Socialize B2B Customer Advocacy

I received a request to publicize a webinar this week from a company I'd not heard of before.  Their name is Zuberance. The email content interested me, so I went to check them out. Zuberance is in the business of helping companies mobilize customer advocacy programs.

That interested me. It sounded, at first, like something that was more suited to B2C, but the ideas started spinning. So I attended the webinar to find out more, and now I'm full of ideas about how B2B marketers can expand their reach through more effective engagement programs that inspire customers to include your company in their conversations.

But, before we get to that, here's a few things that might surprise you:

• 84% of buyers are influenced by word of mouth [WOM] - Forrester Research
  
• A study by Keller Fay found that executives have 118 WOM conversations a week [EVERY WEEK]
• That same study learned executives mention brands in conversation 102X per week.
• It's estimated that 40% of your customers are advocates - Zuberance research with B2B & B2C companies
  

So what's an advocate?

An advocate is a customer who goes out of their way to recommend your company's offerings.

The interesting thing to note is that advocates may not be your biggest spenders.

Another thing to note is that 1 in 5 of your customers are detractors. Even though they're still your customers. Seems like that's something companies should work on fixing, but that's another post.

How do you know who your advocates are?

According to Zuberance, you ask them this one question:
How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?

Those who score 9 - 10 are potential advocates.

You may be sitting there saying, yeah, well, we only have 100 customers, so how much can this be worth? Well, it's not the number of companies you have, it's the number of people within the companies. This can mean buyers, influencers, end users and other employees who's jobs have been positively impacted by your products or solutions.

You can see the multiplier implications on advocacy, right? And, out of that group, Zuberance says 25% of these advocates will become active. That means they'll recommend you to their network.

The trick is that once you identify your advocates, you need to mobilize them. That's what the Zuberance hosted platform enables. Plus, they track all the activity so you have visibility to the results of their influence. [think lead generation]

The platform enables advocates to post their content/recommendations to social networks and via direct emails and I'm sure lots of places they didn't cover in the webinar. Which is where the socialize part comes in. Think about the exposure and reach you'll gain within every active advocate's network.

Here's an example of a company's experience using Zuberance.

• They identified and activated 5,600 advocates.
• 59% of those advocates created content (recommendations).
• 48% sent offers (think "see this exclusive content" or "you should attend this webinar" type referrals for B2B)

And the results?

• 2,250 new leads generated
• 112 deals won
• $5.6M in additional revenue

Anyone not need that?

As a disclaimer, I have no further experience with this company, but I do have to say that this is compelling enough to start thinking about. Oh, and for those of you who say the B2B buyers aren't out socializing - consider that Forrester Research found 91% of tech buyers they interviewed were Spectators and 58% were Critics.

What's your take on this concept?

Comments

[Rob]

Are B2B buyers using Social Media primarily for personal or for business purposes? The results of Forrester's research into this question are startling: 69% of B2B buyers who are "Spectators" (they read blogs, listen to podcasts, read online forums) said they were use Social Media for business purposes. Source: "The Social Technographics of Business Buyers," Feb. 20, 2009.) As Josh Bernoff of Forrester says: "If you're a B2B marketer and you're not using social technologies in your marketing, it means you're late."

[SEO COMPANY - (nasirhuq)]

Looking very well but posts are most exclusive.....

[Nicolette Wuring]

Customer Advocacy starts with creating customer advocates. Is Customer Advocacy the next trick in the marketing book? Whether operating in a B2B or a B2C environment, it requires companies to genuinely CARE, about their customers, their employees, especially those servicing customers and to genuinely CARE about their impact in and on society and their environment in general. Customers (employees and society in general) understand that companies are in business to make money. But... in today's saturated marketplaces with commoditized products and services customers have such an abundance of choice, that their preferance is shifting more & more towards those companies that genuinely care, about them as 'human beings' and about society in general. Companies need leaders who take, and create space for, responsibility for a broader concept of CARE than just the profitability of their company. Profit is the reward of a customer who feels genuinely cared for and who feels that a company genuinely cares for all stakeholders, not just shareholders. The likelihood of a customer recommending you to a friend or colleague doesn't depend on the quality of your products and services ('product leadership') or efficiency ('operational excellence'), these are just qualifiers to be a player at all. It depends on the genuine CARE you show them, as human beings, and all stakeholders. On the way you make people feel as a result of doing business with your company. The better your company makes them feel, the more likely they will be to recommend your company.

"When You Care, People Notice."