Are you a business owner? How important is Word of Mouth in promoting your products / services? Most likely your answer is VERY IMPORTANT!

And you are not alone. Three years of working with Enterprise Customers have given Zuberance enough experience and data to unequivocally state that the most satisfied customers a Business has, their Brand Advocates, are extremely important for their success; Data from a recent study tells us that:

• 30% of Brand Advocates recommend once a week or more
• Brand Advocates recommend across many categories; the most popular are Technology (25%), Restaurants (15%) Household Items (10%), Travel (7%)
• Brand Advocates have Social Networks that are larger than average (300-600)
• Brand Advocates recommend consumer (67%) and business (31%) products
• When a Brand Advocate recommends he/she prompts the recipient to consider (61%) and buy (22%)

We deeply believe in the power of Brand Advocacy and the benefits it can bring to your business. In order to make these benefits available more broadly we are releasing Zuberance Self Service (Beta).

In a nutshell: Zuberance Self Service allows any business to identify their most satisfied customers, their Brand Advocates, and then energize these Advocates to generate online reviews and share offers with their social networks. All of the activities are tracked so impact is clearly understood and messaging / offers can be optimized. Zuberance Self Service compiles best practices Zuberance has gathered through three years of catering to Enterprise Brands.

Zuberance Self Service is completely free during the Beta, after the Beta period is over Zuberance Self Service will be free for any company up to 200 Advocates identified; and then charged in a tiered subscription model based on the number of Advocates in the program.

Through the next few months we will be adding more features and capabilities, we look forward to receiving your comments and feedback (please use our online community.)

-Filiberto Selvas, VP of Product, Zuberance

[UPDATE: CLICK HERE TO VIEW WEBINAR RECORDING HERE]

WEBINAR: Brand Advocates on Facebook: What You Need to Know About Timeline, EdgeRank, and Leveraging Your Superfans

REGISTER NOW

Date: Wed, April 18, 2012

Time: 11:00 AM PST/ 2:00 PM EST

Twitter hashtag: #zuberance

With 845 million active users and 2.7 billion “likes” everyday, Facebook’s marketing potential has brands foaming at the mouth. However, due to the constant evolution of Facebook updates plus EdgeRank filtering your content, the road to Facebook marketing success is quite a bumpy one. Instead of focusing on simply racking up “likes,” let your Superfans (AKA Brand Advocates) drive your Facebook strategy. Brand Advocates are truly a different breed; beyond “liking” your brand, they’ll proactively recommend your products to their friends, share your content, and help you build your brand army.

Register for the webinar and we’ll teach you how to turn “likes” into leads and Superfans into social media marketing machines.

You’ll learn how to:

• Identify your Brand Advocates amongst your fanbase
• Leverage new Timeline features to boost advocacy
• Energize Brand Advocates to improve EdgeRank
• Generate leads and lower customer acquisition costs via your Superfans
• Plus, real-world case studies on how top brands like Box, GMC, Parallels, and more are leveraging their Advocates on Facebook

About the Speakers

Scott Meldrum, Founder/CEO, Pollin8: Social Content + Communications (@ScottMeldrum)

As an expert in Interactive Marketing and Social Media, Scott Meldrum provides digital strategy, creative and media solutions for leading companies in the entertainment and retail industries. Leveraging 15 years of interactive experience, he has delivered digital advertising and social media programs for brands like Starbucks, Best Buy, Shell, and TiVo, and has helped recording artists Jennifer Lopez, Avril Lavigne, and Coldplay reach star status.

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.

Bonus! Each registrant will receive a free copy of the Zuberance whitepaper, “Turning Fans and Followers into Brand Advocates.”

REGISTER NOW!

Check out the recording of our recent webinar where we revealed new research, “Three Surprising Facts About Brand Advocates” featuring Founder/CEO of Zuberance, Rob Fuggetta.

3 Surprising Findings About Brand Advocates:

1. Brand Advocates are more active than previously thought

• Advocates recommend 9 brands on average
• 32% recommend 10 or more brands
• 16% recommend more than 15 brands
• Advocates recommend on average 26X per year
• 30% recommend once weekly or more
• Brand Advocates are active in many industries. The categories most recommended are Technology (25%), Restaurants/Dining (15%), and Entertainment/Leisure (14%).

2. Brand Advocates have larger social networks than earlier estimated

• Brand Advocates have 200-450 people in their social networks.
• Online Brand Advocates have 300-600 people in their social networks.

3. Brand Advocates recommend both consumer and business products

• 67% advocate both business and consumer products.

Other Findings

• “Power Advocates” make up about 15% of Brand Advocates. They recommend dozens of products, do so several times a week, and have 500+ people in their social networks.
• 83% of Advocates say their recommendations impact purchase decisions of their friends- 61% say their friends consider buying the recommended product and 22% say their friends actually purchase the recommended product.
• Email (at 57%) and Facebook (at 35%) are the most used online tools for recommending.
• Altruism, not rewards, spur Advocates. 50% say they recommend because they’ve had good experiences with a product/service. 37% say they recommend because they want to help others.

3 Implications for Marketers

1. Find and energize Brand Advocates now to drive advocacy and sales.
2. B2B Marketers need to engage and energize Brand Advocates.
3. Don’t pay or provide financial incentives to Brand Advocates.

Download the full report on “Three Surprising Facts About Brand Advocates” now.

All the findings are also outlined in Infographic form here.

REGISTER NOW

Date: Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Time: 11:00 AM PST/ 2:00 PM EST

Twitter hashtag: #zuberance

In the social media era, power has shifted from advertising’s Mad Men to millions of trusted Brand Advocates.

Zuberance, a social media marketing company that focuses on Brand Advocates, will present three surprising results from a major new study about these influential consumers. The study, which involved 1,445 US consumers, shows that Brand Advocates are even more influential than previously thought.

Join this free, interactive webinar to get new insights about Brand Advocates including:

• How often Brand Advocates recommend, what they recommend, and why
• The surprising size of Brand Advocates’ social networks (it’s much larger than previously thought)
• What happens when Brand Advocates recommend products and services

You’ll also get expert advice on how you can turn your brand’s Advocates into a powerful marketing force. This webinar is sure to fill up fast. Register now!

Bonus! Each registrant will get a free copy of a new whitepaper that details the findings of Zuberance’s ground-breaking new Brand Advocate study.

Expert Speaker: Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO of Zuberance and author of upcoming book, “Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force”

Rob Fuggetta is the world’s leading expert on brand advocacy. Fuggetta is the founder and CEO of Zuberance, a social media marketing company that powers advocacy programs for leading consumer and business brands. Fuggetta is a former partner at Regis McKenna, Inc., the legendary Silicon Valley technology marketing and communications firm, where he co-led the Apple account. He later became the CMO at Genuity, a Verizon spin-out which went public in June 2000, where he launched the award-winning Black Rocket e-business solution. He is the author of the forthcoming book, “Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force.”

Check out the “Three Surprising Facts About Brand Advocates” Infographic!

Research Report: Three Surprising Facts About Brand Advocates- DOWNLOAD NOW

In the social media era, power has shifted from advertising’s Mad Men to millions of trusted Brand Advocates. Their recommendations drive trillions of dollars of purchase decisions for everything from cars to computers, fish tacos to fitness memberships, software to smart phones. Amplified by social media, Brand Advocates’ recommendations collectively reach millions of people on social networks, shopping sites, blogs, online communities, and elsewhere online.

A new study sponsored by Zuberance has revealed three surprising findings about Brand Advocates. Download the report to learn more.

Make sure to register for our webinar where Zuberance Founder/CEO, Rob Fuggetta, will present these findings and the implications for marketers. Register Now!

Are you more of an Infographic person? We’ve turned the findings into an Infographic as well! Check it out here.

Click here to view the presentation on Slideshare.

The recording below is from our recent webinar, “3 B2B Case Studies in 30 Minutes: How Box, AVG, and Parallels are Leveraging Customer Advocates to Drive Sales Now” featuring innovative marketers from leading B2B companies.

Click here to view the webinar recording on Slideshare.

Expert Speakers:

• Jen Grant, VP of Marketing, Box
• Jill Hunley, VP of Global Social Media and Online Engagement, AVG Technologies
• Kim Johnston, VP of Marketing, Parallels
• Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance

Success Story #1: Box (program live for 3 months)

• Box has identified a brand army of 51,000 Advocates via email, in-product notifications, Facebook, and their newsletter. 46% of their customers highly recommend Box.
• Box Advocates have created over 13,800 glowing stories which have generated over 17,000 in-bound clicks from Advocates’ networks.
• For new press announcements and product launches, Box looks to their Advocates to add the halo effect and to get the social world chatting.

Success Story #2: AVG Technologies (program live for 4 months)

• AVG has identified 26,000 Advocates mostly via Facebook. 66% of customers highly recommend AVG products.
• AVG Advocates have created 7,200 positive reviews and rated the product on average 4.5/5 stars which were then posted to CNET, Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter.
• 4,000 offers were shared by AVG Advocates to their social networks which yielded a 50% response rate.

Success Story #3: Parallels (program live for 4 weeks)

• Parallels has identified 30,000 Advocates via email and in-product notifications. 66% of their customers highly recommend Parallels products.
• Parallels has energized Advocates to create and publish reviews on Amazon which boosted ratings from 3.5 to 4.5 stars in two weeks- average of 4.7 star rating.
• Parallels Advocates shared 4,200 offers with their social networks that yielded a 21% sales conversion rate.

Want to learn more? Download our whitepaper, “The ROI of Energizing Brand Advocates.”

Getting Advocates to write positive reviews is an effective way to leverage your enthusiastic customers. But reviews aren’t the only way to activate Advocates. In fact, getting Advocates to write reviews is just the tip of the advocacy iceberg.

Here are seven ways that companies are currently leveraging their Advocates in addition to Advocate reviews. They’re enabling Advocates to:

1. Create glowing stories. YouSendIt, a business content collaboration service, generated 4,000 highly positive stories in three weeks. These stories increase engagement and build credibility. By attaching promotional offers to the stories, you can also generate sales and revenues.
2. Answer prospects’ questions. Advocates are eager to answer prospects’ questions. They’ll happily tell prospects about why your products and services are better. Ooma, a VoIP company, is getting a 25% sales conversion rate from its Advocate answers program. This approach is very effective for B2B’s and other companies that sells products and services where prospects ask others before buying.
3. Share promotional offers with their social networks. Parallels, which enables Apple users to run Windows software on Macs, is getting an eye-popping 21% sales conversion rate from Advocate-shared offers. This is about 10X to 20X higher than standard online sales conversions rates.
4. Boost sales for value-added services. 24 Hour Fitness is mobilizing its Advocates to build awareness and sales for revenue-generating services like personal training, group exercise classes, and more.
5. Launch new products. Jarden Home Brands is leveraging its Advocates to launch a new automatic jam maker. They’re giving Advocates the new jam maker and encouraging them to write stories and reviews about the new product. On the B2B front, NetApp mobilized its Advocates to build buzz for a new product.
6. Boost membership in customer clubs. Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill is finding that leveraging Advocates is the most effective way to get customers to join Rubio’s Beach Club. A stunning 51% of Advocates’ friends joined the club after getting invitations from Advocates.
7. Defend you from Detractors. Today, nearly all companies – including yours – can become social media roadkill. NetFlix, P&G, the Gap, Comcast, and Domino’s are just a few of the companies whose reputations and sales have suffered from social media ambushes. Your Advocates will rush to your defense and protect your cherished reputation. (Of course, this assumes you’ve created an Advocate Army.)

Advocate marketing isn’t only about reviews. It’s about creating a powerful and sustainable Advocate marketing force. This marketing force will support, promote, and defend your company, brand, and products in multiple ways and over many years.

“A review created by an Advocate is only one manifestation of advocacy,” says Lauren McCadney, head of social media at online IT retailer CDW.  “This is just the start of a relationship with Advocates, not the end,” says McCadney.

Read more Brand Advocacy success stories by downloading, “Turning Your Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force.”

-Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance

[UPDATED: VIEW WEBINAR RECORDING HERE]

3 B2B Case Studies in 30 Minutes: How Three B2B Companies are Leveraging Customer Advocates to Drive Sales Now

Date: Wed, Feb 29, 2012
Time: 11:00 AM PST/ 2:00 PM EST
Twitter Hashtag: #zuberance

Word of Mouth is the “world’s most powerful sales tool,” according to Nielsen. Today, thanks to social media like blogs, social networks, Twitter and more, WOM is more influential than ever. Forward-thinking marketers are boosting positive Word of Mouth by finding and activating their enthusiastic customers (AKA “Brand Advocates.”) But how do marketers harness the power of social media and Word of Mouth in B2B environments?

Expert Speakers:

• Jen Grant, VP of Marketing, Box
• Jill Hunley, VP of Global Social Media and Online Engagement, AVG Technologies
• Kim Johnston, VP of Marketing, Parallels
• Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance

Key Takeaways:

• How to identify and energize your best customers (AKA Brand Advocates)
• How to generate referral leads and boost sales via Social Media
• How to lower customer acquisition costs and increase conversion rates and sales via your Brand Advocates
• How to measure the impact of mobilizing Brand Advocates

Please feel free to share the invitation with your social networks!

P.S. Do you have any burning questions about the best ways to energize your Brand Advocates? Enter them on the registration page and we’ll be sure to address them during the webinar.

REGISTER NOW!

Sport & Health, Washington D.C.’s largest family of health clubs with 24 locations in Virginia, Maryland, and D.C., is turning its enthusiastic members into a Word of Mouth marketing force.

Powered by Zuberance, Sport & Health is enabling its Advocates to:

• Create and publish positive reviews of Sport & Health Clubs, boosting ratings on review sites
• Create and share their fitness success stories on Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere on the social web
• Share promotional offers and content with their social networks, generating referral leads and boosting membership sales

Importantly, Sport & Health is not paying Advocates or giving them incentives for recommendations. Instead, the club is tapping into the authentic enthusiasm of its highly-satisfied members and making it easy for them to recommend Sport & Health to others.

“Word of Mouth is our best form of advertising,” said Nancy Terry, senior vice president of marketing at Sport & Health. “With Zuberance, we’re harnessing the power of Word of Mouth. This is a very cost-effective and measurable way to drive referral leads and sales,” she added.

“Sport & Health has done a fantastic of creating thousands of Advocates,” said Rob Fuggetta, founder and CEO of Zuberance. “Now, we’re turning these Advocates into a powerful marketing department for Sport & Health,” he stated.

A growing number of fitness companies are using Zuberance’s award-winning Brand Advocate solution to generate referral leads, sales, and positive Word of Mouth.

“Word of Mouth is the number one source of referrals and sales for clubs, studies show. Yet until now, clubs haven’t had an automated Word of Mouth marketing system that drives measurable increases in referrals and sales. Zuberance fills that gap for the fitness industry,” said Fuggetta.

Read full press release here.