A few weeks back we described how a small furniture company in Maine turns 35 customers each year into advocates. (See our 2/26 issue.).  It’s a great story.  But some of you responded that the Moser Cabinetmaker story seemed too small and too involved to be relevant to your businesses.  We took that as a challenge to uncover examples at the ‘other end of the spectrum’.  So, consider how toymaker, Lego, with millions of customers and tens of thousands of potential advocates gets its customers talking and sharing information about the brand.  Lego does it all by providing “insider information” to their most active customers.

How the Lego Program Works
Adults and children alike build some incredible structures out of Lego blocks, but few can match the scale and scope of the construction seen on the company’s TV commercials.  So Lego decided to use the envy of these admittedly grandiose creations to stimulate customer communication.  They offered loyal customers and fans a look behind the scenes at how “Lego Town” has been created and how those commercials are produced.  And they spread the word. -- You can get a peak yourself right here Lego Club TV.  

But again this Lego story could be considered just another isolated example that probably doesn’t match the situation in which you find yourself.  So more broadly, what does it take to stimulate advocacy and get your customers communicating more frequently and more positively about your brand?  The table stakes certainly include offering a quality product that with perceived value and providing a good customer experience.  But satisfaction is just the starting point.  In most cases activating customers requires a brand:

• Create emotional motivation,
• Direct potential advocates to, or provide them with opportunities to communicate, and
• Arm the happy customers with ‘stories’ and content to share – like Lego’s ‘behind the scenes’ videos.

But, What Kind of Content?
There are several different ways to think about content that will stimulate action:

1. Some suggest that customers share content that: they feel helps others, entertains those around them, lets the satisfied customer look smarter, allows them to appear as insiders receiving special insights, or simply gives the happy customer the opportunity to be the center of attention and own the interaction.
2. Another explanation of what drives sharing of content comes from Wharton Professor Jonah Berger in his book Contagious. He writes that sharable content must provide; 1) Social currency, 2) Triggers, 3) Emotion, 4) A public presence that can be imitated, 5) Practical Value, and 6) Stories.
3. We sometime offer an explanation that it can be thought of as simply as taking steps to give your potential customers advocates content that gives them the opportunity to help others to Laugh, to Learn, or to Love.