Creating Evangelists for Your Brand
By Tarina Carr
What is an
Evangelist? If you were playing a word
association game the first thing to come to mind is church, but in the world of
search marketing and social media the word evangelist takes on new meaning.
Web 2.0 is
the birthing place for these people we call brand evangelists. They are enthusiastic advocates of the brands
they consume and they spend a lot of time sharing their experiences, good and
bad, with others in their circle. They
are the kingpins of the blogosphere and can have an overwhelming influence on a
company’s brand image, both online and offline. This group is very passionate about speaking their truths and getting
others to rally them on in their plight to create or affect change.
Understanding
the power that Brand Evangelists have and how you can leverage their expertise
to control this “change” that they seek is highly advantageous to any company
who wants to be an authority in their search space. How do you do this? The answer is simple, relationship
building. Real bloggers and Brand Enthusiasts
are self appointed VIPs with a huge fan base, so the way to their heart is
through their ego. They know the power
of their words, so getting them on your side is not as easy as just asking for
a shout out. You have to be willing to
get to know them, understand and respect the mores of their group, learn their
language, foster friendships with them and other bloggers in the community, and
participate in the discussion not only for name drop and product placement opportunities,
but with the intent to add value to the needs of the group. While doing this requires a heavy investment
in your time, the benefits to your search results are priceless.
As Search
Marketing Experts, it’s important for us to not only understand the standard
tactics of bid management and Meta tag optimization. We must also understand
that Search is a dynamic and interactive world where consumers are in a
position to control the fate of our clients’ brands. Knowing this, we should become motivated to
get our clients involved in these social communities to create relationships
with those who have the ability to effect change, to encourage the perpetuity
of conversations centered on their brands by being there to set the record
straight or just to add value to the discussion, to append a humanistic persona
to the brand, and to have an overall marketing concept focus where the needs,
desires, and feelings of the customer is always top priority.
Find your
Brand Evangelists, start building your relationships and watch your results
soar!
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