By: Stacey Furtado
The idea of brands using a personal connection to foster advocacy isn’t an invention of Facebook. As a twelve year-old girl, writing to brands became a way for me to distinguish who cared about me as a customer and who simply didn’t have enough time to say, “Thanks.” I wrote to everyone from Adidas to Lego, but one brand that stood out with its consistent correspondence was Bath & Body Works. My affection for the Bath & Body Works brand as a whole, and their Cucumber Melon line of products in particular grew each time its customer service team responded to my fan letters with thoughtful notes, coupons and tokens of thanks. Facebook has become the modern-day fan mail and Bath & Body Works’ commitment to responding to its customers hasn’t wavered.
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The brand interacted to a full 40% of fan comments last week (compared to an industry average under 10%). Every brand reaction resulted in 1.8 subsequent stories created by its advocates. Additionally, Bath & Body Works is able to get 25% of engaged fans to re-engage week-over-week. Bringing a quarter of the active fans in its community in that volume is an impressive stat. These advocates will solve the Facebook algorithm problem so many brands currently suffer from by delivering added reach to the right people – the ones who will take action. Bath & Body Works understands that engagement is a two-way street and to get action, it first must take it.
With spring finally here, many brands are focused on cultivating within their own communities, and are already harvesting the benefit. Isn’t it time more brands let their Facebook communities blossom through advocate marketing?
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