Friday, March 8, 2013

The Brand Evangelist and Social Media




A Brand Evangelist is a person who promotes your brand without regard for compensation.  Their reward is the association with your brand.   Your brand becomes part of their identity.  The goal of any brand is to find and cultivate Brand Evangelists who can promote your brand everywhere without costing you a cent.  Social Media provides a great platform for you to grow some Brand Evangelists for yourself.
A Brand Evangelist:
  • Purchase and believe in your product or service
  • Passionately recommend you to friends, neighbours, colleagues
  • Purchase your products as gifts to others
  • Provide unsolicited feedback or praise
  • Forgive dips in service and quality
  • Are not bought; they extol your virtues freely
  • Feel part of something bigger than themselves
The place that Brand Evangelist congregate is online.  You can use Social Media to create a place where your Brand Evangelists can thrive by catering to their passions and needs.  Specifically Brand Evangelists:
  • Need to share experiences - Social Networks provide a place where they can publicly share their stories about your brand.  We all know the power a personal story can be to influence others to buy your brand.  The evangelists can become your ambassadors online.
  • Exhibit a high level of brand pride.  You can connect with your evangelists by providing images, logos, other branded paraphernalia that they can acquire, wear and share.
  • Want to know as much as there is to know about you.  You will need to provide intimate stories about your company online.  Share the CEO's personal blog.  Publish videos of how you get things done in house.   Your Brand Evangelists will be empowered by knowing all the minutia about your brand and company.
  • Are looking for a place to hang out with other evangelists.  You must provide online communities where they can congregate and share their stories.  Facebook has done a great job of providing a public space where brand fans can show themselves.  On the Fan Page you should take this opportunity to reward your evangelists in small ways and make them feel special.
Living at the nexus of Technology, Service, Marketing and Evangelism

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