Here are five surprising facts about Brand Advocates, those consumers who pro-actively recommend brands and products:

1.       Brand Advocates are a large segment. About one in four US online adults frequently recommend brands and products, according to a study published in eMarketer. That means there are about 60 million Brand Advocates in the US alone, enough Advocates to fill 1,200 baseball stadiums.

2.       Brand Advocates recommend often. On average, US consumers talk about brands 56 times per week and 62 percent of these conversations include positive references, according to Word of Mouth researchers Keller Fay.

3.       Brand Advocates aren’t limited to sexy consumer products. Box, a file transfer service used by consumers and businesses, has created an army of over 90,000 enthusiastic Advocates. Box Advocates are touting the service via thousands of positive reviews, stories, tweets, posts, and more.

4.       Brand Advocates are your most valuable customers. Brand Advocates are your true VIPs. They go out of their way to recommend your brand and products, serving as a volunteer marketing force. Our studies show that Advocates are about 5X more valuable than average customers.

5.       Brand Advocates recommend without pay or incentives. Real Brand Advocates don’t ask for cash coupons, points or perks. Advocates recommend because they’ve had a good experience with products or services and want to help others, according to a study conducted by Loyalty Wins for Zuberance. We’ve powered over 30 million Brand Advocates. None of these Advocates have ever benefitted personally from their recommendations.

WOM is the leading way customers find out about start-ups and small businesses, study after study has shown. Even search is now driven by Word of Mouth. (Google and other search engines optimize for user reviews, a form of WOM.)

Yet most companies aren’t fully harnessing the power of Word of Mouth.

Here are five ways to turn Word of Mouth into leads and sales now.

Identify WOM Champions or “Advocates.”
Ask your customers the “Ultimate Question” for loyalty: “On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our company or product to your friends?” Customers who respond 9 or 10 are Advocates. A simple survey can do the trick.

Encourage Advocates to rate and review your products.Seventy percent of consumers trust online reviews, Nielsen says. And 67% of consumers don’t buy after reading only one to three negative reviews, according to Lightspeed Research. Make it easy for Advocates to create and post online reviews by giving them online tools. Here’s an example of online reviews tool Webroot, a security software company, give to its Advocates.

Amplify Advocates.
Enable Advocates to rave about you on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and elsewhere by including social sharing widgets in content creation forms.

Monetize Advocates.
Give Advocates promotional offers they can share with their friends and colleague. Here’s a hint: give Advocates special offers to share instead of the same offers you give everyone.

Generate referral leads.
Make it easy for Advocates to generate referral leads and referral traffic to your website and landing pages by including links in the content and offers they share with their friends and colleagues.

Like any marketing program, WOM marketing takes time and effort. But compared to other marketing approaches, WOM marketing is inexpensive and effective. So get started now!

Content created by Advocates is highly trusted and influential. According to Nielsen, 92% of consumers trust peer recommendations. Only 53% trust content that you create and post on your website.

Here are five ways to turn your Advocates into a powerful content marketing engine:

1. Identify your Advocates. Ask your customers the “Ultimate Question” for loyalty: “On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our company or product to your friends?” Customers who respond 9 or 10 are Advocates.
2. Encourage Advocates to rate and review your products. Seventy percent of consumers trust online reviews, Nielsen says. And 67% of consumers don’t buy after reading only one to three negative reviews, according to Lightspeed Research. Make it easy for Advocates to create online reviews by giving them review applications.
3. Enable Advocates to create stories about their experiences with your company or products. Ask them to tell you about their “Kodak moment.” Stories bring your brand promise to life in a very authentic way. Here’s an example of a story created by an Advocate of Rubio’s Restaurants, a California-based fast casual eatery famous for its fantastic fish tacos.



4. Make it easy for Advocates to answer prospects’ questions. Advocate Answers application enables prospects to ask Advocates questions about why they purchased your products or services. A VOIP company has generated over 3,000 leads via Advocate Answers. These are highly-qualified leads – these are prospects who are taking time to ask questions, indicating strong purchase interest and intent.
5. Amplify Advocates. Enable Advocates to publish and/or share the content they’ve created on shopping sites, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and elsewhere by including social sharing widgets in content creation forms.

Creating content can be costly and time-consuming. Don’t overlook the most powerful weapon in your content marketing arsenal: your Brand Advocates!

Here are 10 ways to authentically reward Advocates:

1. Give Advocates sneak peeks at new products and services earlier than other customers. If your company is a consumer electronics manufacturer or a software firm, give Advocates first access to a new DVR or version of your graphics software.
2. Hold special events for Advocates only. If your company is a restaurant, hold a special event for Advocates where they get an exclusive preview of your new menu or meet your new executive chef. If you’re a retailer, hold a special Advocates only preview of a new store opening. Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill and Vertical Response, an e-mail service provider, are two companies that thank Advocates by inviting them to special events.
3. Provide Advocates with exclusive offers that they can share with their friends. Don’t give Advocates the same offers you give to all customers. Give Advocates unique offers that show that you recognize them as your true VIP’s. If your company is a hotel, give Advocates a weekend package for their friends only.
4. Give Advocates early access to exclusive content. This includes content like white papers and research studies. If you’re a biotech company, make sure your Advocates are the first to get a new research study.
5. Ask Advocates for their opinions. If you’re an apparel company and thinking about a new sportswear line, give Advocates the opportunity to voice their opinions about the line before others.
6. Give Advocates special access to company leaders. Starbucks gave one of its Advocates- “Starbucks Melody”- an opportunity to meet company founder, Howard Schultz. Can you imagine how thrilled Virgin America Advocates would be to meet Sir Richard Branson? Even if you don’t have a rock star CEO, giving Advocates the opportunity to have direct dialogue with senior leaders of your company can make them feel special.
7. Give contributions to nonprofit causes on behalf of Advocates. One of the best ways to reward Brand Advocates is to make cash and/or in-kind contributions to deserving nonprofit organizations on behalf of your Advocates. This approach motivates Advocates, boosts your corporate image and reputation, and serves a useful social purpose.
8. Honor your Advocates. Webroot has started recognizing its Advocates with its Webroot “Advocate of the Week” program. This is yet another great way to encourage advocacy without paying for it.
9. Let them know that their recommendations matter. One of the best ways to recognize Advocates is making sure they know their advocacy is working. Awhile back, one of my colleagues recommended someone they knew for a position at our company, Zuberance. They were delighted when I sent them an email thanking them for the recommendation and letting them know that the person was doing a great job. You can do the same thing systematically online by showing Advocates which of their friends they’ve recommended are also now customers and Advocates themselves!

10. Give Advocates VIP levels of service. If your company is a hotel or a resort, you may provide Advocates with a town car or limousine while they stay at your property or a personal VIP guide. If your company is a software provider, offer Advocates a special help desk for VIP customers only.

Letting your Advocates know that you recognize their contribution is the best reward imaginable. A simply thank you note or email from the CEO of your company goes a long way with Advocates.

1. Provide an “insanely great product.”

This was one of Steve Jobs’ famous statements. Very few people go out of their way to advocate mediocre products or services. Advocacy starts with having a product or service people are eager to recommend.

2. Deliver memorable service.

In an era when so many products and services are similar, service is the great differentiator. Nordstrom, Zappo’s, and Four Seasons hotels are examples of companies that created legions of Advocates by providing extraordinary service.

3. Focus on good profits.

As loyalty guru Fred Reichheld has stated, there’s a difference between good profits and bad profits. Bad profits include earnings from price gouging, cutbacks on customer service, and hidden charges.

4. Do the right thing, even when it costs you money.

It’s easy for companies to do the right thing when it doesn’t cost extra. But when doing the right thing costs companies money, many firms take the low road. For example, if allowing a customer to return a lemon costs you money, do it anyway. It’s much better to do this than create a Detractor. If your company has screwed up, admit your mistake and fix it as fast as possible. In the same media age, a handful of disgruntled customers can harm your company or brand’s cherished reputation.

5. Have a social conscience, or get one fast.

People are more likely to recommend companies and brands that have a social conscience. When it was revealed that Nike was paying low wages to workers, its Advocates abandoned the brand. Take a social stand on issues or give back to your communities. Brands like The Body Shop earn advocacy in these ways.

Now here’s the shocking way to create more Advocates: Fire your Detractors. The old saying “You can’t please all of the people all of the time” is really true.

Your company may be serving the wrong customers. They may not be well suited for your products or services. They may need more hand-holding than you’re willing or able to give them. They may be too high-maintenance, too demanding, or too cheap.

In these cases, the best approach may be to part ways. Breaking up may be hard to do, but when it comes to Detractors, it may be best for all parties involved.

Excerpted with permission of the publisher John Wiley & Sons, Inc. from Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force by Rob Fuggetta.  Copyright (c) 2012 by Zuberance, Inc. This book is available at all bookstores and online booksellers.