We must provide a complete social media experience if we want to be successful at driving brand advocacy. And we achieve that experience by engaging audiences emotionally, mentally and physically. This type of engagement is key to consumer buy-in.

Undoubtedly, creating and telling stories that fit audiences’ real-world hopes and aspirations draw consumers to us. Once drawn in, we must make it easy for audiences to retell our story to others – thus driving brand advocacy.

Delivering a complete content experience goes beyond the promotion of goods and services. Instead, it serves to spark emotion, build mental imagery, and inspire consumers to take action. And consumers are happy to take action with our brand because we have become meaningful to them. These are aspects of a well-told story.

To be an influential brand, the customer must relate to us and the stories we tell. And then will there be a reason for consistent and positive brand advocacy.

Social media is very much about shared experiences. Mostly we see these shared experiences happening between consumers and their connections. And it happens pretty instinctively, usually because a relationship exists between the consumer and their friends and family. Or, as in many cases, consumers form new relationships through consistent interaction with other online users.

These interactions and shared experiences help form communities on social media platforms. And, what we have also seen is that they form subcommunities. The people within these communities interact fluently and regularly. And in doing so, there is an emotional, mental and physical connection occurring.

Brands can take the lead in developing shared experiences and building communities using social media content. The goal being, to replicate these strong interactions with a focus on driving brand advocacy.

To successfully position itself towards building an online community, your brand must create content that matches the desires of the target consumer.

At first, when a story matches consumer desires, there will be consumer buy-in. And then, over time, there is increased trust and participation within the community.

The good news is, increased participation within a community is a strong signifier of brand advocacy. Consumers are participating and talking with the brand and other community members. Also, there is likely to be increased brand advocacy offline too.

You can bet your bottom pound that when consumers are positively mentioning brands, consumption also increases.

Driving brand advocacy successfully on social media begins when the stories we tell via our content matches consumer’ desires. A good story will facilitate a physical, emotional and mental connection with our consumers. And that connection will lead to positive mentions of our brand on and offline.

And lastly, to all the CEOs, Marketing Professionals, and Founders reading this article, I have a particularly exceptional seminar coming up called How to influence Profitable Action Through Social Media.  Click here to learn more and book your seat today!