5 Surprising Strategies Brands Can Use To Turn Customers Into Influencers

Time and again, you know that influencer marketing is one of the best ways to grow your brand. However, not every business can afford the talent fee of professional influencers, especially startups. If you’re looking to gain the benefits of influencers for a fraction of the cost, why not turn customers into influencers?

Everyone can be an influencer if you know how to do it. A “superconsumer” that shares your passion with the brand can help organically improve your brand growth. Here are five surprising strategies brands can use to turn customers into influencers.

Why Turn Your Customers Into Influencers

The customers that are loyal to your business are your best advocates. As a lasting relationship should be at the heart of any partnership, consider turning your loyal customers into your brand ambassadors.

By partnering with those who love your product, you naturally attract more from the same group. For example, if your customers love your products but feel disconnected or overlooked, you become the perfect answer for that.

Finally, by collaborating with the people who have a stake in your success, you meaningfully connect, which helps you build trust, validation, and loyalty. So, how do you do it?

1. Provide Them A Platform To Contribute

Many businesses use user-generated content (UGC) as a strategy to create trust. Unfortunately, few know how to use UGC in a purposeful way to engage their customers.

While you may have received many photos of products on Instagram, your followers would love to interact with you in real-time. By asking your fans to post real-time images, you encourage them to engage with you.

2. Incentivize Their Advocacy

The average consumer will spend more time on social media if there is a chance to earn something. So, why not turn the scenario around and incentivize your customers to share your content? Why not encourage them to recruit others and market your products further?

Your incentives can be as simple as discounts and coupons or as complex as competitions. Each of them works differently for different businesses. So, to figure out the best incentive, you must first identify your partners and their needs.

3. Sharing The Love: Create A Community

A community that’s aimed at fostering equity, authenticity, and connection is a great way to make meaningful interactions. You can leverage the loyalty of your customer base to grow your business. You can inspire your superfans to create content, events, and conversations.

By creating a community, you can turn each fan into an ambassador. A community allows you to foster engagement, provide valuable content and feedback, and grow a loyal customer base.

4. Support Their Content

If you want to turn your most dedicated followers into storytellers, you will give them the chance to create their content on the brand’s behalf.

Curate the content that your “influencers” create. By sharing the best work of your community, you ensure that they know you’re paying attention. Additionally, you can extend your reach by amplifying your audience's voices.

5. Identify & Reward Superconsumers

As companies move further towards collecting customer data, businesses are getting more competent at identifying super consumers. The next step is to reward them for demonstrating loyalty to their brand.

One of the easiest ways to identify these cross-sell opportunities is by offering loyalty programs to active purchasers. This is a low-maintenance strategy that pays off when done right.

If you are already engaging in this practice, find an alternative way to reward them for inspiring others to purchase.

Turn Customers Into Influencers Now

Leveraging the passions of your strongest supporters for your brand allows you to turn customers into influencers. Repurpose word-of-mouth marketing into a more usable and intelligent process that turns your passionate users into super-advocates that can maximize your conversions.