7 ways to transform your audience into brand evangelists

When you hear the word evangelism, religious connotations might spring to mind, but in modern times, it can extend to other areas. Today evangelism may denote a vehement and vocal fan of something, whether it’s a popular sneaker brand or their favorite TV show. 

Businesses can also have evangelists, and they take the form of extremely loyal customers. These people typically buy specific products from one brand and never venture to their competitors. They use their satisfaction with a particular business as a means to convert others into becoming loyal fans as well. 

Brand evangelists are also excellent sources of marketing. Seventy-one percent of consumers say social media posts by friends or people that they know influence their purchasing decisions, according to research conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Sprout Social. People prefer to rely on recommendations from people in their circles, or who they feel might be unbiased and trustworthy. 

Additionally, Upland Software found that “each evangelist, on average, produces about three new customers. So, if you’re able to build up a following of 100 brand evangelists, you could easily be looking at 300 new customers.”

Beyond being loyal customers, evangelists are early adopters of your products and services and are happy to provide feedback. They’ll look for ways to promote your brand online, becoming an unofficial member of your sales force by way of review sites, social media posts, blog comments and word of mouth. Given the benefits that brand evangelism can bring to companies, working to inspire this loyalty is important for businesses to consider.

So how do you transform your customers into evangelists for your brand? It starts with your business being authentic and truly caring about its audience. The more you make your customers the hero in your story and look for opportunities to highlight and reward them, the stronger the connection and growth of your network. When your customers succeed, you succeed. 

There are a variety of methods you can employ to delight your customers and turn them into evangelists. The following list outlines a few of these options, but if you want to develop a full digital strategy, HubSpot’s new Digital Marketing Certification Course may be the answer for you. 

1. Become a social media detective

Everything begins with understanding your customers. This means understanding their demographic information, what they stand for, and what they like to see from the businesses they purchase from. You can glean a lot of information from industry reports, purchase histories, and call center conversations  but there is a lot more you can learn simply by listening to and talking with your customers on social media.

Start by asking probing questions that help you learn more about your audience and keep the conversation going. Here’s an example of this in action:

As you can see, the post has some decent engagement and a number of retweets. There are also about 25-30 replies, but the HubSpot social team doesn’t just leave it there, they ask another question to find out more about her preferences. 

These types of questions engage more than one person, and even though HubSpot only responded to Nthabiseng here, all the people that saw the Tweet feel an affinity because HubSpot is part of the conversation. 

Keep in mind, however, that social media can be like the wild west. People are accustomed to sharing candid feedback, honest opinions, and unfiltered ideas, with varying levels of emotions. Be there to respond with an open heart and mind. Take the time to listen to them and respond accordingly. Your goal is to create meaningful conversations. 

When you ask these types of questions, keep track of which receive the most engagement, and how people respond to different types of messaging. Think of each of your social channels as a party that you’re hosting. Your goal is to provide attention to each person to make sure they’re enjoying their experience. It can take time in the beginning, but making an effort to create an engagement strategy for specific conversations will help you build brand loyalty and start the wheels turning on the road to building brand evangelists.

2. Create a personality for your brand and stick to it

There are a few brands who really do this well. The Motley Fool knows their audience wants sound advice. Notice there isn’t a single meme or image used. Their language, however, isn’t stuffy. It’s clear and accessible, even for someone who might not have financial smarts.

On the flip side, eSports energy drink brand, GFuel, understands its mostly young, male audience perfectly, serving up irreverence and fun at the same time. 

Family: Don't be rough again at the kids party

Me: I won't. I promise

Also me: pic.twitter.com/aO83G26BGH

— G FUEL® (@GFuelEnergy) May 23, 2021