Junior High 101: The Why and How of Popularity and Brand Advocacy

photo via: Flickr.com

The opportunity for a brand to connect with an audience on an emotional level is more alive now than ever in the world of marketing. Through social media, a brand has a personality. There's the brand voice in messaging and the visual representation in images and video. More impactful, is the ability to take advantage of a brand's popularity to make a connection and share an experience to propel brand advocacy.

How does Brand Advocacy work?

1. Junior High 101: Popularity.

Everyone wants to be popular. Using social media listening tools, you can easily see who talks about your brand favorably and shares your content the most. For whatever reason, these people are attracted to what you have to offer, whether it be a product or a service or maybe they just feel your brand says a lot about who they are or aspire to be.

2. Junior High 101: Sleepovers.

You are the cool kid and they want to be seen with you. Having a Facebook page with comments, shares, and posts are nice but they do not create unique memorable experiences. Spending quality time with your top brand advocates is the best way to get to know them and strengthen the connection between them and your brand. This can be done online via Twitter chats and Google Hangouts. Offline it can be done by VIP events or at industry conferences.

3. Junior High 101: BFF's 4-ever!

Someone that likes you will like you even more after spending some quality time getting to know you and relating to your values. That is the sweet spot of having a loyal customer for the life. Once invested in the success of your brand, these advocates will passionately share your greatness with more people like them and it multiplies from there.

Here's my "Social" Proof: I know for a fact that Brand Advocacy works. Here's an example from my own experience to demonstrate:

I followed NASA on social media because I like space and am interested in what's going on. NASA announced via @NASASocial that there's an exclusive event coming up for their social media followers. I applied and was selected! (Yay Me!) 

I visited NASA Marshall Space Center and toured where they have Space Camp. It was a great experience and I ended up following many more of NASA's social media channels as a result, in addition to sharing my experience with my social media following as it happened. I had lots of interactions with my friends who followed my two days at NASA and they became fans as a result of my passion and excitement.

I feel more connected to NASA than ever and find myself sharing more and more about what they are doing. I am following and interacting a lot more with NASA on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube. It is because this brand intercepted with my life. It made a connection and positive impression. It stands out from the clutter.

I am a NASA brand advocate for life and will continue to talk, blog, and tweet about NASA because I am invested in its mission. I understand and relate to its values. And I think it makes me a cool #spacegirl!