You may have heard of customer advocacy and see it as a function belonging solely to Marketing, when in fact, its results can be used to bolster other departments like Customer Success, Sales and Product Development. A well-managed customer advocate community can be your go-to source when you need anything from referrals, to references, to … Continued

According to Forrester, we are in the age of the customer, in which buyers, empowered by technology and social media, possess control of their own journeys. To avoid getting left behind, companies need to embrace this shift by looking to their customers for insights on how to improve marketing, product development and customer success. An … Continued

One of the most valuable resources available to businesses today is a healthy community of engaged, happy customers. In fact, IDC expects the worldwide online communities market revenue to grow to $1.2 billion by 2019, representing a CAGR of 24.3%. Many leading companies are also leveraging their communities to mitigate costs, saving thousands without having … Continued

Brands have known for a while how powerful building a customer community can be. But, there seems to be some confusion as to what “community” should mean and how to successfully manage one. So, we asked the experts. In the latest instalment of our Customer-Powered Enterprise webinar series, I had the chance to talk to … Continued

Discussions are a critical aspect to the success of any online community. With a platform that allows for one to one interaction with like-minded people, that’s where members truly begin to identify with the community. If a community made up of highly engaged members is a roaring fire, the role of the community manager is … Continued

Customer advocacy is increasingly becoming a “need-to-have” for brands, rather than simply a “nice-to-have”. Research has proven time and time again that buyers—a whopping 83% of them— trust their peers more than big brands. When it comes to B2B purchase decisions, the influence of customer references and testimonials is second only to previous customer experience … Continued

Last week, Scottsdale, Arizona was abuzz with more than 1300 B2B marketers eager to get inspired by some of the industry’s best and brightest. This year’s B2B Marketing Exchange did not disappoint! The event featured some great keynotes and workshops spanning topics including, how B2B brands can harness the power of fandoms, how to connect … Continued

Hey campers! You know what made Advocamp Field Day 2018 unique? It was the first Advocamp ever broadcast online. Broadcasting online meant we could jam-pack the event with even more web-exclusive speakers. Plus, we could run the numbers to discover which sessions our online Advocampers loved the most. Advocamp, for those who don’t know, is … Continued

HPE SimpliVity’s advocates are known to do radical things. For example, take reference calls while on vacation. Or send s’mores to each other’s kids. They’ll even drive three hours to a fellow customer’s office just to help them set up the optimal IT environment—all based off interactions in HPE’s online B2B community. At a time … Continued

Figuring out how to get quality product feedback from your customers quickly can be a big challenge for product teams. And yet, your success as a software product depends on it. The truth is, your customers are busy professionals who need a good reason to spend their valuable time filling out a customer survey or … Continued