[Welcome back to the You Can Be a Word of Mouth Marketing Supergenius! newsletter. This is text from the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.]
No matter what industry you’re in or how much regulation you may be facing, you can earn the respect and recommendation of your customers. A few ideas to get you started:
1. Look to the great stuff you can share
2. Connect talkers by being a middleman
3. Earn buzz with amazing customer service
1. Look to the great stuff you can share
If you have heavy sharing restrictions on certain topics, look to the areas where the rules are less rigid. The U.S. Navy, for example, isn’t blogging about top-secret strategies — but they do share some fascinating stuff like flight videos, photos from aircraft carriers, and images from their humanitarian support. If the U.S. Navy can do this, what’s holding you back?
2. Connect talkers by being a middleman
Whatever your policy may be, your fans and customers want to talk, share, and connect with each other — and they’ll often do it with or without your help. Even the most regulated brands are finding ways to support this natural word of mouth. For ideas, look to the pharmaceutical brands with patient communities, the financial brands who bring people together for tax advice, or the insurance companies who help people get tips on what to do about fender-benders.
3. Earn buzz with amazing customer service
Word of mouth is as much about customer service as it is about marketing. Are you so regulated you can’t send thank-you notes? Fix problems and apologize sincerely? Waive the aggressive fees and penalties? No matter how much regulation, there’s almost always the opportunity to create loyal fans with a focus on fantastic customer support.
Come to BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media on February 2 in Austin to hear Toyota, REI, Texas Instruments, Kellogg’s, Dell, Sabre Holdings, Coldwell Banker, and InterContinental Hotels Group share case studies in corporate social media. You’ll learn how to get started, get past roadblocks, and make your social media program phenomenal — in one afternoon, for just $250.
You’ll get practical, how-to advice on creating great content, getting management buy-in, educating employees, simple and ethical disclosure, and engaging fans. You’ll ask questions, discover new ideas, and get answers from people who have been there, done that — all in four hours.
…and you’ll experience a bunch of great case studies, like this one from our last BlogWell in Philadelphia:
Come to BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media on February 2 in Austin to hear Toyota, REI, Texas Instruments, Kellogg’s, and more share case studies in corporate social media. You’ll learn how to get started, get past roadblocks, and make your social media program phenomenal — in one afternoon, for just $250.
You’ll get practical, how-to advice on creating great content, getting management buy-in, educating employees, keeping lawyers and regulators happy, simple and ethical disclosure, and engaging fans. You’ll ask questions, discover new ideas, and get answers from people who have been there, done that — all in four hours.
…and you’ll experience a bunch of great case studies, like this one from our last BlogWell in Philadelphia:
[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.]
A fantastic community can drive long-term word of mouth. And while simply building one doesn’t mean they’ll come, the more you can embrace a few natural human tendencies, the better odds you’ll have of creating something meaningful. What to remember when building yours:
1> People are good
2> People like to help
3> People want to connect
1> People are good
Great communities work because they’re organized around the idea that people are naturally good. You’ll recognize these communities because they allow more control to their members and they feature things like a fantastic welcome process that connects current members to new ones. Sure, there will always be a few idiots — but empowering the good guys means you can drown out the trolls and curmudgeons.
2> People like to help
People spread word of mouth and engage in communities because they like to help others. And while every community has its “lurkers,” they also have potential super-users — with the best communities designed to encourage these talkers. Clorox, for example, has seen significant increases in engagement since adding gaming mechanics to their community, all designed to acknowledge, reward, and support this natural behavior.
3> People want to connect
Humans are social creatures. We’re driven to build connections, to join groups, and to extend our networks of “people like us.” Communities created around specific topics help us find others who share our interests — and that’s where the conversations and word of mouth can really take off.
This is GasPedal's blog about all things word of mouth marketing. We cover everything from the best word of mouth case studies to the latest research, focusing on the practical ideas you can use to get your fans talking about you.
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