A few concepts have been bumping around lately, and it revolves around the power of the 1%, as referred to at The Church of the Customer. Many times we focus on the big groups, and overlook the individuals that can affect more consumers that we could ever reach. Third party endorsements are big, and they have become bigger with this louder voice that people now have substantial power through social media tools.

To use some of their examples, about 1% of Yahoo users start a Yahoo Group. Wikipedia edits are done by 0.7% of all users, and more than 72% of all of the articles were written by less than 2% of the users.

Another example of this is the growing power of sites like YouTube and Google Video, and their ability to become tools for National attention. AOL found this out the hard way with the video of their cancellation policy. Comcast was also the butt of a joke when someone posted the video of the Comcast technician sleeping on his couch while waiting on hold. On the positive side, Logitech has benefited from an ordinary user promoting the product.

CNN’s Reliable Sources featured bloggers Glenn Reynolds and Jeff Jarvis talking about how social media can drive stories to national attention. Jeff Jarvis takes CNN to task for not making videos of some of the segments available online for free. The power of the viral video phenomenon is affecting traditional media, and traditional media is falling behind. There are many uses for the technology, which is currently being used to expose situations that may never have seen the light of day.

Combining these two ideas, the 1% of your customers who loves your product and is willing to step up and be an evangelist for your company, and the new social media that give them a louder voice and a means to connect other consumers.

Have you identified who your 1% customers are? What can you do to you help them grow from simply your best customer to a customer evangelist?