In 1973, at 1,450.58 ft. and 108 stories, Chicago’s Sears Tower was the tallest building in the world — an irresistible topic.

But over time, topics fade and don’t create the same excitement they once did. The Sears Tower experienced this as other buildings around the world were constructed taller and as new attractions were added around the city. And while still a fantastic experience (drawing more than a million annual visitors), the “tall building” topic had grown stale.

All that changed, however, with the recent opening of “The Ledge” — a pair of glass balconies that give visitors the sensation of floating over the city. Now, everyone’s forwarding pictures to their friends, debating how nerve-wracking the experience would be, and making plans to visit the tower.

The Lesson: No topic lives forever. What would adding a new seating area to your restaurant, a new product to your lineup, or a new perk for your best customers do for your word of mouth?

Photo credit: Image from Gawker, via Getty

Tags: Chicago, Sears Tower, The Ledge, topics, WOM, word of mouth, word of mouth marketing

         

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California Tortilla – a small, 37-unit Mexican restaurant chain – reaches 80,000 fans through a simple newsletter published about once a month (and actually, the latest edition suggests subscriber numbers are closer to 100,000). The publication is funny, easy to share, and everyone who signs up gets a free taco.

Through the newsletter, Cal Tort (as they call themselves) is able to share news, events, and special promotions with fans that they’d otherwise have to pay to do through expensive advertising. Here’s an excerpt from their June issue:

WE’RE VERY, VERY BUSY PEOPLE!

Because I know that in this age of Twitter everyone only has time to read the briefest of snippets, I thought it might take some of the pressure off if I made this month’s Taco Talk list all about numbers instead of words. So with that in mind, here’s…
Cal Tort By the Numbers

4397: Number of people who’ve told me that they were there on the opening day of the Bethesda California Tortilla in 1995.

6: Number of customers we actually had that day.

3.2 million: Number of quesadillas we’ve made since 1995.

3.2 million: Number of people who’ve asked the line cooks if their quesadilla is done yet.

22oz: The average size of a regular burrito.

19oz: The average size of most grandmothers.

150,000: The approximate number of Pop Tarts we’ve given away since 1995.

0: The approximate number of monkeys we’ve given away since 1995.

100,000: Number of people who subscribe to Taco Talk.

99,999: Number of people who did it for the free taco and now are just too lazy to opt out. (Do you like how I’m calling you lazy? No wonder you want to opt out.)

Next month’s list will be made entirely of little pictures of ice cream cones.

KIDS EAT FREE JUNE 10th!

That’s right! Because we want to show off our brand new crayon-less kids’ packs (that I know those of you without children have been dying to see), on Wednesday, June 10th kids eat FREE at every California Tortilla in the land. All you have to do is purchase one adult entrée for each free kid’s meal.

The Lesson: Despite all the fancy tools out there, a simple email newsletter remains one of the best ways to consistently communicate with your fans. You can start one tomorrow, for free.

Tags: California Tortilla, GasPedal, Newsletter, subscribers, Taco Talk, WOM, word of mouth, word of mouth marketing

         

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Big news from all of us here at GasPedal and the newly renamed Blog Council: Our community for social media leaders at large companies has officially changed its name to the Social Media Business Council and has moved from BlogCouncil.org to SocialMedia.org. Here’s the press release with more details:

Chicago, IL — The Blog Council, a community of social media leaders at large companies, has officially changed its name to the Social Media Business Council and will call SocialMedia.org its new online home.

“Every day, our members share advice on how to build successful, scalable and self-sufficient social media programs,” said Andy Sernovitz, CEO of the Social Media Business Council and its parent company, GasPedal. “This new name and domain better reflect the wide range of issues our community focuses on.”

The name change was a collaborative effort, with members sharing dozens of name suggestions before selecting Social Media Business Council through a vote at Member Meeting 4 in New York City.

“We’ve got a great group of active members,” said Sernovitz. “It’s fantastic to see how much pride they take in the Council and how willing they are to collaborate — not only on social media issues — but also in advancing the group itself.”

Social Media Business Council members represent the heads of social media at the world’s largest brands, including: Abbott Laboratories, AccuQuote, Allstate, Amway, Analog Devices, Ariba, Avery Dennison, Chevron, Cisco Systems, CME Group, The Coca-Cola Company, Community Medical Centers, ConAgra Foods, Dell, Duke Energy, First Data, Ford Motor Company, General Electric, General Mills, General Motors, H&R Block, Hewlett-Packard, Home Depot, IDG, Intel, Intuit, Johnson & Johnson, Kaiser Permanente, Kraft, Mayo Clinic, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Molson Canada, Nestle Purina PetCare, Newell Rubbermaid, Nokia, Novartis, Orange Business Services, PepsiCo, Petro-Canada, Pfizer, Pitney Bowes, Procter & Gamble, Progressive Insurance, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Salesforce.com, SAP, Sara Lee, Starbucks, SunGard, SWIFT, Symantec, Turner Broadcasting System, Tyson Foods, U.S. Coast Guard, UPS, USAA, Walmart, and Wells Fargo.

About the Social Media Business Council:

The Social Media Business Council, formerly the Blog Council, is a brands-only community that helps large organizations build successful social media programs. Members gain instant access and advice from the heads of social media at the world’s largest brands and collaborate with one another in a friendly, productive, and private environment.

The Social Media Business Council is a GasPedal project. We teach word of mouth marketing and social media to companies of all sizes.

Learn more about the Social Media Business Council: http://socialmedia.org

Learn more about GasPedal: http://gaspedal.com

Tags: big business, Blog Council, corporate, GasPedal, press release, sernovitz, social media, Social Media Business Council

         

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[Welcome back to the You Can Be a Word of Mouth Marketing Supergenius! newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.]

Disease, war, famine, political issues — they’re all serious, difficult topics to bring up. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find a way to help your fans spread their support for your cause, here’s how:

1> Find a middleman
2> Find a symbol
3> Find a positive

1> Find a middleman

It’s hard for people to talk to someone they barely know about awkward or serious topics. Try to find a “middleman” — a talker with established trust with those you’re trying to reach — and educate them on your issue. Teachers, doctors, parents, or public officials could all be excellent mediators for the topics you’re trying to share.

2> Find a symbol

When the topic is too tough to talk about, give them something else to share with the world. Colors, wristbands, and themed events make it easy for people who believe in a message to share it without having to discuss diseases or world issues. If you can find something to symbolize the issue you care about, you can give supporters a way to talk without focusing on the tough details.

3> Find a positive

People are much better at sharing good news — so try to keep the themes of your topics about how you and your supporters are saving lives, curing illnesses, and changing the world. You could create a special newsletter or big celebration focused on highlighting all the great things your cause or organization has accomplished. Just remember: People are much more willing to drag in their friends if it feels like they’re having lots of success and making a difference.

Tags: disease, famine, GasPedal, nonprofit, philanthropy, political, topics, war, WOM, word of mouth, word of mouth marketing

         

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KFC is asking fans to submit homemade commercials showing off the chain’s new grilled style of chicken.

The videos are shared on KFC’s MySpace page, where other fans are encouraged to vote for their favorites – with the ultimate winner getting the chance to star in an upcoming television ad campaign as well as receiving a lifetime supply of chicken.

The Lesson: If you want to get a bunch of free ad ideas, as well as some engagement from your biggest fans, try asking them to create your next ad campaign.

Do you smell what I smell?

Tags: advertising, commercials, GasPedal, KFC, Myspace, WOM, word of mouth, word of mouth marketing

         

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With more than 12 million YouTube views, T-Mobile’s dance-takeover of Liverpool Street Station is one of the most talked about stunts of the year.

The company coordinated several hundred undercover dancers to overwhelm the station, surprising commuters with a series of dance moves — all filmed and shared online. Shown once on television, the video went on to spread rapidly via email and social networks and spawned a number of spoofs and similar events.

What we love about it is how it was the perfect fun, goofy stunt that’s easy to forward and share with a friend.

The Lesson: Your events don’t need to be serious or focused on your products. If you can help people have fun (and, perhaps, inspire them to dance), you’ll make it really easy to talk about you.

See the video:

Tags: flashmob, GasPedal, Liverpool Street Station, T-Mobile, WOM, word of mouth, word of mouth marketing

         

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When you throw an event, is the ticket worth saving?

The Indianapolis 500’s tickets are made with the race fan in mind: They’re oversized and include a lot of artwork, as well as the image of the previous year’s winner. Not only does the large size and the colorful images make the tickets hard to misplace or forge, but they also make them something worth putting on the wall.

The Lesson: If you can make your ticket a collectible, they’ll find their way onto the fridge, in picture frames, and on the wall where fans can show off that they were there.

Tags: event, GasPedal, Indy 500, ticket, WOM, word of mouth, word of mouth marketing

         

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The Blog Council is preparing a study titled “How Big Businesses Staff Social Media.” This study will benchmark social media functions in enterprise environments. Specifically, we want to learn:

• Who works on social media
• What department they work for
• How much time they spend using social media
• What they earn

Benefits of participation:

You will receive the top-line research as a thank you for participating. You can use the information to:

• Benchmark your social media team against those of your peers
• Justify your social media budget
• Build the best possible social media team for your needs
• Understand where investment or staffing changes are necessary

The survey takes less than 5 minutes to complete. All of your responses will be kept confidential; results will only be discussed in the aggregate. Company names will not be revealed.

Take the survey:

http://www.blogcouncil.org/survey

Tags: big business, Blog Council, blogging, corporate, GasPedal, social media, staffing, survey, WOM, word of mouth, word of mouth marketing

         

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[Welcome back to the You Can Be a Word of Mouth Marketing Supergenius! newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.]

Tourist destinations have an inherent word of mouth advantage in that everyone that visits has a camera — but that just means you’ve got to work harder to get them talking about your destination over everyone else’s.

1> Invite big talkers
2> Create a landmark
3> Let them share on-site

1> Invite big talkers

One of the quickest ways to generate word of mouth for your city is to invite big talkers to visit. Look beyond the regular travel writers and invite artists, authors, bloggers, musicians, and business leaders to experience your community. Show your guests a good time with a list of “must-see” things and give them all the wireless internet they need.

2> Create a landmark

Every word of mouth campaign needs a topic — and for tourism, this is often in the form of a landmark. Franksville, Wisconsin, for example, created their landmark in the form of the Kraut Festival which today annually attracts 40,000 people. Your community’s landmark may be a historical site, a big festival, or the world’s largest ball of something — but whatever it is, it’s got to be the kind that visitors take their picture with, that makes lists of “things to see before you die,” and makes visitors drag their friends across the country to see it.

3> Let them share on-site

Make it easy for visitors to your community to post and share content right from your tourist attractions. It could be as fancy as setting up terminals or wireless hotspots so visitors can create blog posts or share photos on-site, or as simple as taking their picture and posting them to your community’s Facebook or Flickr pages. If you can help them share content during their visit, you won’t have to wait until they get home for their word of mouth to start.

Tags: Franksville, GasPedal, Kraut Festival, landmark, tourism, WOM, word of mouth, word of mouth marketing

         

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Chicago’s Sushi 28 — a bring-your-own-beverage sushi and Vietnamese noodle restaurant — invites customers to write messages on their empty wine bottles after their meal and displays them in the window.

In thick black marker, fans write notes like “Get the dragon roll, we love it here!” and “Best first sushi ever!” — and the bottles line the storefront window from end to end.

The Lesson: Don’t let your fans leave without giving them a chance to put their word of mouth up for everyone to see.

Tags: BYOB, GasPedal, restaurant, Sushi 28, testimonials, WOM, word of mouth, word of mouth marketing

         

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