It’s one thing to have customers, and loyal customers, at that. But, what does it take to turn a customer into a “Brand Advocate”. This type of person is someone who will tell others about your brand with passion. In fact, they will most likely tell the world through the use of Social Media. There are three key components that need to be considered to transform customers into Brand Advocates:
Company Culture
Engagement
Exceptional Experience
Company culture is the foremost ingredient to this transformation. Each individual needs to be engaged with the company and need to have brought into its vision for success. It is likely that a customer will encounter more than one person within your company, all of these people must be empowered to represent your brand in a positive and consistent way. They need to be able to demonstrate the values of your company throughout all customer interactions.
Employees need to be empowered to engage with customers/prospects through the use of Social Media. You trust them on the telephone, so why not trust them with social media? Okay, the telephone is mostly one to one communication whereas, social media is one to world communication. Guidelines need to be established so that employees know what the boundaries are and can feel comfortable operating within them.
Strategies need to be put in place to create Exceptional Experiences. Do you understand the buying process for a customer? The process may begin through a response to a tweet or a visit to your website. What is the experience of the customer? I can hear some readers thinking, our website is great, it has excellent graphics, it is easy to navigate etc …..etc. But, you need a website which is interactive, this could be the first point of customer engagement, you need to make sure that customers are able to engage no matter where they find themselves in the buying process. The experience that they have online needs to be consistent with face to face interaction with your staff.
In the following video, I talk about an experience I had with a mens clothing shop by the name of “Munn’s, the mans store”. They replaced a suit which I had for over a year. It began to change colour and therefore they provided me with a brand new suit. This was an exceptional experience which had not involvement of any online technology. However, I blogged about the experience and to this day I see people have been searching google and have stumbled upon it. Each time someone sees my independent, yet novice review, they will gain social trust and are likely to be willing to give the store a go.
The top 10 things you never want to do with Social Media – avoid like the plague
Mon, Apr 30th 2012 3:11a Vaughan Rivett You’ve heard it said before, what you put on the web, stays forever! But how many people really heed this sort of advice? I have been trolling through the internet in my research for the top 10 things that you NEVER want to do with Social Media. I bet you’re already doing some of these things.
1. Don’t use text speak or other unnatural conversation
I’m sorry, but text speak makes you look dumb. If people cannot work out what you’re saying without too much ef [read] Keywords: applications
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Insider tip: It’s not social if your the’re not talking about you
Sat, Apr 28th 2012 10:24p Vaughan Rivett Let’s not forget, by nature people are social. Generally speaking, this is part of the human DNA. In turn this means that people are sharing. They like to share what they’ve been doing, their opinions and their thoughts. Not only that but they also like to be heard.
Have you ever stopped to think about what people are saying about your brand? Now, I know a number of you will be thinking about the results of your last customer survey. You know the one I mean, the one wher [read] Keywords: apple
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Business Gets Social – Roadshow – Coming to New Zealand
Mon, Apr 23rd 2012 4:44p Vaughan Rivett IT directors, managers and technical professionals can get the tools, tips and tricks needed to implement and use IBM’s industry-leading social, mobile and cloud solutions to build a nimble, innovative culture… enable collaboration between distributed teams… and beyond.
Attend this event and receive a technical update from the local IBM® experts on the recent Lotusphere® 2012 event held in Orlando USA. The event includes key updates and demonstrations on the latest social collab [read] Keywords: collaboration
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Turning customers into Brand Advocates
Mon, Apr 23rd 2012 3:11a Vaughan Rivett It’s one thing to have customers, and loyal customers, at that. But, what does it take to turn a customer into a “Brand Advocate”. This type of person is someone who will tell others about your brand with passion. In fact, they will most likely tell the world through the use of Social Media. There are three key components that need to be considered to transform customers into Brand Advocates:
Company Culture
Engagement
Exceptional Experience
Company culture is the for [read] Keywords: facebook
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I really don’t think you understand who I am – I am Social
Thu, Apr 19th 2012 2:44p Vaughan Rivett The other day I went to the supermarket to pick up a few food items (how many blog posts have I written lately which involve food?). I found a product which I liked the look of and saw that it had been reduced from $8.00 to about $5.00. As a result I decided to take two while taking advantage of the offer.
I went to the counter to pay for the goods expecting a total of $10.00. However, the cashier said that it came to $16.00. I questioned this and pointed out that there was a “Red-la [read] Keywords: facebook
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Forecourt attendant ‘gets’ social business
Wed, Apr 18th 2012 2:36p Vaughan Rivett Today I visited a petrol station to put fuel into my somewhat thirsty car. It was the Sommerville station here in Aucland, New Zealand. I did the normal thing and filled up my tank and went to pay for the fuel before leaving. I was wearing a polo shirt with the slogan “Get Social. Do Business” printed on it.
The service station attendant read the slogan aloud and smiled. He looked at me and said “You can’t do business if you’re not social”. I doubt t [read] Keywords: facebook
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Ever made “Social” eggs? – A how to guide to using videos for Social Business
Mon, Apr 16th 2012 3:00a Vaughan Rivett Have you ever heard how to cook a “Social” egg? Now I know that this has got you thinking, sounds a bit crazy maybe? Lately, I have been a home, by myself, with my wife and kids overseas (except for one). During this time I’ve had to cook my own meals. Past history would suggest that I should not be in the kitchen, in-fact, my wife usually sends me out to the BBQ to cook.
I decided that I would be adventurous and learn to cook a poached egg. I got out my iPad and sea [read] Keywords: blogging
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Reducing staff attrition rates through connected and engaged employees
Sun, Apr 8th 2012 10:40p Vaughan Rivett I’ve been reading a blog which is written by Flora, who has recently taken on a role as a Human Resources Adviser at a woman’s clothing chain, with stores all around New Zealand, Funky Town. Last Wednesday, she published a blog article entitled “Too much turnover“. She outlined some of the issues she faced with a turnover rate of up to 40%. A lot of this being driven by the use of casual and part time staff.
I’m not sure that this percentage can be looked at b [read] Keywords: facebook
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