While in the process of pitching a prospective client I stumbled across a new trigger for word of mouth – validation.
Imagine the scenario where you have some organic advocacy brewing around a new product you've released and you are receiving anecdotal stories about how people "love your product." So what should you do? The short answer is connect them with each other.
Very few consumers will go out of their way (online or offline) to find other people that also like a product - the responsibility lies with the brand to connect these people.
Once your consumers get to see and talk to all the other like-minded consumers it validates and strengthens their own existing opinions of your product, making them more confident that your product has mass appeal.
It's like those high school electricity experiments we all did - once you connect your passionate consumers (the circuit) the light goes on and people start thinking, hey, I’m really part of something here.
Bottom line: Brand advocacy in a vacuum is one big missed opportunity.
