By Patrick McFadden

Want to multiply the return on your efforts?

Increasing the awareness of your Cause starts with creating advocates – a group of people interested in talking about your Cause.

Advocates develop for a couple of reasons, but all are centered around one thing – self-interest. It’s never about you, it’s always about them. Below are some ways you can make it all about them.

Here are the four simple ways to create advocates that spread your message with social media:

1. Fulfill their wants not needs: With social media that grows advocates starts with creating content that’s valuable and easily sharable. This can be achieved in many ways, such as simply posting the benefits of your service and your expertise in delivering an exceptional outcome for your stakeholders (this includes blogs and podcasts, using photos on Facebook, LinkedIn, Pintrest, Instagram, Flickr, etc.)
2. Keep it anticipated, personal, and relevant: Your bilateral intimacy engagement points should be anticipated, personal and relevant, with the bonus of adding value. Before you tweet that irrelevant content, think about whether it will result in creating Cause advocates. “You should definitely use that disability provider — they tweet funny pictures!” said nobody, ever.
3. Very simple!! Care: Social media (the internet) represents a monumental shift in what organisations must be. It now requires that an organisation transform into a stakeholder management organisation instead of a brand organisation. Which means you must care about your end-user – the people, groups and communities you impact. Caring starts with action, so start having a responsive stakeholder service presence in social media. This can add a human element to your Cause, build trust, and improve stakeholder satisfaction.
4. Be generous: Rewarding people with some social media acknowledgement can make them feel valued, and in turn, create advocates. Give users positive feedback when they actually do what you want them to, and you’ll condition them to do it more often.

Bottom line: advocates can make a huge difference to whether or not your message spreads and gets noticed by those you wish to positively influence. Take the time to get them. It is worth it.

Question: What impact do you see advocates making in your cause-based organisation?

About Patrick: Patrick McFadden is a Cause & Effective Associate. He is the marketing expert to call when you want social impact … not just words. He is also an advisor and featured marketing contributor to American Express Open Forum and has been named a marketing thought leader for small organisations. He is available to give your Cause one on one marketing coaching.