Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force

Chapter 18

Energizing: The Power of Advocate Stories

Another great way to energize your Advocates is to invite them to create stories.

Stories are brief written or video statements where Advocates talk about how your company, brands, or products are making their lives better, easier, or more productive.

Advocates' stories are powerful because they're real. They help you build credibility, generate referral leads, and accelerate sales.

Buick, a brand on the comeback trail, wants consumers to shift the way people think about luxury—and about Buick. So Buick is getting its Advocates to write and share stories about why they love their Buicks. In only a few weeks, Buick Advocates have written over 1,600 love letters and 16 percent of Advocates have shared them on Facebook (see Figure 18.1).

Figure 18.1 Buick Facebook Page

Source: Buick.

Different from Reviews

Advocate stories differ from Advocate reviews in three ways:

1. Advocate stories are typically about Advocates' experiences with your company or brand versus with a particular product.

2. Since Advocate stories focus on company or brand rather than specific products or services, they typically do not include star ratings as reviews do.

3. Advocate stories are often more personal and emotional than reviews. They often focus on Advocates' feelings rather than product features and benefits.

Advocates Love Telling Stories

When you ...