Determining the True Value of Brand Advocates in Communities-Insights from Community (re)Focus, 2022

Today, staying connected with your customer base has become more convenient than traditional marketing methods.

Long before inbound became the 101 of marketing, word-of-mouth marketing was crucial in creating brand recognition and boosting business growth. While customer recommendations continue to be the centerpiece for making purchase decisions, the growth of user-generated content plays a crucial role as well.

When consumers love your products or services and see value in their investment, they’ll spread the word. This is why branded online communities are becoming more common. They are an excellent medium to promote brand advocacy, support information exchanges between consumers, and provide real-time feedback to the brand.

We invited some of the best community minds in the business to talk about ‘Determining the True Value of Brand Advocates in Online Communities’ at our Virtual conference-Community (re)Focus, 2022.

Our distinguished speakers were:

• Neha Agarwal-Community Consultant, Ex-Quora
• John Summers-Founder, Comunify

Identifying Your Community Super Fans

Kicking off the session, John explained that ‘power users’ have evolved since the inception of the web. And when it comes to online communities, they are the most loyal users of your services and products.

Adding to this, Neha explained that there is no right or wrong way to identify your community’s superusers. Every online community is unique, and every brand has to figure out the best suitable way to identify their community champions. Brands should not shy away from experimenting, and they should continue to pivot, she added.

John mentioned that identifying your community superusers is all about finding those people that embody your brand’s beliefs and values. Supporting this, Neha mentioned that brands should prioritize those community members who invest time and effort in making the community an engaging space. It’s one way to grow your community and make it thrive.

Motivating Your Community Advocates

Neha explained that one key point that most brands ignore is asking community members about what actually motivates them to contribute.

This way, brands can decode the needs and preferences of its community users and serve them better. Brands can then utilize this information to provide intrinsic or extrinsic rewards to the users.

John mentioned that community is a huge tool that a brand of any size and shape can use to find its advocates. It’s all about building a humanized relationship with your users. Neha further added that conducting focus group discussions with your internal teams is also a great way to create robust community advocacy programs.

Summing up the session, John mentioned that it is crucial to increase purchase intention within communities for advocacy. He stated that while there is a delicate balance between sales and communities, people are influenced by recommendations. Neha added that it’s indeed the perfect opportunity for brands to garner the attention of its customers and serve them what they need.

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