Boost Brand Advocates and Social Media Influencers

With Extole's help, the company started a refer-a-friend program that rewarded both customers and their friends with free access to Netflix for one month if a customer's friend purchased a Roku box and subscription through a referral link. At the same time, Roku created a blog and Facebook and Twitter pages to further amplify customers' discussions about the company's products. "Forty percent of our new customers are from word-of-mouth [recommendations]," Kennedy says. "What we discovered after launching the referral program was that it was important to provide people with a place where they can also talk about our brand, so we made sure we had those channels in place."

The referral program's reward, which was first introduced four years ago, has since been changed to an Amazon Instant Video rental and continues to be a success, according to Kennedy, who notes that one customer has claimed more than 35 referrals. Noting that not all customers are motivated by tangible rewards, like free rentals, Roku is developing other ways of rewarding its customers for promoting its products.

"Some of our customers want to share news about our brand simply because they're tech evangelists, but aren't as interested in receiving free stuff," Kennedy maintains. In response, the company created an exclusive group that consists of its top advocates, who frequently share information about Roku and help drive online traffic. These advocates are invited to the company's headquarters to provide feedback on new products.

With Extole, Roku is also adding social plug-ins via Facebook's Open Graph, which allow consumers to add digital buttons to their timeline with messages like "I recommend Roku," "I'm a believer," "I love Roku," and so on whenever they make a purchase from Roku. Customers may also receive an online coupon that they can share with their friends on Facebook.

Kennedy says he is continuing to look for other ways to draw attention to the company's brand. The key part of creating a successful advocacy program, he insists, is looking for more ways to improve it. "We're not convinced we've cracked the nut yet on social advocacy," Kennedy notes. "We're still tweaking our programs. We're always refining things and making sure it's the right approach for our customers."

Stay in Touch

A common mistake that companies make in their word-of-mouth strategies, Fuggetta observes, is failing to engage advocates consistently. "Word-of-mouth marketing is not a one-time event," Fuggetta says. "It should be part of your ongoing marketing mix."

According to Zuberance's research, advocates are generally willing to recommend products or services of companies that they like nearly half a dozen times every 12 months. This includes writing a review or a testimonial, answering prospective customers' questions, and sharing discount offers with friends. Keeping that in mind, marketers should look for ways to touch base with customers throughout the year without hounding them. The same can be true when reaching out to influencers.

"Getting someone to write one positive review is like a one-night stand, and that's not enough," Fuggetta argues. "Advocacy should be an ongoing affair, or a marriage between you and your advocates."

Tools for Finding Influencers and Advocates

Klout assigns social media users a score based on several data points, like job title, number of Twitter followers, and Facebook friends, to identify influencers.

Kred provides two social media user scores: influence (a person's ability to reach out to others) and outreach (how frequently you retweet or reply in return).

Net Promoter Score by Satmetrix categorizes customers as Promoters, Passives, or Detractors based on their response to the question "How likely is it that you would recommend [company name] to a friend or colleague?"

Tellagence analyzes the strength of users' relationships with other key social media players to uncover relevant users by industry.

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Associate Editor Judith Aquino can be reached at jaquino@infotoday.com.

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