

So, once you’ve identified the best influencers for your brand, follow them on the social network you’d like to work with them on. This shows that you’re a fan of their work, and it gives them a heads-up that their content has caught your brand’s eye. It’s also best practice to familiarize yourself with the influencer past collaborations, voice/tone, and to put yourself in the perspective of the audience. 

2. Engage with the influencer’s content

Start by liking your desired influencer’s posts and leave comments, especially on posts that caught your interest because they’re a good fit for your brand. This illustrates that you’re not only familiar with the influencer’s work but that you’re also a fan.

Influencer Nikiya Palombi, who has more than 9,000 Instagram followers, says it’s especially important to her that a brand leaves comments. “It shows that a brand actually took the time to look at my photography style and makes me feel like they are truly interested in what I bring to the table as a creator and not just mass emailing,” she says.

3. Contact them via email

Just because an influencer’s amazing Instagram content is the reason you want to work with them, it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s where you should contact them. If you want to reach out to influencers, do it properly. Ini Ikpe, the creator of SuitGrid, politely begs brands, “Don’t slide in my DM. Right now, I have about 35 messages I haven’t even looked at.”

“In the past when people have DM’d me, it doesn’t feel professional,” says Dan Whalen, whose food posts have amassed him more than 13,000 followers. “If I love a brand or concept for a partnership, I am happy to work with them no matter how they reach out, but emails have always been more professional and ended up in stronger relationships.”

Plus, if the influencer isn’t following your brand, your DM will end up in their “Request” inbox and may go unnoticed.

To find an influencer’s email address, check their Instagram bio or their website. If you can’t find contact information, comment on one of their posts and ask them to share their email address. Your DMs are not the place to discuss budget, usage or exclusivity. Influencers are running a business and email is the best place to get aligned on all aspects of a collaboration.

4. Craft a compelling subject line

Influencers, even micro-influencers, receive many inquiries.

So, make it easy for them to scan your subject line by mentioning your brand and “collaboration” in the headline, suggests Ikpe. These keywords help the influencer quickly understand the nature of your request, so they’re more likely to open the message and respond to it.

Additionally, the subject is a great place to disclose that this collaboration is a sponsored opportunity, which stands out to an influencer who might not be open to working on unpaid collaborations. 

5. Send a clear, enthusiastic message

Some brands may try to pique an influencer’s interest by holding back details, but this is a common frustration for influencers. After all, no one better knows how to reach out to influencers than influencers themselves. “I like brands that provide the details right away so I know what the whole offer is without having to ask questions or confirm things,” says Mikaela Heilman, who has over 10,000 followers.

While you don’t have to delve into all the details of the campaign in your initial message, be upfront about what you’re proposing. Explain if the campaign is paid, what you’re asking of the influencer, and what your timeline is. Make sure to specify the deliverables, the platforms you wish to collaborate on and what the goal of the project is. Also be sure to share overall messaging about your brand, or the brand you’re working on behalf of, along with the brand’s social channels so that they can explore independently and gauge their interest.

Your message should also communicate enthusiasm about your brand, the influencer’s content, and a potential partnership. Influencers want to participate in exciting collaborations, so the tone of your message should convey that this is an opportunity they don’t want to miss out on.

Influencers are like artists, so when you reach out to them, what you’re offering has to feel cool,” says David Dundas, founder of HelloConvo. “You have to craft a message that sells your brand, and you also need a clear call to action like, ‘Can we send you this product to try out?’ Make it easy for the influencer to say yes. Then you’ve already secured a micro-commitment.”

6. Share compensation details

When you initially reach out to your prospective influencers, be upfront about how your brand will provide compensation.

“Making it really clear if it’s a product exchange or paid is important in the first outreach,” says Anie Delgado, who has more than 39,000 Instagram followers.

While you can detail the exact amount you’ve budgeted for a sponsored post, for example, you don’t have to. Simply convey that the sponsorship will be paid and ask for the influencer’s rates or let them know that pay is negotiable.

And while money is important, it isn’t everything. The one thing every influencer we interviewed agreed on is this: The brand has to be a good fit.

“For me the ultimate decision comes down to the product and if the brand is inline with my personal values,” Palombi says.

7. Provide product samples without expectations

Offer to send an influencer free products to help them get acquainted with your brand and its offerings — and don’t ask them to post about it for free. Creating content requires an influencer’s time and work, and that’s an exchange of services that most will expect to be paid for.

“I hate when a brand reaches out to me and says something like, ‘We’ll give you X products, a code, and all you have to do is pay for shipping,’” says Palombi. “If you can’t pay for shipping, you’re not taking yourself seriously and you’re certainly not going to take my time seriously.”

If your brand wants to send your products to an influencer, do so with no expectations other than to introduce them to your company. Offer them a few product choices beforehand to show that you value their opinion. Plus, if it’s a product that already piques their interest, they’re likely to post about it.

“I usually like to look at the brand to see if we’ll actually use their products and if the brand resonates with us,” says Karen Nguyen, whose cat Waffles () has more than 9,000 Instagram followers. “We love brands that reach out to tell us that they want us to try their products and to browse through their site to see if there’s anything that we find interesting.”

The product sampling stage is crucial, as in this stage it’s important to give influencers an easy out. If an influencer finds through a product trial that this particular product isn’t the best fit for them, be understanding. For influencers and for the brand, it’s crucial to allow influencers to speak authentically. The influencer’s following is familiar with how they speak about and present a product they love — it’s obvious when an influencer is only working with a brand because of the compensation attached.

If an influencer doesn’t love a product, revisit their partnership for a different campaign and try to find an influencer who is a better fit.

8. Give influencers creative freedom

Influencers spend a lot of time and effort curating their own brand’s voice and look. So, it can really turn them off to have a company dictate exactly what to say.

Delgado says she appreciates it when a brand lets her express herself and her opinions in her own words. And she says her followers can definitely tell the difference between a caption she wrote herself and one meticulously crafted by a brand.

“If I am rambling off things the brand told me to say, my audience can tell it’s not as authentic,” she says.

And when a post doesn’t seem authentic to an influencer’s followers, it’s going to impact your partnership. For example, the post may get lower engagement and affect your overall ROI. In the worst case scenario, the influencer might face backlash from their followers. 

If you enter partnership with influencers, let them know the features and benefits of the product up front and then work together on a concept that allows the Influencer to breathe their own life into the content. Provide key information that an influencer may lean on, but do not provide a script.

Knowing how to reach out to influencers is key

The power of social media influencers is undeniable. In fact, 89% of marketers say the ROI from working with influencers is comparable to or better than other marketing channels.

But to get the best results out of your brand’s partnerships, you have to know how to reach out to influencers.

So, approach every influencer mindfully and thoughtfully, regardless of the size of their following. This will not only increase the chances that the influencer will accept your offer, but it’ll also set the tone for a mutually beneficial relationship.

Now that you know how to reach out to influencers and get a yes in return, it’s time to put strategy in action. The best way to get started is to tap into an existing community of influencers.

The Influenster App, an end-to-end influencer marketing platform of over 7.5 million members, can pair you with the exact influencer for your specific requirements. Read more about it here or get in touch directly below to learn more.

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A bow tie funnel is better suited to today’s e-commerce because your tactics for capturing customers shouldn’t stop once you close a deal.

According to Harvard Business School, we’ve known as far back as 2000 that restarting efforts to attract new customers can often be more expensive than retaining current customers. And loyal customers tend to spread the word about your business faster and farther than you can, for the same price on your own marketing efforts.

The bow tie funnel hijacks this phenomenon as a marketing and sales strategy, transforming the traditional sales funnel into a funnel honed for ongoing growth.

What is the bow tie funnel?

Salesforce describes the traditional sales funnel as an ideal pattern of consumer recruitment that resembles a water funnel. This funnel follows four stages of customer intake that narrows in a downward trajectory. The traditional stages cascading from the top of the funnel are:

1. Awareness
2. Interest
3. Desire
4. Action

With a wide net of lead generation at the beginning that gradually pares off potential customers until the final purchase at the end of the funnel. 

The bow tie funnel includes all the stages of the traditional funnel, but it continues on after the purchase to include efforts toward retention and encouraging future engagement. This marketing funnel is flipped horizontally, to create a visual of consistent growth.

After the purchase, the bow tie funnel adds on four stages of customer relationship development:

1. Adopter
2. Loyalist
3. Advocate
4. Ambassador

These stages strengthen the customer’s trust in the brand and lead the customers to eventually become surrogate salespeople. This is called consumer-to-consumer (C2C) marketing.

In an interview with Bryan Reynolds, Gary Malhotra, former VP of Marketing and Experience at TapClicks, says marketers should, “focus on one key metric, which is the company’s total revenue and the drivers that impact that.”

Using the bow tie funnel as a sales and marketing strategy allows marketers to track customer growth and measure the drivers that impact total revenue. Some data that can help inform these measurements are lookalike, clickstream, and attribution data, as Gary describes in a LinkedIn article.

Benefits of the bow tie funnel approach

The second half of the bow tie funnel, which focuses on brand trust, is the reason the bow tie funnel is so important. In a Winning by Design video about the SaaS sales methodology, Jacco van der Kooij explains that the majority of revenue in a Sales as a Science approach is made after the sale. This lines up with the right side of the bow tie funnel, which aims to enhance customer trust and retention.

Revenue is best secured when your company continues to keep its customers happy and loyal post-sale. As The Customer Experience Podcast explains, the best ways to keep positive customer sentiment and enhance their experience involve respect and kindness. Customers are people first and foremost, and their time and efforts should be honored.

Beyond providing a focus on keeping clients happy, the bow tie funnel provides one of the most important benefits needed for data collection: time. As Gary Malhotra points out, “the most valuable data is the hardest to get.”

Information gathering is key in maintaining both current customers and gaining new ones. It’s very difficult to notice patterns without fully understanding which experiences brought your specific customers to your brand.

The bow tie funnel follows the consumer throughout their entire customer journey, providing ample time to gather data. This data can be gathered by the sales and marketing teams working together as the customer passes through their areas of expertise. As Jacco van der Kooij goes on to explain, customers in the latter parts of the funnel are often taken care of by Customer Success and Account Management.

Clients can be asked to fill out surveys, asked follow-up questions in emails about their experience, and more. Their lifecycle as your customer can even be part of your own case studies.

How brands nurture customers throughout the bow tie funnel

For some models of the traditional sales funnel, the final stage is Nurture. The bow tie funnel expands on this stage — hard. At every point during the right half of the bow tie, the customer-brand relationship must be nurtured.

Here’s a more detailed look at customers at each of the last four phases of the bow tie funnel and how some brands market and sell to them.

Peacock welcomes customers at the Adopter stage

The first stage that post-purchase consumer retention focuses on is the Adopter stage. This customer has just made the decision to purchase your product or sign up for your service, and they need to be secured. This is a critical time to prevent buyer’s remorse, and it’s essential to make the client feel like they’re part of your brand’s group.

Peacock does this by sending new subscribers an email welcoming them to their “Flock.” Their copy emphasizes the benefits of using their service and parts of the email showcase free content that you can access on their website, such as “The Office.”

And this strategy works. As of 2021, Peacock had 24.5 million monthly active accounts. Out of those, roughly 9 million accounts pay an average of $10 per month per account.

Customers ultimately want to feel good about their choices. Anything you can do to usher them toward that feeling of “rightness” will help increase their loyalty. Consider sending them an email to welcome them or encourage them to share their purchase on social media. You might optimize their customer experience even more by personalizing your outreach. For big-ticket purchases, it’s a good idea to follow up with something tangible like a phone call or a letter.

Autodesk upsells customers during the Loyalist stage

The Loyalist stage is the second stage of the bow tie funnel. The customers in this stage are a major source of renewals and upsells for your business. They’ve been with you for a while, and the goal isn’t to sell them on your brand anymore. Instead, you need to convince them you can continue to make their life better. That starts with creating customizable packages they can choose between. One such way is by making a pricing/benefit tier with three or four options ranging in price and product use.

Autodesk, an architecture design software company, offers an easily accessible page of price tiers for Autodesk Build. The company offers options useful for small and large businesses, tagging the “most popular” option to help upsell customers on the lower tier. They also offer the option for monthly billing as opposed to annual, allowing customers greater optimization.

The results? In a recent news release, Autodesk announced its fiscal year 2022 fourth-quarter revenue peaked at $1.21 billion. According to president and CEO Andrew Anagnost, Autodesk’s work to ensure its customers receive high-quality service and an evolved experience has built “enduring partnerships and shared growth” for the company and its customer base.

We recommend inviting your customers to renew their service manually — which will give you a chance to upsell. For instance, you might require them to reselect their tier of service out of your pricing/benefit tier.

You can also cross-sell to this demographic. They may be solely interested in your current offerings, but increasing awareness of your related services might result in a new sale later.

SlushyCup rewards engagement at the Advocate stage

The Advocate customer is a client who has progressed past the Loyalist stage to promote your brand and create user-generated content (UGC) on your brand’s behalf. Try rewarding this group with incentives and benefits because their efforts help develop your reputation and encourage growth in your customer base. 

Additionally, Advocates are likely to expect and respond well to brand interaction on social media. They should also be given more personalized attention when they contact your business directly through email or phone. Maintaining your Advocate base is a good way to achieve that much-needed word of mouth to start generating referrals.

One brand that uses social media and rewards to encourage Advocate growth is SlushyCup. The brand makes short videos on TikTok showcasing its SlushyCups in use, as well as some funny (and awkward) customer interactions. When viewers share, follow, and comment on its videos, SlushyCup sends that viewer a free cup.

Currently, @getslushycup has over 602k followers, and its videos have accrued 4.9 million likes on TikTok. And its videos often gain more than 100 comments per video, most of them asking for a free cup. Its content is so viral that you might see one of its videos on YouTube Shorts at least once per hour.

As a brand, you want to come across as available and responsive. Replying to your Advocates encourages UGC, and it also improves your reputation for quick responses and quality service. Simple “thank you” messages for comments or sharing your Advocate’s posts on your company page can go a long way toward making your brand stand out.

United Airlines provides premium benefits at the Ambassador stage

Brand Ambassadors are the final stage of the bow tie funnel, where the funnel widens out the most. This is because they’re frequent customers who have bought fully into your brand and act as unpaid (or sometimes paid) promoters both in person and online. This group generates the most word-of-mouth referrals, and so they should be rewarded for their efforts.

United Airlines rewards its most loyal customers and brand ambassadors with deals on flights and, most notably, the option of a United Club lounge membership. These lounges are quiet, classy spaces away from the chaos of airport transit. The lounge at London Heathrow, for instance, is spacious with a beautifully designed bar to sit with a drink. 

While your business might not be an airline, you can replicate this approach by implementing other ways of recognizing your VIPs. Some ways to do this might be by giving them a shoutout on social media, access to secret or exclusive content, or the opportunity to participate as a VIP at your events. 

Put a bow on your marketing and sales

While the bow tie funnel is one of many sales and marketing strategies currently in use, it’s the most solid strategy for sustainable growth. If you’re not already using a growth-focused strategy, you may be losing money by putting too much focus on attraction and not enough on retention.

Here’s some things to consider when looking at a potential marketing methodology.

• How much churn are you dealing with in real time?
• What metrics are you able to gather and what metrics are you missing out on?
• How much does your brand spend per year on attracting new customers?

Growth marketing strategies like the bow tie funnel can provide you with higher-quality customer lifetime value over time alongside better opportunities to gather data. 

Taking advantage of your already existing customer base is a better investment than focusing entirely on recruitment — and it helps build your brand’s reputation. The bow tie funnel helps you glean customer insights, but that’s just the beginning.

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Masterclass: Thriving amidst funnel chaos: How to show up with the right content in the right place

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