{"id":34905,"date":"2020-11-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/how-to-be-everywhere-at-once-the-art-of-the-internet-phone-service\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T06:23:04","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T13:23:04","slug":"customer-advocate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/","title":{"rendered":"How to build a customer advocate army in 8 steps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Companies today are rightfully fighting to acquire as many customers as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You know what\u2019s better than <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">more<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> customers, though? <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Better customers<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People that\u2019ll stick with you forever. Folks that\u2019ll hype you up without having to be asked. Ride-or-die fans.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are your customer advocates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And if you aren\u2019t taking steps to support customer advocacy, you definitely should be.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s because building a long-term business should be a matter of quality (hint: not quantity) when it comes to customers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Listen: we\u2019ve seen firsthand how companies have stepped up their communication to build a more loyal base. In this guide, we\u2019ll break down what customer advocacy is, why it matters, and how to create advocates:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#what\">What is &#8220;customer advocacy?&#8221;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#benefits\">The benefits of having customer advocates<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#eight\">8 actionable ways to get more customer advocates<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"p1\">\ud83d\udd11\u00a0 What&#8217;s the key to building a customer-centric team? Grab our eBook to find out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\n<div class=\"download-form-widget standart-download-form\" data-url=\"https:\/\/netstorage.ringcentral.com\/ebook\/the-key-to-building-a-customer-centric-team.pdf\" data-id=\"69d904db5edf5\" id=\"69d904db5edf5\">\n\t\t<button tabindex=\"on\"  on=\"tap:69d904db5edf5.toggleClass(class='open')\" class=\"open-modal-download-action download-form-button\" type=\"submit\">\ud83d\udcd9  Get the eBook<\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"download-form-modal\">\n<div class=\"download-form-modal-body\">\n<div class=\"download-form-modal-content\">\n<div class=\"download-form-modal-title\">\ud83d\udc40  Learn how to build a customer-centric team<\/div>\n<form class=\"download-form SMB\" method=\"post\">\n<div class=\"download-form-part\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input class=\"download-form-input\" aria-label=\"Full Name\" aria-required=\"true\" aria-invalid=\"false\" type=\"text\" name=\"fullname\" placeholder=\"Full Name\" data-dl-events-hover=\"true\" data-dl-element=\"text\" data-dl-additional-info=\"download form\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"download-form-part\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input class=\"download-form-input\" aria-label=\"Email (please enter a work email address)\" aria-required=\"true\" aria-invalid=\"false\" type=\"email\" autocomplete=\"on\" name=\"email\" placeholder=\"Email (please enter a work email address)\" data-dl-events-hover=\"true\" data-dl-element=\"email\" data-dl-additional-info=\"download form\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"popup_form\" value=\"1\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"Lead_Entry_Source__c\" value=\"RC Blog\" class=\"download-form-input\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"download-form-part\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"download-form-submit\" type=\"submit\" data-dl-element=\"button\" data-no-auto-dl=\"true\" data-dl-additional-info=\"download form\" data-dl-name=\"Get it now\">Get it now<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<button on=\"tap:69d904db5edf5.toggleClass(class='open')\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\"  class=\"download-form-modal-close\"><\/button>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"download-form-modal-thank\">Enjoy! <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a id=\"what\"><\/a><br \/>\nWhat is customer advocacy, anyway?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s kick things off with a quick definition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Customer advocacy represents any marketing or support initiative that focuses on the wants and needs of your audience. Advocacy involves not only figuring out how to better serve your customers but also putting them front-and-center as part of your business\u2019s strategy.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The concept here is simple enough. By putting customers \u201cfirst,\u201d you encourage greater customer loyalty.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A customer advocate is someone who\u2019s legitimately enthusiastic about your service. Advocates are the ones who write glowing reviews, talk you up via social media, and are happy to recommend you to others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The more advocates your business has, the better. The end-game of customer advocacy is to both increase your customer\u2019s lifetime value while <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-retention-rate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">retaining them<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for longer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keep in mind the distinction between a customer advocate and <\/span>customer service advocate<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The latter represents an internal role of someone who advocates on the behalf of your customers to managers and higher-ups. For smaller teams, your customer service reps can play this role themselves.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a id=\"benefits\"><\/a><br \/>\nThe big-picture benefits of creating customer advocates<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Creating advocates means building legitimate, long-term relationships with your buyers to figure out how you can better serve them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>What is customer advocacy<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> going to do for your business and bottom line, though? Fair question.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Consider that businesses today face crowded competition regardless of industry. By adopting a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-centric-strategy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">customer-centric strategy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> through advocacy, you give yourself a distinct competitive advantage. Below are some key benefits:<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More positive word-of-mouth and referrals from your customers<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fact: a staggering 86% of people<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> trust word-of-mouth reviews and recommendations.<sup>1<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a day and age where there\u2019s so much noise online, buyers rightfully want to hear from actual people rather than listening to a marketing spin. This explains not only the popularity of third-party review sites but also why people seek out recommendations for products on social media.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A customer advocate \u201cin the wild\u201d can serve as both a cheerleader and promoter for your company. The fact that advocates hype up your business totally for free is an added bonus. Authentic, unfiltered praise is arguably the best marketing firepower you could ask for:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-45066\" src=\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/customer-advocacy-on-twitter.png\" alt=\"customer advocacy on twitter\" width=\"596\" height=\"373\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In terms of growing your business financially, advocates can help in that department as well. You don\u2019t have to look hard to find businesses boasting affiliate or <a href=\"https:\/\/affise.com\/blog\/referral-program\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">referral programs<\/a>. Although this sort of advocacy is less organic, it can definitely encourage customers to spread the word.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If nothing else, advocates talking up your business can help shore up your online reputation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You\u2019d obviously rather have more positive reviews and sentiment floating around social media and the blogosphere versus negative comments, right? Advocates do the legwork of creating that positive feedback loop on your behalf.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Focusing on advocacy means better customer service by default<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Advocacy is all about putting customers first.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perhaps the most straightforward way to put customers first is by providing better customer service.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And by \u201cbetter,\u201d we mean faster, more comprehensive, and more personable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Companies that take steps to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/improve-customer-experiences\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">improve their customer service<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> tend to generate more revenue and longer-term customers. Consciously creating customer advocates goes hand in hand with these benefits as you explore opportunities to better serve your buyers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Get a better sense of what <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">all<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of your customers want, need, and expect<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to research we&#8217;ve done on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-experience-statistics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">customer experience statistics<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, three-quarters of customers say that they\u2019re more likely to be loyal to companies that understand them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Advocacy encourages your business to get to know your customers on a more granular, personal level.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Customer advocates don\u2019t just pop up out of nowhere. They\u2019re nurtured.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although not every one of your buyers is going to buzz about your business, you should treat every customer as an opportunity to create an advocate. That means getting to know them and building more meaningful customer relationships.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a id=\"eight\"><\/a><br \/>\n8 actionable ways to get more customer advocates<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you feel like you\u2019re lacking advocates, don\u2019t panic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Again, advocacy doesn\u2019t happen by accident. Businesses can take proactive steps to both encourage advocacy and nurture relationships with customers that could become advocates in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Below are eight strategies to support your customer advocacy efforts that are fair game for businesses of all sizes.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1. Create a criteria for your customer advocates and identify them<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pop quiz: what separates the average customer from a customer advocate?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re not 100% sure, you need to come up with your own company-wide criteria. Keep in mind the definition of an advocate isn\u2019t universal from business to business. Some sample criteria include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How long they\u2019ve been a paying customer<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How much money they\u2019ve spent with your business<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"># of mentions via social media or positive reviews written<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Feedback provided to your service reps<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"># of customers they\u2019ve referred to your business<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you\u2019ve sorted out these details, you can more clearly identify outreach candidates for advocacy initiatives such as marketing pushes, testimonial-gathering, and advocate-specific promotions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is where a communications platform like RingCentral comes in handy. With <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/engage.html#ring-ev\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">RingCentral Engage Digital<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, you can log and consolidate your digital conversations with customers and tag VIPs across different platforms who match your criteria for an advocate:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"rc_custom_video\"><a class=\"rc_custom_video__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtu.be\/PZC3o5YN90E\">\n\t\t            <picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi_webp\/PZC3o5YN90E\/maxresdefault.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rc_custom_video__media\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/PZC3o5YN90E\/maxresdefault.jpg\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t            <\/picture>\n\t\t        <\/a><br \/>\n\t\t        <button class=\"rc_custom_video__button\" aria-label=\"Play video\"><svg width=\"68\" height=\"48\" viewBox=\"0 0 68 48\"><path class=\"rc_custom_video__button-shape\" d=\"M66.52,7.74c-0.78-2.93-2.49-5.41-5.42-6.19C55.79,.13,34,0,34,0S12.21,.13,6.9,1.55 C3.97,2.33,2.27,4.81,1.48,7.74C0.06,13.05,0,24,0,24s0.06,10.95,1.48,16.26c0.78,2.93,2.49,5.41,5.42,6.19 C12.21,47.87,34,48,34,48s21.79-0.13,27.1-1.55c2.93-0.78,4.64-3.26,5.42-6.19C67.94,34.95,68,24,68,24S67.94,13.05,66.52,7.74z\"><\/path><path class=\"rc_custom_video__button-icon\" d=\"M 45,24 27,14 27,34\"><\/path><\/svg><br \/>\n\t\t        <\/button>\n\t\t    <\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Instead of losing track of your most valuable customers, you can identify and organize them within the same communications platform.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2. Pick your best customers\u2019 brains with surveys and interviews<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can\u2019t expect to create advocates without talking to your customers one-on-one.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From gathering success stories to better figuring out how you can serve them, asking the right questions can clue you in on where your advocacy efforts are winning or struggling. Here are some sample questions and conversation starters you can use via phone, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-survey\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">survey<\/a>, or email:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhat do you like best about our product\/service?\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHow has your product helped you solve [customer pain point]?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhat made you pick our service versus our competitors?\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWould you be willing to recommend our business or product to others?\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The most efficient way to gather this feedback is digitally, of course, but that doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t add a personal touch. Don\u2019t neglect opportunities to get on a phone call with your customers, if you think they&#8217;d be receptive to it. This shows that you actually want to talk to them and can likewise allow you to dive into deeper details versus just short-form responses via text.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/apps\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">RingCentral integrates<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with your email inbox make it a cinch to switch between emails and phone calls while going back-and-forth with customers. Want to move seamlessly from your inbox to the phone? No problem:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/apps\/ringcentral-microsoft-outlook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-45067\" src=\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/calling-customer-advocates-from-email-inbox-1024x736.png\" alt=\"calling customer advocates from email inbox\" width=\"1024\" height=\"736\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, RingCentral&#8217;s desktop and mobile app also lets you make <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/virtual-meetings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">video calls<\/a> to get some much-needed <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/face-to-face-interactions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">face-to-face interaction<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with your customers:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"rc_custom_video\"><a class=\"rc_custom_video__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtu.be\/U_mx0j6-KRs\">\n\t\t            <picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi_webp\/U_mx0j6-KRs\/maxresdefault.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rc_custom_video__media\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/U_mx0j6-KRs\/maxresdefault.jpg\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t            <\/picture>\n\t\t        <\/a><br \/>\n\t\t        <button class=\"rc_custom_video__button\" aria-label=\"Play video\"><svg width=\"68\" height=\"48\" viewBox=\"0 0 68 48\"><path class=\"rc_custom_video__button-shape\" d=\"M66.52,7.74c-0.78-2.93-2.49-5.41-5.42-6.19C55.79,.13,34,0,34,0S12.21,.13,6.9,1.55 C3.97,2.33,2.27,4.81,1.48,7.74C0.06,13.05,0,24,0,24s0.06,10.95,1.48,16.26c0.78,2.93,2.49,5.41,5.42,6.19 C12.21,47.87,34,48,34,48s21.79-0.13,27.1-1.55c2.93-0.78,4.64-3.26,5.42-6.19C67.94,34.95,68,24,68,24S67.94,13.05,66.52,7.74z\"><\/path><path class=\"rc_custom_video__button-icon\" d=\"M 45,24 27,14 27,34\"><\/path><\/svg><br \/>\n\t\t        <\/button>\n\t\t    <\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This is particularly important in situations where in-person meetings just aren\u2019t possible (think: your team is remote, there\u2019s a global pandemic, etc). Video calls are a more personable avenue for gathering feedback, and empower you to share resources, customer data, and so on.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3. Keep track of all of your customer interactions to nurture advocates<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Simply put, you need to consolidate all of your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-interactions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">customer interactions<\/a> to keep track of details such as the points we mentioned above. Now, if you have some kind of <a class=\"waffle-rich-text-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/contact-center.html\">contact center<\/a> solution, it should be able to do this for you. For example, you can see all interactions\u2014across all channels\u2014with RingCentral Engage Digital:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-44859\" src=\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/engage-digital-all-sources-conversations.png\" alt=\"engage digital all sources conversations\" width=\"900\" height=\"456\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you don&#8217;t have something like this, a CRM (customer relationship management) platform is an alternative you can look into. From conversations to transaction history, a CRM is a great <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/best-customer-service-software\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">customer service tool<\/a> that serves as a one-stop-shop for keeping your customer details sorted. This includes your advocates.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you want to know who your \u201cbest\u201d customers are, look no further than your CRM. Tools like Zoho CRM allow you to input notes, track calls, and see any given customer\u2019s history in one place. Rather than sifting through spreadsheets or endless email chains to identify your advocates, you can search and sort for folks easily in a CRM:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-40151\" src=\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/zoho-1024x515.png\" alt=\"zoho sales crm\" width=\"1024\" height=\"515\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, using a CRM also makes it easier to reach out to these advocates without having to bounce between platforms. For example, you can log your customers\u2019 social media handles, phone numbers, and email addresses alongside their profiles in your CRM. Using a tool like RingCentral, you can immediately dial out to them without missing a beat.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\ud83d\udd79\ufe0f<\/span> Get a hands-on look at how RingCentral is designed to help your nurture customer advocates by booking a product tour:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><button data-href=\"#leadform-popup\" class=\"js-open-popup-activator btn primary\" >Choose a time<\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\ud83d\udcb0<\/span> You can also <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/roi-calculator\"><span class=\"s2\"><b>use this calculator<\/b><\/span><\/a><b> <\/b>to see roughly how much your business could save by using RingCentral to support your team&#8217;s communication with each other\u2014and clients.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4. Pay close attention to comments and questions on social media<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As noted earlier, social media is a hotbed of product recommendations, customer conversations, and discussions about companies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You need to listen carefully to these conversations and respond accordingly. Since feedback on social media is totally transparent, it\u2019s a prime place to both discover advocates and source unfiltered feedback about your business.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Responding to your @mentions is a no-brainer, but it\u2019s not the be-all, end-all of social media listening. For example, your company should also keep track of:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Non-tagged mentions of your business (think: \u201cRingCentral\u201d vs \u201c@RingCentral\u201d)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keywords related to your business or industry (\u201cToronto law firm\u201d or \u201cemail marketing tool\u201d)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hashtags related to your business (\u201c#emailmarketing\u201d)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tools like Twitter\u2019s advanced search are helpful for honing in on these mentions if you don\u2019t have a communications suite (like RingCentral) to track them for you:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-45068\" src=\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/tracking-customer-advocates-on-twitter.png\" alt=\"tracking customer advocates on twitter\" width=\"593\" height=\"607\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You\u2019d be surprised how many conversations relevant and related to your business fly under the radar. Whether it\u2019s giving someone a helping hand or thanking them for a shout-out, responding to customers via social shows that you\u2019re listening for feedback. More positive interactions with customers can help create a sense of loyalty.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5. Build a customer advocate program that ramps up referrals<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Every customer advocate represents a distinct opportunity to build your business.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As such, creating a dedicated customer advocacy program (through affiliate partnerships or referrals) is a proven way to both spread the word and build revenue at the same time. These programs are a win-win for customers looking to get paid for recommending companies they already know and love.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here&#8217;s an example of Mindbody\u2019s customer advocate program for reference:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-45069\" src=\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/mindbodys-customer-advocacy-program-e1605019485333.png\" alt=\"mindbody's customer advocacy program\" width=\"900\" height=\"481\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are a few caveats to setting up a customer advocate program, though. For example, you need to decide what your incentives and rewards for customers are going to be. An affiliate percentage? A flat-rate bonus per referral? There is no \u201cright\u201d answer here but you have to obviously follow through on rewards for any referrals you get.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also, you have to choose between an application-based or invite-only program. Letting people apply allows your program to grow faster, but also could attract freeloaders and people who are actually more interested in spamming affiliate codes rather than hyping up your business.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the flip side, invite-only programs are more like a sort of inner-circle for your customer advocates. This ensures that your program is built around people who you can actually trust to promote your business in an authentic, non-spammy way. Invite-only promotional programs might result in fewer referrals, but they\u2019ll likely result in higher-quality ones.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although loyalty programs are often associated with retail and ecommerce, they\u2019re growing more and more in the SaaS and tech spaces as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ask yourself: <\/span>what is the role of a customer advocate<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as part of your larger business plan? Do you want someone to just spread the word, drive sales, or a bit of both? With a loyalty program, you can do all of the above. You just have to be willing to put in the initial work and follow through on your incentives.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6. Make a conscious effort to speed up your customer response time<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Based on our own experience helping businesses provide better customer service, response time is make-or-break.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re speedy enough to get to customers first and exceed their expectations, they\u2019re much more likely to fall in love with your business.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And speedy service is central to customer advocacy. Ghosting your clients or leaving them hanging is obviously a bad look. On the flip side, responding ASAP to them signals that you\u2019re both listening and empathetic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond ramping up your service staff, the best way to speed up your response time to customers is consolidating your communications tools. For example, having to bounce between phone calls, email, and social media alone can be a total slog, which results in lag time between customer questions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Customers today prefer vastly different support channels, so you can\u2019t afford to ignore any of them. That said, juggling a bunch of support tickets is downright daunting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The solution here is an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/omnichannel-customer-service\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">omnichannel customer service<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> tool like RingCentral. With our platform, you can see all of your in-app notifications side by side. This includes calls, social messages, emails, and more. Not having to move from platform to platform means speedier service by default.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">7. Make your customer advocates part of your marketing strategy\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Think of advocacy as a sort of two-way street.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you want your customers to show you love, you shouldn&#8217;t be afraid to sing their praise and show your commitment to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">them<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. After all, people bounce to competitors and swift service providers all the time. By showing off your customers and success stories, you can do exactly that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This speaks to the importance of gathering case studies and testimonials. For example, we\u2019re thrilled to highlight our success stories and industry partners as social proof on our website:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-45070\" src=\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/ringcentral-customer-advocate-stories-1024x584.png\" alt=\"ringcentral customer advocate stories\" width=\"1024\" height=\"584\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even something as simple as a retweet or social shout-out can do the trick. Below is an example of <\/span>user advocacy<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from Shopify, a company that&#8217;s great at highlighting customers who are succeeding with their platform:<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">8. When in doubt, check in with your customers more often\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The common thread between all of these customer and<\/span> client advocacy<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> tips?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You need to talk to your customers. Failing to check-in or initiate those ever-so-important conversations means that you might be missing out on opportunities to create advocates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sure, it might be easier to wait for advocates to come to you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But businesses today can\u2019t afford to play the waiting game. You need to be proactive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is yet again where RingCentral can help. Its <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/engage\/engage-voice.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">outbound communication platform<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> allows you to quickly dial out to your customer list in quick succession to check in on how they&#8217;re doing:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"rc_custom_video\"><a class=\"rc_custom_video__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtu.be\/bAaEj0aBBPA\">\n\t\t            <picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi_webp\/bAaEj0aBBPA\/maxresdefault.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rc_custom_video__media\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/bAaEj0aBBPA\/maxresdefault.jpg\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t            <\/picture>\n\t\t        <\/a><br \/>\n\t\t        <button class=\"rc_custom_video__button\" aria-label=\"Play video\"><svg width=\"68\" height=\"48\" viewBox=\"0 0 68 48\"><path class=\"rc_custom_video__button-shape\" d=\"M66.52,7.74c-0.78-2.93-2.49-5.41-5.42-6.19C55.79,.13,34,0,34,0S12.21,.13,6.9,1.55 C3.97,2.33,2.27,4.81,1.48,7.74C0.06,13.05,0,24,0,24s0.06,10.95,1.48,16.26c0.78,2.93,2.49,5.41,5.42,6.19 C12.21,47.87,34,48,34,48s21.79-0.13,27.1-1.55c2.93-0.78,4.64-3.26,5.42-6.19C67.94,34.95,68,24,68,24S67.94,13.05,66.52,7.74z\"><\/path><path class=\"rc_custom_video__button-icon\" d=\"M 45,24 27,14 27,34\"><\/path><\/svg><br \/>\n\t\t        <\/button>\n\t\t    <\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This gives you an easy way to reach out to customers you might not have spoken to in weeks or months, while keeping relationships with your best customer advocates strong.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are you doing to create customer advocates?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Customer advocacy matters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the sake of standing out from your competitors and building better relationships with your buyers, making a conscious effort to create more advocates should be high on the list of anyone doing business today.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just remember to use the right tools to help you <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">speed up and streamline the process of nurturing those advocates every step of the way.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><sup>1<\/sup><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">review42.com\/word-of-mouth-marketing-statistics<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Companies today are rightfully fighting to acquire as many customers as possible. You know what\u2019s better than more customers, though? Better customers. People that\u2019ll stick with you forever. Folks that\u2019ll hype you up without having to be asked. Ride-or-die fans. These are your customer advocates.\u00a0 And if you aren\u2019t taking steps to support customer advocacy, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":45071,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17901],"tags":[5377,743,15541],"class_list":["post-34905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-leadership","tag-customer-advocacy","tag-customer-experience","tag-cx"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.3 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to build a customer advocate army in 8 steps | RingCentral Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Want word of mouth without spending big bucks? Then you should care about customer advocacy. Learn how to turn customers into raving customer advocates.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to build a customer advocate army in 8 steps\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Want word of mouth without spending big bucks? Then you should care about customer advocacy. Learn how to turn customers into raving customer advocates.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"RingCentral Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ringcentral\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-01T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-13T13:23:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/customer-advocate.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"930\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"RingCentral Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ringcentral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ringcentral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"RingCentral Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"14 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"RingCentral Team\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/65a168321317ffd562e0d77745f1b358\"},\"headline\":\"How to build a customer advocate army in 8 steps\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-01T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-13T13:23:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/\"},\"wordCount\":2772,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/customer-advocate.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"customer advocacy\",\"customer experience\",\"CX\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business &amp; leadership\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/\",\"name\":\"How to build a customer advocate army in 8 steps | RingCentral Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/customer-advocate.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-01T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-13T13:23:04+00:00\",\"description\":\"Want word of mouth without spending big bucks? Then you should care about customer advocacy. Learn how to turn customers into raving customer advocates.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/customer-advocate.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/customer-advocate.jpg\",\"width\":930,\"height\":700,\"caption\":\"customer advocate\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to build a customer advocate army in 8 steps\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"RingCentral Blog\",\"description\":\"Intelligent Communications\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"RingCentral\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ringcentral-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ringcentral-logo.png\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":309,\"caption\":\"RingCentral\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ringcentral\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/ringcentral\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ringcentral\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ringcentral\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/65a168321317ffd562e0d77745f1b358\",\"name\":\"RingCentral Team\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a8d989fa7e72af5bd5cf487cf7080318b695de4be89de382c5e64305dd0249c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a8d989fa7e72af5bd5cf487cf7080318b695de4be89de382c5e64305dd0249c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a8d989fa7e72af5bd5cf487cf7080318b695de4be89de382c5e64305dd0249c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"RingCentral Team\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\"],\"url\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/author\/ringcentral-team\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to build a customer advocate army in 8 steps | RingCentral Blog","description":"Want word of mouth without spending big bucks? Then you should care about customer advocacy. Learn how to turn customers into raving customer advocates.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to build a customer advocate army in 8 steps","og_description":"Want word of mouth without spending big bucks? Then you should care about customer advocacy. Learn how to turn customers into raving customer advocates.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/","og_site_name":"RingCentral Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ringcentral","article_published_time":"2020-11-01T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-13T13:23:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":930,"height":700,"url":"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/customer-advocate.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"RingCentral Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ringcentral","twitter_site":"@ringcentral","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"RingCentral Team","Est. reading time":"14 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/"},"author":{"name":"RingCentral Team","@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/65a168321317ffd562e0d77745f1b358"},"headline":"How to build a customer advocate army in 8 steps","datePublished":"2020-11-01T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-13T13:23:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/"},"wordCount":2772,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/customer-advocate.jpg","keywords":["customer advocacy","customer experience","CX"],"articleSection":["Business &amp; leadership"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/","url":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/","name":"How to build a customer advocate army in 8 steps | RingCentral Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/customer-advocate.jpg","datePublished":"2020-11-01T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-13T13:23:04+00:00","description":"Want word of mouth without spending big bucks? Then you should care about customer advocacy. Learn how to turn customers into raving customer advocates.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/#primaryimage","url":"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/customer-advocate.jpg","contentUrl":"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/customer-advocate.jpg","width":930,"height":700,"caption":"customer advocate"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"\/us\/en\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to build a customer advocate army in 8 steps"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/","name":"RingCentral Blog","description":"Intelligent Communications","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#organization","name":"RingCentral","url":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ringcentral-logo.png","contentUrl":"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ringcentral-logo.png","width":2048,"height":309,"caption":"RingCentral"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ringcentral","https:\/\/x.com\/ringcentral","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ringcentral\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ringcentral"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/65a168321317ffd562e0d77745f1b358","name":"RingCentral Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a8d989fa7e72af5bd5cf487cf7080318b695de4be89de382c5e64305dd0249c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a8d989fa7e72af5bd5cf487cf7080318b695de4be89de382c5e64305dd0249c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a8d989fa7e72af5bd5cf487cf7080318b695de4be89de382c5e64305dd0249c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"RingCentral Team"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com"],"url":"\/us\/en\/blog\/author\/ringcentral-team\/"}]}},"rc_img_url":"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/customer-advocate.jpg","rcblog_by_author":"<a href=\"\/us\/en\/blog\/author\/ringcentral-team\/amp\" data-dl-events-click=\"true\" data-dl-element=\"link\"><span class=\"image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a8d989fa7e72af5bd5cf487cf7080318b695de4be89de382c5e64305dd0249c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\" alt=\"\" width=\"30\" height=\"30\" layout=\"fixed\"><\/img><\/span><span class=\"by-author-name\">RingCentral Team<\/span><\/a>","rc_author_full_name":"RingCentral Team","rc_author_avatar":"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/ringcentral-logo-new.png","rc_author_link":"\/us\/en\/blog\/author\/ringcentral-team\/amp","rc_post_categories":"<a href=\"\/us\/en\/blog\/category\/trending\/business-leadership\/amp\">Business &amp; leadership<\/a>","amp_link":"\/us\/en\/blog\/customer-advocate\/amp","excerpt_title":"How to build a customer advocate army in 8 steps","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}