Archive for the ‘word of mouth’ Category

February14

Meet in the Middle

By: Spike Jones

Irony can be very entertaining…especially in the social media fishbowl. On one hand, we hear the SM kids shouting from the rooftops that it’s all about one-on-one conversations. How it’s high-touch. How pushing out messages from the top-down is no longer effective. It’s about grassroots and bottom-up now.

And then they tell you to reach out to influencers.

Do you see the irony here? You reach out to influencers in hopes that they’ll broadcast the message to their audience (we’ve talked about before). Which, you know, wreaks of top-down marketing.

When it comes to building communities or ambassador programs, both ways – top down and bottom up – can be effective. But here’s where it gets interesting. We will use influencers to broadcast that we’re looking for a specific type or person – and one of the qualifiers IS NOT which social sites they are on or how many followers/friends they have. The main qualifiers are based on passion. That’s the core that we’re looking for. And believe it or not, most of the time those good folks are what us marketers would refer to as “the bottom” when it comes to influence and status on social media.

So it takes both. But instead of starting at the top and hoping that your message gets pushed down, or starting at the bottom and hoping something magical will happen, you need start at both ends and meet in the middle. It might be counter-intuitive, but it works.

Posted in: lessons learned, marketing, word of mouth2 comments

January26

Protect Your Ambassadors

By: Spike Jones

Ambassadors. They go by many different names these days. Some call them advocates, some just call them community members. But no matter what they’re called, they are a huge, HUGE asset to your company.

And what do you do with assets? Everything within your power to protect them.

It is so fascinating to see how those inside and outside of a company view the role of ambassadors. Remember, at the very core, an ambassador is someone who spreads goodwill. And in the context of brand ambassadors, they are spreading goodwill on behalf of your company. That’s it. That’s all. Case closed.

But we see, time and time again, folks with tunnel-vision that want to use ambassadors for other things. First of all, we don’t “use” ambassadors. That word – use – carries with it many definitions. The worst of them pointing towards exploitation. So much time and effort goes into building word of mouth ambassador programs from the ground up. Elevating advocates. Tapping into a passion conversation. Creating a brand identity and sense of ownership. These are things that we do to GIVE to the ambassadors. To raise them up. To empower them. And when it’s done right, our ambassadors feel like we’re ambassadors for them. (See how that works?)

As ambassador programs grow, other departments in the company start to take notice. And when this happens, then those responsible for the program take on a new responsibility – to serve as a shield for the ambassadors. Yes, I hate to say it, but we have to pay attention to the times where we need to protect our ambassadors so they can be what they were meant to be. Ambassadors are not there to get you more views to your YouTube video or more reviews for your product on Amazon. Ambassadors are not there to bump up sales of that old product or retweet your promotion. That’s not their purpose. That’s what the marketing and advertising departments are for. Sure, sometimes as a halo effect those things will naturally happen. But if you go to the ambassador well asking them to do something for you that they don’t really care about, how much are they going to feel appreciated? Did they raise their hand and pick up the banner of your brand so they could pimp out their friends and followers? Or because they believe in something bigger than themselves?

So don’t forget that one of your most important jobs is protecting your ambassadors. After all, they’re out there protecting you – both online and off. And they want you to have their back just like they have yours. That’s how successful relationships work.

Posted in: brands, lessons learned, marketing, word of mouth1 comments

July20

Use that spotlight…on your customers

By: Spike Jones

As a brand, you have a spotlight. Yes, some are bigger than others. But all of them are bright. Intense. Attention-grabbing. And PR, marketing, branding, social media, word of mouth – all of those tools – have built it.

And the beauty of that spotlight is that you can shine it on anything you want.

Most of the time we shine it on ourselves as a brand. Rightly so, eh? After all, we built the damn thing. And it took a lot of time, money and effort to do so. Our latest sale. Promotions. Thought-leadership. Innovations. Messaging, messaging, messaging.

But what if we spun that sucker around one day and started shining it on our audience? What if we made them feel like the rock stars? What if we gave them all the attention and they could hear the roar of the supportive crowd? Maybe it’s a group of them. Maybe you ask them to step into the spotlight one-by-one. There are numerous possibilities. But they all have to do with sharing the stage and stepping into the background. At least for a while. So it’s not “LOOK! It’s a sale on product X!!” Instead, it’s “LOOK! This guys is awesome. And we KNOW him!!!”

Think about it this way: when a celebrity establishes a non-profit, they are essentially using their spotlight to highlight something that’s important to them. They’ve spent a lot of time working on their own brand and now they have the opportunity to say, “Hey everybody, I know you’re looking at me, and so now look at this, because it means something to me.”

Why can’t we do that as brands? We can show the world that customers – especially people that already love us – are important to us. That those people mean something to us.

Just a thought.

Posted in: lessons learned, marketing, word of mouth1 comments

July13

Get Real With Spike — Episode 5: Look vs. Like

By: Spike Jones

Yes, boys and girls, it’s that time again. In this episode of Get Real With Spike we talk about online vs. offline personas, the fact that most social media is just more noise, look vs. like and shining that big ol’ brand spotlight on your customers instead of yourself. All in 83 seconds.

Get Real with Spike 5 from Social Fresh on Vimeo.

Posted in: brands, lessons learned, marketing, rants, word of mouth6 comments

April27

Life Beyond the “Like”

By: Spike Jones

Holy moly, how much time to we devote to strategies that focus on getting people to click on that little blue “Like” button on Facebook? (I’d love to see an infographic on that.) Huge marketing and communications budgets are thrown at it. Agencies (and individuals) performances are judged on it. And case studies are built on it (really.)

But THEN what?

What is life like beyond the “Like” for your customers? Likes don’t equal loyalty. Likes don’t equal sales. Hell, you have to “Like” a brand on Facebook just so you can complain on their wall. Yet clicking the Like button is very often times the end of the experience for most brands. It’s the finish line. Interaction complete.

So I plead with you, dear marketers, think beyond the Like. Think about how online should drive offline action and offline engagement should drive online action. Think about how 93% of word of mouth recommendations still happen offline. Think about WHY you want people to Like you beyond pushing that little blue button. No, I’m not going to talk about the value of a Like, but rather how it’s on you to create an experience that even pushes beyond giving people a reason to come back to your Facebook page.

There is life beyond the Like. And it’s lived out by your customers after they step away from that plastic box and live in the real world. Crack that nut and you’ll be well on your way.

Posted in: brands, Featured, lessons learned, marketing, word of mouth4 comments

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