The best performing video on the TOMS Youtube channel has almost 4 million views — and it was never even promoted by the brand. These factors are what contributed to its huge success:
- It connected to the emotions of people
- It conveyed a sense of purpose
- It told a simple story
- It inspired others
It was these themes that have been a common thread throughout many of the sessions I’ve been lucky enough to see here at SXSW, and themes that were driven home hard in this inspiring presentation by TOMS Chief Digital Officer, Zita Cassizzi entitled Raving Fans: How Social Impact Activates Customers.
Cassizzi continued on to focus on the critical importance of transitioning from simply having customers to creating true brand advocates. She put it perfectly when she said that “customers are just transactions, you need to build advocates.” Brands need to figure out how to get that “best friend” relationship with their customers, inspire them and in doing so, will co-create to build the brand promise and image. Our friends over at Verb (@GoVerbWorld) were big contributors over twitter during the conversation.
Here are to top takeaways from her session:
Build an Advocate Community
Connect your advocates to one another. Make them feel like they’re part of something, contributing to something and share that common thread with the other members of the brand community. Do this through campaigns that invite them to take part and that gives them a sense of belonging. A great example was the #travelingTOMS campaign where their customers and advocates would post pictures in TOMS shoes, or of the TOMS flag in different places around the world. It became wildly popular, and you can check it out to see some of the great engagement.
This tweet by Christianna Giordano (@christiannag) captured it well
Communicate Authentically
Authenticity is what will build trust with your customers and when you have trust, you have the foundation for the intimate relationship required for true advocacy. Here are some points to help brands do this well:
- Brand tone: Work the right brand tone that will resonate with your people into your communication strategy.
- Listen then talk: Communication is a two way street and it’s important to proactively listen to your customers’ voices and react appropriately with content that will delight them.
- Be transparent: Don’t be afraid to recognize your fails. It’s important to own who you are and that even means owning your screw ups. People will respect you for it and appreciate the sincerity.
- Be relevant: You must really know your audience. Know that drives them, what they care about, what inspires them, what incites passion, and then serve them content that will address their needs and nurture those emotions and aspirations.
Bridge the Digital and Physical Worlds
This was another key component that people often either overlook or disregard. In order for your community of advocates to thrive, they have to connect, and connecting isn’t always over social media. These connections need to be made in person as well and brands from NASA to TOMS are doing this and reaping huge benefits from the resulting advocacy. It can be in the form of a store opening, an exclusive event, or even an informal meetup, but the more you can foster face-to-face, offline interactions for your advocates, the more you’ll see them partnering and co-creating with your brand and teaming with you on broadcasting the brand message and promise.