WOM Rule #5: Advocates Have Massive Reach

Each Advocate reaches approximately 150 people in his or her social and/or business network. We reached that conclusion by analyzing publicly-available data from social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, plus email marketing trade associations, and other sources. First, we added the total number average number of contacts that people have. We then discounted by 60% to account for duplication. Depending on your point of view, you may consider our estimate low, high, or about right. A quick poll of our employees showed that the average number of contacts each person has on Linked In alone is 167. (We’re reproducing the chart here since we have been asked often about this data.)

One other point here: Advocates actually reach many more than 150 people because their friends and colleagues often forward Advocates’ recommendation others. The ability for recipients to re-Tweet content makes this easy.

Rob Fuggetta As Founder and CEO of Zuberance, Rob Fuggetta is the driving force behind Zuberance’s vision and strategy.