How to Motivate Customers to Advertise for You

Promoting your business among the target audience is the foundation of any business's success. However, many companies overlook the most powerful and cost-effective marketing force—satisfied customers.

Loyal users, delighted with your products and services, recommend your brand to others and praise it on social media—this is called organic brand promotion. Let's explore why such promotion is an essential marketing strategy and learn how to create customer incentive programs that motivate people to share your brand with others.

A group of Apple users on Reddit. This brand has perhaps the largest community of supporters in the world

What is organic promotion?

Brand advocates are users who are so satisfied with your company that they are willing to advertise for you on their own. They can be anyone: your employees, customers, partners, suppliers, and even social media influencers.

Advocates share their positive experiences through reviews on your website and other platforms. They also promote you via word of mouth, mentions on social media, and blogs. All these reviews, photos, and comments are called user-generated content (UGC).

UGC mentioning brand name

Organic brand promotion is more valuable than anything money can buy. User-generated content has substantial reach and exerts more influence than any ad campaign, SMM promotion, or even the efforts of your most experienced marketer. This way, you not only reduce advertising costs but also build strong and trustworthy relationships with customers through their content.

Interesting fact: Buyers increasingly trust visual content created by other users. Recent studies show that 60% of users look for photo and video reviews (visual UGC) before making a purchase.

How to gain advocates

Sometimes, people naturally become fans of a company. However, there are steps you can take to create a truly effective marketing strategy.

1. Understand what people value about you

To create a good marketing program, you need to understand what people like about your company. Most often, this is related to the quality of products or services, but excellent customer service and a personalized approach also play a big role.

Don’t guess what your customers want—just read the reviews. Look at what people are saying, both good and bad. Analyze the feedback and use the information to make your brand more visible on social media.

An example of a positive review of a beauty studio that positively impacts the brand's reputation

2. Build relationships with customers

Developing strong, personalized connections with users is key to gaining brand support and boosting sales. According to the SaaSquatch report "The State of Referral Marketing," customers who come through referrals are 18% more loyal, have a 16% higher lifetime value, and spend 13.2% more than others.

In today's digital world, users identify with their favorite brands and want to be part of their story. To nurture these feelings, offer value and build trust through social media.

Building relationships between a brand and its customers is a two-way process that requires attention and thoughtful approach. This is the only way to maintain long-term interest. Be open with your users, but avoid aggressive selling.

The key here is to give more to your customers and ask less from them. Then, they will want to interact with you on their own initiative. Of course, building such relationships requires time and resources. Maintain constant contact with current and potential customers. It’s important to ensure that the necessary resources are available for relationship development and social media monitoring.

Tip: To increase loyalty through SMM, create valuable content, respond to followers, and help them solve problems related to your product.

The brand responded to a positive customer review

3. Delight and surprise your clients, as well as those who are not yet familiar with your brand

Go beyond standard service. Provide unforgettable experiences that customers will want to share. Excellent service and pleasant surprises will strengthen customer loyalty, leading them to tell their friends about you. For example, reach out to some users and invite them to a special event. Identify influencers among your followers or turn loyal customers into true brand advocates.

We discussed customer loyalty in detail in the article "Customer Loyalty: What Is It and How to Calculate It."

Start by monitoring online reviews to find your company’s fans. Reward the most active fans by mentioning them, offering exclusive discounts, and bonuses. This will greatly strengthen the user’s connection to your brand. Remember, loyalty to a company is contagious, and quality relationships drive sales.

Tip: Strengthen your presence on social media by sharing your company’s values, charitable projects, and ethical business practices. This shows people that you aim for more than just commercial goals.

Support and encourage brand advocates. Increase their reach. Add "share" buttons to your content to make it easier for users to talk about your company.

4. Track the effectiveness of your brand promotion strategy

To understand the value of your campaigns, analyze the following:

• Who is talking about your brand?
• What are they telling their followers?
• Where are they most frequently sharing content?
• When are users most active?
• Why are they sharing your content and talking about your brand?

Monitor web traffic and conversion rates to identify which brand promotion campaigns yield the highest returns. Use this knowledge to refine your strategy and boost sales.

5. Don’t forget to thank brand advocates

Many companies have loyalty programs that reward customers for their spending. This is a good practice, but it doesn’t account for those who promote the brand. Consider a point system for specific actions: reviews, photos, event attendance, or referrals. Create a name for your promotion program that shows brand advocates they are part of an exclusive club. Give them the opportunity to accumulate points and advance to different levels with interesting privileges: mentions in the company blog, receiving branded merchandise, invitations to exclusive brand events, and discounts.

Why your brand needs advocates

Organic brand promotion is valuable for its authenticity. While advertisements and marketing messages are often ignored, enthusiastic recommendations are usually taken seriously.

Such promotion benefits your business by:

• Reaching audiences that you wouldn't be able to reach through conventional methods due to budget or logistical constraints. For example, Adobe asked 900 of its employees to create and share content online, which helped them reach an additional 3 million people.

• Creating buzz around your brand. Positive customer reviews generate interest and a desire to learn more about your company. The more people visit your website or store, the more potential customers you attract. Increased website traffic also positively impacts search engine rankings, which in turn attracts new visitors.

• Drawing media attention. When there is buzz around a brand, journalists take notice. Articles about your company, products, and services get published, boosting trust and significantly increasing brand recognition.

• Humanizing your brand. When a potential customer hears about you from another user, a faceless company becomes something more relatable. This effect is amplified when brand advocates share stories about their experiences with you and how you solved their problems. It's even better if they mention specific employees they interacted with (if you have customer meetings) or post video reviews.

• Saving time and money. The cost of organic promotion is relatively low. Yes, some initial time and financial investment is required to set up the program, but this is minimal compared to the benefits you'll gain. When your advocates take on a significant portion of your marketing, you can allocate resources to other areas.

How to handle customer reviews

Publishing customer reviews is legal, but with some caveats. The format matters. Incorrect publication can lead to violations of several laws.

Below, we’ll discuss how to properly post customer feedback on social media or your website.

How to post reviews correctly?

To post customer reviews without legal issues, follow these guidelines:

• Obtain the customer's consent to publish the review and use their full name (or other information). If you want to post a review that includes a name and text, simply ask the user if they agree. You can also add consent for posting reviews in your terms of service. In this case, anyone who accepts the terms automatically gives permission to publish their feedback.

Brand is asking permission in the comments to post this photo at his place

• Before attaching a photo to a review, determine who owns it. If the customer took the photo themselves, there are no issues. However, if the photo belongs to someone else, you must get permission from the original owner. This is important because a photo from a customer's personal account might be a professional shot. The owner of the photo would be someone else, and the person's consent in the photo is useless. You need to find the true rights holder and negotiate with them. The simplest and safest option is to take the customer’s photo yourself.

• Avoid posting fake reviews about your competitors. Such actions often lead to lawsuits. Even if you know of poor service cases at competitors but are not their customer, it’s better to refrain from negative reviews. Posting fake positive reviews about your own brand is legal. However, such reviews are usually not very convincing. It’s better to rely on real feedback from actual users.

Conclusion

A strategy for organic marketing involves building and maintaining relationships with users. Through two-way communication, they feel closer to the brand and are more willing to recommend you to their friends. Encouraging the most active supporters creates a snowball effect, bringing in even more loyal customers.