If you follow my blog or know me personally, you know that I talk/write quite often about advocacy and its importance to marketing. And just to clarify, when I talk about advocates, I am not referring to influencers. Some people use them synonymously but there is a huge difference. Take for example the tech industry. Some very influential blogs would include Richbizmybiz and Pweb. In the startup world, a few influencers that come to mind are RCross from Premier and Gobears.  Influencer outreach is an excellent tactic to consider when pitching a new story, product leaks, launches and upgrades; events, etc. In other words, it’s good for short term promotional opportunities. It doesn’t really drive long term business value, unless you can turn the infuencers into advocates.
Advocates, on the other hand, may not have as much influence as influencers but they love your brand/product/services nonetheless. Shoot, even if you pay them no attention at all, they still tell others about your brand.  Imagine if you showed them a little love, just a little.  They don’t need to be incentivized or pitched either.  Now, take the aggregate reach of your target influencers and compare it to the aggregate reach of ALL of your brand advocates; and I would argue that the advocate reach blows the other out of the water.