A superfan is defined as someone who is extremely passionate about an activity, entity, celebrity, band, TV show or brand, which makes them the holy grail of advocacy.
Superfans often go above and beyond by showing unwavering loyalty and commitment to the brand by collecting swag, engaging in social media discussions, attending events and supporting the brand in a variety of ways. These are your people! They are happy to promote and share their enthusiasm for the brand with others and this makes them the ideal advocate.
If you have been looking for advocates, your superfans are the perfect place to start. But how do you turn customers who are superfans of your brand into advocates that can help drive business growth? Here are some proven tips on how to find, nurture and activate your superfans turning them into your best advocates.
How to Find Your Superfans
So you’re starting an advocacy program and you’re wondering where to start. You need that all important first advocate or small group of advocates who can help you kick start your program. Here are tried and tested methods to find your superfans:
Look at your NPS data: Typically customers who rate you as an NPS of 8 or higher are happy customers who can be nurtured to become advocates. You never know - they might already be advocating for your brand.
Tap into your customer community: Customer communities are often places where passionate customers go to talk about all things related to your company and product. This is a great place to find your fans and nurture them to become advocates.
Align with your customer facing team members: Your customer facing teams like sales, customer success and support are having conversations with customers on a regular basis. Align with these teams to help find out who your fans and potential advocates are. These teams are busy so show them how you can offer value. Rather than speaking to them about your goals, talk to them about how advocacy can achieve their goals.
Talk to your social team: Often social team members end up chatting with customers regularly. Have they come in contact with customers who could be potential fans or advocates? Show them how advocates can help them share their social content at scale and they’ll be happy to help you.
Leverage the existing tools to recruit advocates: There are so many tools available that can help you recruit fans and nurture them to become raving advocates. You could look at leveraging tools like:
- Pendo
- Paid social
- Customer newsletter
- Targeted web banners
- Chat bots
Where possible, target your promoters, heavy product users or most responsive customers using these tools and engage them in a variety of channels.
You’ve found your superfans, now what?
OK, so you’ve tracked down a list of superfans with the potential to become advocates. Now what? Well, it’s time to really hone in on your strategy and start bringing it to life. Here are some of my best tips for working effectively with your advocates.
Reciprocal Relationships Rule
Advocacy programs are a two way street. Too often we think about how our advocates can help us but it’s equally important to reflect upon how we can help them.
Here are some things to consider:
- Are there ways that we can help our potential advocates succeed in their own goals?
- Why would they advocate for your brand?
- Are there any exclusive perks that we can offer?
- How can we thank customers for helping with brand activities?
- Are there things that we can do to create moments that matter?
As an advocate marketer, my number one goal is to see my customers succeed, get promoted and achieve their goals both personally and professionally. I work that goal into all my strategies.
Remember, a thank you can go a long way even if it’s not attached to an incentive. We all like to be thanked and appreciated!
Think Like a Customer
When you are ready to start approaching superfans about becoming advocates you need to adopt an advocacy mindset. When in doubt, put yourself in your customers shoes. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- What does it feel like to interact with your brand, your program manager, and key members of your team?
- What are your customers’ goals, motivations and expectations from the program? Why would they want to advocate for your brand?
- What’s in it for them?
Advocacy programs at their core should revolve around your customer.
Ask for Feedback, Often
That leads me to my next point… ask for feedback. At the end of the day, advocate programs should be for your brand and your customers. Ask them what they love about the brand. What might make them want to advocate for your brand and engage in the program? Why not? What’s motivating them and what’s something they don’t want to see in the program? Getting real customer feedback will help you fine tune your program and set it up for success. Get feedback from a variety of customers, including:
- An advocate who loves your brand
- Hug your haters: if you can talk to a customer who might not be a fan. What would make them a fan? Why aren’t they necessarily a superfan or advocate?
- A superfan who has the potential to become an advocate
Hug Your Haters
Not all customers are going to be advocates or superfans all the time and that’s okay. But how can you take those customers who feel disgruntled about your brand and turn them into superfans and advocates? I’ve done this by:
- Going above and beyond to solve a customer’s problem
- Genuinely listening to concerns that customers may have at the moment and doing something about that.
I’ve used these steps to find, nurture and activate advocates at four different organizations providing immense value to both the company and their customers. I would love to hear the tips that you have, let’s connect. What’s worked and what hasn’t? Let’s turn those advocates into raving fans! After all, the power of advocacy is building those superfans who are ready, willing and able to help you close deals, and ultimately rave about your products and company. Need help building your advocacy program roadmap? We can help!
