Gnarly Notes – Social Advocacy

Why would anyone want to advocate your business? Great products? Good service?

However one-eyed you are about your business, there are still better products out there – better in other ways; better in their particular appeal to a particular section of the community.

Ford? Or Holden? People owning/supporting one or the other will tell of their devotion to the brand, the pleasure they get out their vehicles; their die-hard, probably generations-long advocacy. They can talk up a fest on their understanding of the marques, their benefits and successes; even their antagonism towards the other.

How do they get to such a stage? And how can you get such-like advocates for your business?

First the definition of an advocate - a person who speaks or writes in support or defence of a person, cause, etc. (usually followed by of): an advocate of peace. 3. a person who pleads for or in behalf of another; intercessor.

And let’s keep one thing clear – we are talking advocates here, not just satisfied customers. Maybe delighted customers, but not satisfied customers. Let’s face it, every business aims for customer satisfaction (you can’t survive without it), and satisfied customers are many. In fact, customers are so satisfied so much of the time, why would they bother even to recommend your business knowing they will get that level of service time and again.

Advocacy, then, for social media at least, is active support of your brand and/or business. And you can’t get them without first telling them about yourself.

The question to ask – are you? Have you told people how you got here? What it took to get here? What drives you? The philosophy behind your brand? Most importantly, are you taking your customers along with you in your journey?

It is great to come up with a vision statement and a mission statement and park it on your website. Those who come there (few do nowadays given they choose to go directly to relevant webpages through search engines) will probably take a quick glance at those statements (if they come across it). There is no real engagement between a visitor on your site and your business philosophy. They were probably there for something else anyway, maybe even to buy something.

Maybe you use the vision and mission statements to guide and motivate your staff. Maybe they ascribe to it. Maybe not.

Your vision, your mission (if you choose to accept it), could probably be the best bet when it comes to promoting you, promoting your business and promoting your wares.

Your philosophy in action
What do you do in the community? How involved are you? How do you tell the story of your involvement?

Most larger businesses get involved in their communities, and plug the hell out of their involvement. Some accept this plugging of an organisation’s community service as part of doing business. The giving back to the community works for most businesses but things are getting a bit jaded of late. Seems everyone is on the ball for this and the marketing sections have several tried and true concepts that they rehash time and again. Just to get that publicity. It all comes with that iota of cynicism – even the best social conscience campaigns will have its jaundiced views because it is aligned with a brand.
Advocacy, on the other hand, is like the Ford or Holden owner. They have a particular view too, jaundiced as well, that what they own is better for them than what is out there. The mystique of the Ford and Holden brands was developed over a long time, backed by consistent success stories and a very open rivalry between the two to offer the ‘best’ for their customers.

Remember Gillette? Everyone does, and continues to do so. That is a brand mystique that the company have exploited to the max. Most of us don’t have that kind of history to fall back to when it comes to building advocacy.

But you can start making history now.

Start by telling your story, telling of your trials, your tribulations, your overcoming them and, most importantly, your success. These success stories are not about your bottom line, your profits but about your organisation as an organism – a living, breathing thing. So, make it personal. “Nothing personal” is out of the window. Make everything personal – on social media.

And tell your story the right way. Each story is built on something before, something defining, something tenuous, something tremendous. Just don't let Marketing get too creative with it.

Your advocates need to buy into your story. So don’t make it a sob story, not even the slightest hint. It is not pity you want from your advocates but their firm determination that what you are doing is right – for them, the community, for anyone you touch.

Now now – those with vested interest in what you do will be your first advocates. Discount the first believers. They put forward a different and somewhat skewered picture, of how well you are liked, how good you are, and everything you are doing is great. Emperor's new clothes and all. Your job is to make advocates out of people made of sterner stuff.

So, go after those who appear to have a bone to pick with you. Target them – not with pleasantries but with hard information that they can’t dispute and offers they can’t refuse. You are now turning that segment that had little interest in you into actually become customers, delighted customers willing to jump to your defence,  to speak or write in your favour, your champions.

And I am not talking about journalists, although they can be intermittent advocates of your brand before they jump to something else. I am talking about citizens out there who now have access to platforms in which they can easily, and very quickly, pass judgement on anything they CHOOSE to. These are the citizen journalists – with the power of either hurting or helping with the posts they put out.

But before all this, you have to set up the channels to tell your story. And then invite people on to it to engage with you. Without this engagement, you cannot even think of advocacy.

Next topic – Engagement

Gnarly Notes