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Engaging Brand Advocates through Search and Social Media

A recent article on iMedia Connection featured the results of a study from Yahoo! and how to engage automotive advocates, “car experts”, through search and social media.

Lon Bollenbacher, Yahoo!'s automotive category director, said the study explored how the internet has dramatically changed the nature of how these advocates build and share expertise. The internet is one of the most important tools in the car decision-making process, with 75 percent of all buyers using online resources before buying a vehicle.

What Yahoo! found is that advocates not only recommended their vehicle to twice the number of consumers than non-advocates, but also convinced more people to actually purchase the same vehicle.

Consumers are relying more and more on the opinions of people known as “advocates” to help with purchases. Advocates are consumer opinion leaders who are well-connected socially, express their opinions and stay on top of finding fresh online content. Although they are a small percentage of automotive buyers (approximately 38 percent in the automotive category), advocates are highly influential.

In terms of building expertise, advocates are much heavier researchers and utilize more sources to gather information prior to making a purchase. This gives marketers a greater opportunity to reach out to them throughout the research and purchase process. While there is always a risk that there will be detractors who speak negatively about your products and brands, most marketers are discovering the pros outweigh the cons. The reality is people are already talking about your brand whether you're involved or not. Marketers who embrace both positive and negative comments directly from the consumer are seen as more credible and trustworthy for providing a forum where users feel they're voices can be heard.

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Posted on February 12, 2007
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