Watch the recording by clicking the orange “Play” button in the player below.

You have a secret content marketing weapon: Brand Advocates. As your most loyal, engaged, and enthusiastic customers, they’ll gladly create positive reviews, glowing testimonials, and more. Unlike your high paid agency or in-house copywriter, you don’t have to pay them thousands or hundreds of thousands or dollars to create compelling content. Simply make it easy for Advocates and they will happily create fantastic and authentic content.

Key Takeaways:

• The top three content marketing challenges are creating original content, having time to create content, and creating high quality content. By turning Advocates into content creators, marketers can overcome all three of these obstacles.
• Brand Advocates are highly satisfied customers who recommend a brand or product without pay or incentives. They recommend because they’ve had good experiences with a product or service and they want to help others.
• Advocates will create various types of content including reviews, testimonials (stories), answers to prospects’ questions, positive tweets and posts, plus multimedia content such as pictures and videos.
• Compared to brand content, Advocate content is more trusted and credible, more influential, and less expensive.
• Advocate content sells products by boosting conversion rates, increasing time on websites and average order size, and influencing purchase decisions of prospective customers.
• A critical part of a content marketing strategy that involves Brand Advocates is to leverage the content they create smartly. Brands should post Advocate-generated content on their websites, put it in the consumer purchase path, on social channels, on third party review sites, and more.

Expert Speaker: Rob Fuggetta (@robfuggetta), Founder/CEO, Zuberance and author of Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force (Wiley, 2012)

Rob Fuggetta is the world’s leading expert on brand advocacy. Fuggetta is the author of the ground-breaking new book, “Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force.” Published by John H. Wiley & Sons, Inc., a major business publisher, Brand Advocates shows how companies are leveraging Brand Advocates to build their brands and businesses – and how you can too! Fuggetta is the Founder & CEO of Zuberance, a social media marketing company that powers Brand Advocate programs for top consumer and business brands. Prior to founding Zuberance in 2008, Fuggetta was the Chief Marketing Officer at Genuity, a Verizon spin-out. He also was formerly a partner at Regis McKenna, Inc., the legendary high tech marketing and communications firm in Palo Alto, where he co-led the global Apple account.

Webinar Recording: Influencers or Brand Advocates: Who Carries the Real Clout?

Companies today are investing in Influencer outreach strategies in hopes that a known name can deliver their message to a vast audience. 40,000 blog subscribers may look tempting, but many brands are sitting right on top of an untapped digital gold mine: their own Brand Advocates. These highly satisfied customers are eager and willing to share their positive brand experiences, defend companies from negative Word of Mouth, and deliver new customers. As marketers are developing both influencer outreach and brand advocacy strategies, it’s important to understand the characteristics, motivations, and objectives behind engaging these two segments.

Key Takeaways:

• Don’t confuse reach with influence. True influence drives action.
• The motivations for influencers and Advocates are different. Influencers typically need some sort of perk, discount, or free trial to endorse a product. Advocates recommend because they’ve had great experiences and want to help others.
• 22% trust bloggers. 44% trust media. 92% trust Brand Advocates.
• Make influencers part of your movement. Demonstrate to influencers the relationship is a two-way street.
• Reciprocal altruism is the core way to inspire advocacy. Embracing this idea is essential.
• Leverage Advocate-generated content smartly. Put it in the purchase path- on your website, third party review sites, social media channels, etc.
• True advocacy cannot be purchased or manufactured. It can only be earned.
• Advocacy builds greater long-term business value for businesses than influencer programs. Influencers create a momentary spike in awareness.
• Who’s best at what? Use influencers for awareness and Advocates to drive sales. Build a camp of Advocates first.

Expert Speakers:

Jay Baer (@jaybaer), Social Media Strategist/Speaker, Convince & Convert and author of “The NOW Revolution, 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter, and More Social” (Wiley, 2011)

Jay Baer is a hype-free content strategist, speaker, and author. He founded the social and content accelerator firm Convince & Convert in 2008. It is the fifth marketing services firm he’s started or managed. Jay is a renowned and popular social media keynote speaker, delivering as many as 100 insightful, memorable, interesting and hilarious presentations each year to groups as large as 5,000. He’s also co-author of The NOW Revolution, 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter, and More Social (Wiley, 2011) a leading book on social business, and an Amazon category best-seller.

Michael Brito (@britopian), SVP of Social Business, Edelman Digital and author of “Smart Business, Social Business: A Playbook for Social Media in Your Organization” (Que, 2011)

Michael Brito currently works for Edelman Digital as a Senior Vice President of Social Business. He is responsible for helping his clients socialize their organization and at the same time operationalize their social media initiatives internally. He is the author of Smart Business, Social Business: A Playbook For Social Media In The Organization.

Rob Fuggetta (@robfuggetta), Founder/CEO, Zuberance and author of “Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force” (Wiley, 2012)

Rob Fuggetta is the world’s leading expert on brand advocacy. Fuggetta is the author of the ground-breaking new book, “Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force” (John H. Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012) Fuggetta is the Founder & CEO of Zuberance, a social media marketing company that powers Brand Advocate programs for top consumer and business brands. Prior to founding Zuberance in 2008, Fuggetta was the Chief Marketing Officer at Genuity, a Verizon spin-out. He also was formerly a partner at Regis McKenna, Inc., the legendary high tech marketing and communications firm in Palo Alto, where he co-led the global Apple account.

Date: Wednesday,September 19, 2012

Time: 9:00 AM PST/ 12:00 PM EST

Hosted By: Zuberance & Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA)


Hashtag: #BrandAdvocates

REGISTER NOW

You may spend millions of dollars on elaborate marketing campaigns. But there is nothing more powerful than a trusted recommendation from a Brand Advocate. In fact, Brand Advocate recommendations are the #1 influencer of purchase decisions in nearly every product category from smartphones to software, cars to computers, financial services to fitness memberships. Advocates’ love for you is no summer romance or brand fling. When you create and engage an Advocate, you’ve identified a renewable marketing asset you can leverage for years.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to identify and energize your best customers (AKA Brand Advocates)
• 10 creative ways to leverage the enthusiasm of your best customers to drive positive Word of Mouth and sales
• How to measure the impact of brand advocacy program

Expert Speakers

Andy Giefer, Director of Social Media, Anytime Fitness (@agiefer)

Andy heads social media for Anytime Fitness, the world’s largest fitness franchise. He’s particularly interested in how social transforms consumer experiences and expectations. In previous roles, he produced award-winning work at a Minneapolis agency, and spent a year teaching and traveling in Argentina. Andy is currently training for his 8th marathon and tweets at @agiefer.

Laura Messerschmitt, VP of Marketing, Outright, a Go Daddy company (@ljmesser)

Laura has over 10 years of experience working with small businesses at Deloitte Consulting, the Export-Import Bank, Intuit, and Outright.  Her first job was in a small business (an after school tutoring program for young kids) and she’s still serving small businesses today at Outright, the online accounting solution for sole proprietors.   Laura led Outright threw a tremendous growth period over the last year using advocacy and social marketing to drive acquisition. This culminated in the acquisition of Outright by Go Daddy in July 2012.

Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance and author of Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force (John H. Wiley, 2012) (@robfuggetta)

Rob Fuggetta is the world’s leading expert on brand advocacy. Fuggetta is the author of the ground-breaking new book, “Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force.” Published by John H. Wiley & Sons, Inc., a major business publisher, Brand Advocates shows how companies are leveraging Brand Advocates to build their brands and businesses – and how you can too! Fuggetta is the Founder & CEO of Zuberance, a social media marketing company that powers Brand Advocate programs for top consumer and business brands. Prior to founding Zuberance in 2008, Fuggetta was the Chief Marketing Officer at Genuity, a Verizon spin-out. He also was formerly a partner at Regis McKenna, Inc., the legendary high tech marketing and communications firm in Palo Alto, where he co-led the global Apple account.

10 attendees will receive a copy of Rob’s new book, Brand Advocates

REGISTER NOW

50 Cent, The Black Keys, and Zuberance CEO/author of Brand Advocates, Rob Fuggetta. What do they all have in common? They’re all SXSW alumni! Well…not yet at least. Help us get Rob to SXSW Interactive to spread the love of brand advocacy by voting for his two presentation submissions!

To vote, click the two links below and click the thumbs up icon. If you haven’t previously, you’ll need to create a SXSW account.

[Panel Discussion] “Defining the New Social Media Advocate”

CLICK HERE TO VOTE NOW

Brand advocates are at the heart of social media marketing. Whether moved to action by strong emotional ties to a brand or motivated by compensation and/or tangible incentives, brands and agencies are relying on the “borrowed reputation” of their advocates to amplify their marketing and advertising activities. Advocacy programs now operate under the cloud of consumer mistrust in digital and social content as the lines between paid and earned media continue to blur. While there is nothing inherently wrong with paying advocates, some argue that such programs are not suitable for brands to conduct on social media, regardless of the level of transparency offered. This panel examines how brands can best activate the kinetic advocacy of their social networks while preserving trust and building stronger individual and community relationships.

Speakers

• Neil Glassman, CMO,  CMP.LY
• Rob Fuggetta Zuberance
• Jay Baer, Founder, Convince & Convert and author of The Now Revolution
• Genna Franconi, Director of Social Media, 22squared

[Solo Presentation] “How to Turn Brand Advocates into a Marketing Force”

CLICK HERE TO VOTE NOW

Speaker

• Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance and author of Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force (WILEY, 2012)

In the social media age, power has shifted from advertising’s Mad Men to millions of passionate Brand Advocates. Their trusted recommendations are driving purchase decisions for trillions of dollars in sales of cars to computers; soap to software; hotel rooms to home appliances; fitness memberships to fish tacos; and more. In this presentation, advocacy expert Rob Fuggetta shows marketers and business leaders how to identify Brand Advocates; energize them to spread positive Word of Mouth and drive sales; and track results from advocacy programs. Plus, Rob will present real-world case studies about how companies like Intuit, CDW, Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill and many others are leveraging their most enthusiastic customers to spread positive Word of Mouth and drive sales.

Learn More About SXSW here

We greatly appreciate it!

Cheers to advocacy,

-Cara Fuggetta, Marketing Manager, Zuberance

LEARN MORE ABOUT BRAND ADVOCATES at BrandAdvocateBook.com

Getting more customer recommendations is considered the Holy Grail in the social media age. For example, restaurants that boost their Yelp ratings by only one star can increase revenues by a whopping nine percent, according to recent research by Michael Luca from Harvard Business School. For a large restaurant chain, this can mean millions of dollars in sales.

Now, a ground-breaking new book shows marketers, small business owners, and even non-profits how to generate thousands of customer recommendations and boost online ratings by turning their best customers – “Brand Advocates” – into a volunteer marketing force.

The book, Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force (Wiley; ISBN: 978-1-1183-3603-8; July 2012; Hardcover & E-book) provides a step-by-step guide on how marketers, small business owners, and others can:

• Discover who their Brand Advocates are and what makes these influential customers tick
• Energize Advocates, generating thousands of positive recommendations on Amazon.com, TripAdvisor, Yelp, Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere without paying for or providing incentives to Advocates
• Reward Brand Advocates by giving them what they crave most (here’s a hint: it isn’t money)
• Measure results and ROI from advocacy programs

 Advocacy is Hot

Driving customer advocacy is now the #1 digital priority for CMOs worldwide, a recent IBM study of global CMOs showed.  And eMarketer recently stated: “Brand advocacy has become a critical part of the social media marketing mix.”

“Ultimate Guidebook to Brand Advocacy”

Brand Advocates is the first book that focuses on these influential consumers and shows marketers exactly how to engage and energize them to drive positive Word of Mouth, referral leads, and sales.

Porter Gale, the former VP Marketing at Virgin America, calls Brand Advocates the “ultimate guidebook to brand advocacy.” Says Gale: “Advocacy is the ultimate goal for every brand. Rob Fuggetta’s book is simple, clear, and filled with practical advice.”

 Packed with Real-World Case Studies

Brand Advocates is packed with dozens of real-world case studies from multiple industries and verticals including consumer products, restaurants, health and fitness, automotive, software, consumer electronics, and more. It includes a chapter devoted to how B2B marketers can activate Advocates as well.

Brand Advocates shows how GMC, Ford, Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill, Club One Fitness, Virgin America, Intuit, Microsoft, Circus Circus Hotel & Casino, and many others are leveraging their Advocates to amplify positive Word of Mouth and sales.

Who Should Read Brand Advocates?

• Brand Advocates is valuable for a wide range of audiences:
• B2C and B2B marketers in a variety of roles: branding, online/digital, social media, demand generation, eCommerce, corporate communications, market research, and more
• Sales executives and managers
• Customer experience and loyalty program professionals
• Executives and managers in ad agencies, digital agencies, public relations firms, and other marketing services providers
• Small business owners and entrepreneurs
• Professionals in non-profit organizations, government agencies, and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) plus in political campaigns
• College students in business and marketing programs

In addition, any company or organization that is measuring customer satisfaction, loyalty, or advocacy via Net Promoter® can also benefit from Brand Advocates. The book describes how to turn Promoters into a powerful marketing force.

About the Author

Rob Fuggetta is the world’s foremost authority on brand advocacy. Fuggetta is the founder and CEO of Zuberance, a leading social media marketing company that powers award-winning advocacy programs for consumer and business brands. A twenty-year veteran of Silicon Valley, Fuggetta has played a leadership role in three start-ups including Genuity, a Verizon spinout. He was formerly a partner at Regis McKenna, Inc., the legendary Silicon Valley marketing and communications firm that helped put Apple on the map.

 Available Now

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Brand Advocates is available now at leading book sellers including Amazon.com (print and Kindle edition); Barnes & Noble; 800 CEO Read; and BAM (Books-a-Million). In addition, the book is available directly from Wiley at www.wiley.com in both print and e-book editions from Wiley.com.

Net Promoter® is a registered trademark of Satmetrix Systems, Inc.; Bain & Company; and Fred Reichheld. All other trademarks are trademarks of their respective holders.

Webinar: Top 5 Myths of Brand Advocacy REVEALED

Date: Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Time: 11am PST/2pm EST

Twitter Hashtag: #BrandAdvocates

REGISTRATION: Click the orange “Attend” button in the webinar player below or click here.

10 webinar attendees will win a free copy of Rob Fuggetta’s new book, “Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force.”

Brand Advocacy is hot! According to a recent IBM study, brand advocacy is the #1 priority for CMO’s globally. As forward-thinking marketers are developing strategies to find and activate their most enthusiastic customers, it’s important to put to rest some myths surrounding advocacy. This webinar will address what it takes to run a successful advocacy program and the characteristics and motivations of Brand Advocates.  (Do you know what Advocates crave most? Here’s a hint: It isn’t money.)

What You’ll Learn:
•    Surprising insights about who Brand Advocates are and what makes them tick
•    Best practices for engaging and energizing this influential segment to drive leads and sales
•    How to measure the impact from brand advocacy programs
•    Real world case studies from top brands like Ancestry.com, Rubio’s, and Intuit

TO REGISTER CLICK THE ORANGE “ATTEND” BUTTON IN THE PLAYER BELOW.

Expert Speakers

Nick Cifuentes, Global Social Media Director, Ancestry.com (@nickcifuentes)
Nick Cifuentes is the global social media director at Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online resource for family history, with more than 2 million paying subscribers as of July 2012. An industry veteran, Nick has worked in digital media and marketing since 2004, functioning in strategy, copywriting, analytics, search, planning, online media, and social media. He is a frequent guest writer on various industry blogs, and publishes his own blogs as well, including one focusing on digital media, and another on his side passion, ultramarathon running.

Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance (@robfuggetta)
Rob Fuggetta is the leading expert on brand advocacy. He is a former partner at Regis McKenna Inc., the legendary marketing and communications firm where he co-managed the Apple account. He later became CMO at Genuity, a Verizon spin-out which went public in June 2000. Fuggetta is the author of “Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force,” to be published by John Wiley & Sons in 2012.

We are thrilled to announce the newest addition to Zuberance’s advisory board- Lauren McCadney, CDW’s head of social media and a “Top 2012 Digital Marketer.” Lauren joins other innovative marketers on the Zuberance advisory board like Porter Gale (former VP of Marketing for Virgin America), Bill McBride (President/COO of Club One), Ted Rubin (CMO of Collective Bias).

“I have personally experienced the power of Zuberance’s unique customer advocacy solution at CDW,” said McCadney. “We are generating compelling, measurable results from our Zuberance-powered advocacy program. I have become a Zuberance Advocate myself, and am delighted to join the company’s advisory board,” she added.

“We are honored that Lauren is joining our advisory board,” said Rob Fuggetta, Zuberance Founder & CEO. “Lauren is a visionary marketer and social media leader. She brings to our advisory board an in-depth understanding of how B2B companies can turn their enthusiastic customers into a powerful marketing force,” added Fuggetta.

Read full press release here.

Inbound Marketing Summit

Location: Fort Mason Center, San Francisco

Date: June 12-13

Hosted by: The Pulse Network

The Inbound Marketing Summit is a must-attend conference for digital, social and mobile marketers. With a unique mix of inspirational speakers including Kare Anderson, Rick Bakas, Chris Brogan, Laura Fitton, and Tim Hayden, industry watchers and experts like Allen Bonde, Jim Ewel, Esteban Kolsky, Scott Liewehr, Sameer Patel, and Paul Taylor, cutting edge content and real-world case studies, IMS is where innovative marketing professionals meet up, participate in sessions and network with their peers.

Zuberance is one of the sponsors of the conference and our Founder/CEO, Rob Fuggetta, will be hosting a book signing for his new book, “Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force.” He will also be speaking on the panel, “Fan Marketing Tools for Facebook and Beyond,” with the CEO’s of Argyle Social and Twylah.

Click here to register.

We hope you’ll join us!

WOMM-U Info

Date: May 7-9, 2012

Location: Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel, Chicago

Hosted by: Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA)

REGISTER HERE

Zuberance and Restaurant.com are teaming up to present a fantastic case study at the Word of Mouth Marketing Association’s WOMM-U conference, “Advocacy is Delicious: Turning Restaurant.com Advocates into a Social Marketing Force.”

Restaurant.com is the leading provider of restaurant savings nationwide. The company offers the best deal on every meal at more than 18,000 restaurants nationwide with nearly 50,000 daily gift certificate options. Restaurant.com has helped customers save more than $2 billion since the Arlington Heights, Ill.-based company was founded in 1999. Restaurant.com will describe how they’ve created a thriving group of tens of thousands of Advocates and how they’re energizing these Advocates to spread positive Word of Mouth and drive sales.

Expert Speakers

Chris Krohn, President and Chief Marketing Officer, Restaurant.com (@ckrohn1)

Chris is a veteran of the e-commerce, hospitality and financial services industries.  With his strong background in growing entrepreneurial businesses and expertise in marketing, business development and technology, Krohn oversees the Restaurant.com’s marketing and IT functions. Krohn joined Restaurant.com in May 2011 from Whitney Automotive Group, a multi-brand B2C retailer, where he was Chief Marketing Officer and VP Business Development. Krohn’s operating experience also spans the hospitality and financial services industries. He was formerly Vice President of Marketing at Harrah’s Entertainment, head of marketing for Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Managing Director of CME subsidiary, OneChicago LLC.

Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance (@robfuggetta)

As Zuberance CEO, Rob is ultimately responsible for all aspects of the company’s business including product, engineering, operations, customer success, and sales and marketing. Rob is a 20-year veteran of Silicon Valley who has played a leadership role in three start-ups including Genuity, which went public in June 2000. Rob was formerly a partner at Regis McKenna Inc., the legendary Silicon Valley marketing and communications firm, where he co-led the global Apple business. Rob is the author of “Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force,” to be published by John H. Wiley, Inc. in June 2012.

Click here to register from WOMM-U

Event: Word of Mouth Crash Course- “How to Be Great at Word of Mouth Marketing”

Hosted by: WordofMouth.Org

Date: May 10, 2012

Location: AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center, Austin, TX

WANT 25% OFF YOUR PASS? USE THE PROMO CODE “RobSENTME”

REGISTER HERE

Zuberance Founder/CEO, Rob Fuggetta, will be hosting an interactive discussion around his forthcoming book, “Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force,” at the Word of Mouth Crash Course in Austin.

Brand advocacy has zoomed to the top of CMO’s agendas. In a recent IBM survey, CMOs across the world said their #1 priority is to enhance customer loyalty and encourage satisfied customers to advocate their brands. (Source: “From Stretched to Strengthened, Insights from Global Chief Marketing Officer Study,” IBM.)

Rob will discuss real-world case studies about how companies are building their brands and businesses by turning their Brand Advocates into powerful marketing forces. He will share surprising insights about who Brand Advocates are; what makes them tick; and best practices for engaging and rewarding these influential consumers and business buyers.

Other speakers include top marketers from brands like Maker’s Mark, Threadless, Discovery Communications, Costco, and more.

Listen to an interview with Rob about his book and discussion:

Pre-order “Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force” on Amazon now!

Click here to register now!