All B2B companies want their content to be seen by as many people as possible, but how do they go about achieving this? In this blog we would like to share a concept with you that you might have never heard of, or, if you have, we’d like to revisit it again to refresh your memory: social advocacy.

Social advocacy is the ability to reach out to social media consumers through your employees, customers and fans – the people that stand behind your brand and are happy to share how much they like it with others.

Employees are a powerful resource when it comes to social media. According to Social Media Today, content shared by employees receives 8 times more engagement than content shared by brand channels. And when it comes to customers, 77% of shoppers are more likely to buy from a company when they hear about it from someone they trust.

Below is a list of 4 steps you can take to build a network of advocates to help your business grow.

  1. Decide on your goal: brand awareness or lead generation?

In order to gain a wide reach, you have to figure out what your goal is. What do you want to accomplish with your social media efforts? Do you want to promote your brand so it stays top of mind with consumers, or do you want your company to be recognised as a source for thought leadership? This means that you need to rally up your employees and customers to promote your publications, or you should focus more on developing a dialogue with social media users if you want to generate more leads.

  1. Make it easy for advocates to share

How do we get our content out there? How do we take advantage of our advocates so that they spread our messages across their networks? Start by posting your content on your social media sites like YouTube,Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and then email your advocates the address for your posts. In your emails, ask advocates to share your content and put a personalised touch on it to target their peers in their own networks.

  1. Expanding your reach

You shouldn’t be afraid to share third-party content with your audiences.  Ask your advocates to look out for related content in your industry. By posting thought leadership publications like reports and surveys, you can add more credibility to your brand because you are committed to providing social media consumers front-running best practices and up-to-date industry knowledge.

  1. Gaining more advocates

Once you’ve got your small team of advocates – look for more of the same. Beyond gaining more advocates within your company (other departments and existing customers), you can reach out to industry influencers who can help expose you to an even bigger audience. You can provide incentives to your own advocates so they create brand awareness around your product with their networks.

The bigger your team of advocates, the wider your reach. Do you think creating an advocacy network for your business will help you win over more customers? There are many benefits of social advocacy. Perhaps it’s time to focus on creating a network of stakeholders that are ready to vouch for your brand.

If you’re looking for further advice on social media advocacy and strategy, why not come and see how the social sits within our own marketing automation suite?