8 Examples of Social Media Advocacy Success

A funny thing happened on the way toward widespread adoption of social media marketing: The use of global social networks as traditional publishing — and hence brand marketing — platforms was rightly perceived as a fairly limited way to achieve trusted, meaningful engagement with customers and prospects.

By now, everyone has heard that social media is an intrinsically different medium, and indeed, it is more involved, demanding, and harder to control than traditional media. In short, after years of declining results in old channels, companies have finally come to terms with the fact they must fundamentally rethink how they connect with the marketplace.

In the last couple of years, companies have increasingly sought out so-called ‘genuine’ and ‘authentic’ new ways of reaching, conversing, and otherwise collaborating with influencers on social media on topics of mutual interest, namely the products and services that they provide. This has led to countless experiments in adapting social media advocacy to the marketing function in our organizations, while also living up to both the standards and expectations of the new social channels.

What is social media advocacy?

Social media advocacy can be referred as the practice of strategically enlisting employees, business partners, supply chain, customers, industry influencers and other interested stakeholders to become social media advocates, if the right motivation exists

Now, while I observed recently that the environment for social media advocacy has grown increasingly favorable, and the infrastructure, techniques, and management processes have moved beyond early experimentation, we really haven’t talked about specific examples of successful social media advocacy programs. In other words, is there actually good evidence that advocacy works and is happening?

Fortunately, the lack of good examples of social media advocacy programs is no longer the issue. In fact, we’ve found brand advocacy efforts are starting to thrive in many industries, even while the exact result and approach remain relatively varied, usually a sign of early days. For now, the advocacy programs that exist currently are largely focused on the constituency that companies have the most direct influence over, namely employees; though, certainly, we know of good examples across the constituency spectrum.

In terms of trust and predictability, employees make a good ‘starter’ group for companies to get up to speed on creating an advocate program. Employee advocates obviously have a vested interest in furthering the goals of the company, and their alignment with the organization’s interests and objectives is presumably (though certainly not always) why they are employed there.

Read More: Unlocking the Power of Employee Advocacy 

The need for social media advocates

The real challenge, however, is figuring out how to harness social media platforms and innovative social media management strategies effectively and authentically. The goal is to genuinely connect with the marketplace, making a measurable and cost-effective impact on the business. 

While the short-term goal of such activity might be driving new transactions (sales and other outcomes) and increasing brand awareness, the long-term goal is to partner with and co-create the best joint outcomes. This includes producing better products, ensuring they are supported well, and more prosaic yet very valuable results such as increasing margins and reducing time to sale. 

Over the last several years, we’ve started to see a new trend clearly emerge from leading social businesses: companies dealing with the realization that they have limited — and relatively untrusted — amounts of social capital in their possession. Certainly, a few marketers are doing extremely well in this regard, but the total level of reach in social media of even most large brands is relatively limited. 

Yet those very same companies also have legions of interested parties who do have — at least collectively — a tremendous amount of social capital that they just might be willing to employ for mutual benefit. If only they had guidance on how best to do it. 

Dive deeper: Social Media Advocacy: Strategy and Best Practices

Types of social media advocacy programs

Each type of social media advocacy serves a unique purpose and targets different groups within your brand’s ecosystem: 

1. Employee advocacy 

Employee advocacy programs empower staff members to share their positive workplace experiences and insights into the company’s culture and products on their personal social media accounts. This not only enhances internal morale but also strengthens the brand's external credibility. 

Pro tip: To initiate a successful employee advocacy program, ensure that employees are true believers in your brand. Provide them with training and easy-to-share content that aligns with your company's messaging and resonates with their personal networks. 

2. Customer advocacy

When customers have positive experiences with a brand, encouraging them to share these experiences can be incredibly impactful. Testimonials and endorsements from satisfied customers can significantly influence their peers and drive new business. 

Pro tip: Boost customer advocacy by offering rewards such as discounts or exclusive content to customers who post about your products. Such incentives can motivate ongoing engagement and promote loyalty. 

✨Make Advocacy Simple and Seamless for Your Customers  

Arm your customer advocates with pre-approved branded content they can share amongst their social networks with a few clicks.   

The outcome: 

• You remove the slog work from advocacy 

• You ensure all shared content is on-brand 

• You foster brand trust 

 Win-win-win for all!😃  

To this end, Sprinklr has come up with a user-friendly advocacy sitefor customers. It boasts features like a gallery of ready-to-use digital assets and dashboards for tracking advocacy success metrics.  

Take a Tour of Sprinklr Advocacy

3. Influencer advocacy

Influencers — individuals with substantial followings and credibility in specific niches — can dramatically increase a brand's visibility. Partnering with influencers allows companies to tap into established audiences that trust and value the influencer’s recommendations. 

Pro tip: When collaborating with influencers, ensure they embody your brand's values and connect authentically with their audience. Their genuine engagement is crucial for building trust among potential customers. 

Partner advocacy 

Collaborations with other businesses that complement your own can help you reach new audiences. These partnerships often involve co-created content or joint marketing campaigns that benefit both entities. 

Pro tip: Develop strategic alliances with businesses that share your target audience and can offer mutual benefits. Effective partnerships expand your reach and enhance your credibility by association. 

Examples of social media advocacy

Here are some social media advocacy examples — many current, and some past — that leading enterprises have engaged in:

1. IBM. The global technology firm has 500 thought leaders in its IBM Voices advocacy program, including a matching advocacy tool to centralize and promote their social presence.

2. Cisco. The communications company has over 1,300 advocates that are given guidelines and support to amplify the company’s messages and get the word out about new products and services as well as provide support to customers.

   Cisco’s Success Story: How It Earned $196K in Just 4 Months 

   In 2021, Cisco’s social media team was tasked with establishing an employee advocacy program to: 

   • Amplify company news, messaging, product updates on social  

   • Engage employee-advocates with a user-friendly advocacy platform 

   • Generate potential leads via advocacy  

   That’s when Cisco turned to Sprinklr who empowered Cisco employees with an advocacy solution with a curated library of brand content they could share from the comfort of their desktop, mobile app or on the go.

   Gamification and leaderboard keep employee advocates engaged in the program with a will to win incentives to share more and more!

   

   The result? 

   • 3000 active advocates within 4 months of Sprinklr implementation 

   • Each advocate shares 10 months/post averagely 

   • Collectively, they generate 200K of estimated market value for Cisco 

   Like Cisco, there are many other brands including Lenovo that have garnered great success with Sprinklr Advocacy. Luckily, we have free trial offer running for select few users. Go, check it out ⏬ 

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3. Dell. The computer manufacturer has one of the largest social media advocacy programs in the world. Over 10,000 employees have gone through their internal social media certification program and are trained to support the company’s objectives in social media. What’s more, they have an advanced social listening and triage program to mobilize advocates to address time-critical situations on social networks to amplify brand-approved messaging and hashtags.

4. Deloitte. The global management services firm employed a social advocacy platform with over 1,200 members to help with recruiting.

5. SAP. Long a leader in using social media to engage with the marketplace, SAP’s has its SAP Mentor program that recognizes its most effective advocates, gives them prestige, and makes it easier for the public to find and engage with them.

6. Sprint. The company’s Sprint Ninjas employee advocacy program continues to grow, with about 2,000 employees now and a target of about 8,000 eventually.

7. H&R Block. The tax preparation firm uses an internal social media hub as part of its program to connect employees with the public on social networks like LinkedIn. It has also used employee advocates effectively in recent marketing, brand awareness, and sales efforts.

8. Fidelity. The financial services firm has an ongoing ‘Turn Here’ program, which has a component that connects employees with their consumer engagement effort.

Note that these social media advocacy examples are tech-heavy, as we often see with social media. Fortunately, we are now seeing more traditional companies try their hand at advocacy programs now. Also, there is a good mix of B2B and B2C stories when it comes to employee advocacy which is encouraging.

Implementing a social media advocacy program 

To implement an effective social media advocacy program, follow these strategic steps: 

Step 1: Define your objectives 

Clearly outline what you hope to achieve with your advocacy program, such as increased brand awareness, more leads or enhanced sales. 

Step 2 Identify and categorize advocates 

Recognize different advocates will fulfill distinct roles. Classify them based on factors like their influence, expertise, and relationship to your brand. 

Step 3: Craft shareable content 

Develop compelling content that resonates with your advocates and is easy for them to share. This might include blog posts, infographics, or videos. 

Step 4: Educate and support your advocates 

Offer guidance on the best practices for social media and how to communicate your brand’s messages effectively 

Step 5: Track and refine your strategy 

Use social media analytics to monitor the success of your advocacy efforts and make necessary adjustments to optimize the program.

Learn more: 7 Best Practices for Social Media Analytics 

Conclusion 

Social media advocacy is a potent strategy that can significantly enhance your brand's visibility and authenticity. By leveraging the voices of your employees, customers, influencer, and partners, you transform stakeholders into powerful ambassadors for your brand. Adopt these advocacy strategies to cultivate genuine connections and propel your business forward. 

As you look to implement or expand your social media advocacy program, consider using Sprinklr, a comprehensive platform for managing, monitoring, and measuring your social media campaigns. Sprinklr's advanced analytics and user-friendly interface can help you support and amplify your advocates' efforts efficiently, making your advocacy program as effective as possible. Still skeptical? Sign up for a Sprinklr demo and watch the platform in action 👇