Retail surgery: Social media - how can retailers make up for lost time?

Building an online community around your social media accounts is important as these people will be your self-proclaimed brand advocates.

However, the true challenge that exists for retailers is finding the hidden brand advocates online – people who will talk about a positive experience, but might not choose to find and connect with your brand on social media. 

“Customer advocacy reaches much further online than a brand’s socially connected community,” says Gary Topiol, EMEA managing director at customer experience management company Empathica. “It’s important to remember the large customer base that is happy to share its positive experiences, but may not take the time to find your brand on Facebook or Twitter.

He adds: “The challenge comes in rooting out these customers and giving them the tools to amplify that message.”

Consumers need to be given an easy way to share their positive experiences. One way to do this is to invite them to make a recommendation on social media immediately after they have had a positive experience with the brand, while it is fresh in their minds.

“Since launching its customer experience management programme, Debenhams has identified more than 22,000 brand advocates who in turn have shared their positive experiences with 2.2 million friends and followers via Facebook and Twitter, using the GoRecommend social app,” says Topiol.

“The cost of reaching this number of people using conventional marketing would be higher than genuine peer-to-peer recommendations via social media,” he adds.