You likely already understand that brand enthusiast customers can be a golden goose for your company. Brand enthusiasts are nearly four times more likely to spend significantly more with a brand they favor in the future, according to a customer loyalty study conducted by StrongView. That number jumps to nearly eight times more likely for customers who have had 10 or more interactions with a brand. See original article.
So how do you turn your customers into long-term brand enthusiasts? Well, it’s a long process. A customer grows into an enthusiast naturally, organically and individually. But you can drive customer relationships toward enthusiast status – and keep them there – by implementing a rock-solid business and marketing strategy and executing against it effectively and consistently.
In this article, we offer some strategies and tactics specifically for using social media influencers to help cultivate brand enthusiasts.
Influencers are everywhere because they work.
The influencer marketing segment is estimated to grow to more than $16.4 billion in 2022, according to Influencer Marketing Hub’s 2022 Benchmark Report. Not surprisingly, 90% of survey respondents who participated in the Benchmark Report believe influencer marketing is effective. See original article.
Enlist influencers to foster meaningful interactions with brand enthusiasts.
When executed properly, an influencer marketing strategy can help your brand create authentic and meaningful personal experiences tailored specifically to brand enthusiasts.
Brand enthusiasts love quality, performance and value. They also love authenticity. They respect a brand that stays true to its core beliefs and personality. Having a strong identity can be what initially attracted those brand enthusiast customers to your products in the first place. Affirming that identity with a well-selected, authentically connected influencer, and then leveraging that partnership to create meaningful personal experiences will keep your brand enthusiasts loyal and on your team.
Choose influencers who are already respected enthusiasts in your segment.
Choosing the right social influencer is vitally important for any brand in any industry. But for enthusiast brands, the stakes are even higher. Your brand’s connection with enthusiast customers can be deeply impacted by the right – or wrong – personality.
Find the right influencers by raising the value of the position.
One highly effective tactic for recruiting the right influencer is creating a contest to fill sponsored influencer roles with your brand. Invite established personalities from your industry to compete for the position. This increases the value of the role. Plus, you’ll be engaging your segment’s enthusiast community on their own turf.
Use your influencers to deliver killer content to keep brand enthusiasts engaged.
Good influencers will be key in helping your brand to keep fresh content coming for your brand enthusiasts to consume. These customers crave knowledge. No detail is too small. And they want to be entertained, too. An effective influencer must be able to deliver the goods.
Host live events to foster loyalty with your brand enthusiast customers.
Access and exclusivity are like golden nuggets to brand enthusiasts. Create an event – a competition – a party – a seminar… some type of special event that can be hosted by your influencers to provide a meaningful and unique personal experience for your most loyal customers.
Influencers should be just one part of a larger brand enthusiast strategy.
Growing customers into true enthusiasts of your brand takes more than a successful social influencer marketing program. It requires cultivating a meaningful personal relationship with each individual customer. Some things that can help you do that are continued product development and improvement, consistent two-way communication, good story-telling, attentive personal service and regular in-person interaction.
Follow brands who use influencers to cultivate brand enthusiasts.
One brand with a fiercely devoted following of brand enthusiasts is Dodge. This high-performance vehicle brand has found great success with this influencer marketing model. One program they’ve used to great effect is a yearly event called the Dodge Grudge Match. It pits a group of popular personalities from the muscle car community against each other in a drag racing tournament. The promotion builds attention and audience engagement for months as the influencers build their Dodge-sponsored racecars and share their journey with their followers online. It culminates with Dodge taking over a major city street in their hometown and hosting a live race that any brand enthusiast can attend in person… delivering the kind of authentic, exclusive experience that brand enthusiast customers live for.
Partner with a great agency.
Success demands great partnerships. Find a marketing partner with proven skills in executing successful social influencer marketing programs. Together, you’ll find your way to long, meaningful brand enthusiast customer relationships.
