This has been a big month for brand advocacy. Here are just a few of the articles.

Your assignment? Read and comment.

How social media changes PR Practices: I Dig Digital

Linking Web Buzz to Mini Sales: AdAge

Why Brand Advocacy Matters: ClickZ

Brand Advocacy Matters: A Human Voice

These Brands Build Community: AdWeek

Focus on advocates instead of chasing influencers: MotiveQuest

Advocacy Key Driver of Growth: Weber Shandwick

Measuring Brand Strength: Smith & Jones

The gist of all this brand advocacy discussion. People recommending your brand to other people they know is the most powerful endorsement. This isn’t news, this is well known. The Net Promoter Score is based on this shared understanding of how powerful brand advocacy is.

Two interesting things happening today. First, who I will take advice from has expanded exponentially. I put more stock in the advice (advocacy) of the mavens over at Photography Review Forums (which has >250,000 posts from over 50k members) than in ANY Canon, Nikon or Sony marketing or advertising. And I have spend a LOT on digital cameras over the last few years. Now this is looking to my peers (other digital photogs) for advice. They aren’t my friends or family, but they outrank the brand owners, trade magazines or influential bloggers for my attention. Second, because my questions and their answers (advocacy) are visible to anyone and archived, we now have a digital trail of evidence for word-of-mouth advocacy.

TO’B