Yesterday I finally had a pleasure of hearing one of Emanuel Rosen’s talks on Buzz Marketing and had a chance to chat with him afterwards. Below is a quick summary of my key takeaways as well as some of my thoughts.
10 year ago we thought that this is how marketing works: we advertize, people see ads, they buy product. Then we actually realized that people hear about our products from other people as well – a concept of Word of Mouth (WOM) was born. Nothing new here, right? Well, what was quite surprising to me… especially in this Web 2.0 age … is the fact that most of buzz is not happening online.
According to The Keller Fay Group most of the WOM is happening offline: 73% of conversations are happening face-to-face, 17% – over the phone, and only 10% – online.
I do believe, however, that social interactions online and things people learn through social networks do influence offline conversations and drive offline buzz.
Another fact that most brands don’t know is that most of the conversations online are positive. Brands usually are weary about the negative image some of these conversations will create and are afraid dipping their toes into the pool of social media, but the price of not engaging is higher than the price of joining the conversations and failing every now and then. It is ok to display your human side and admit you are not perfect.
Another thing to remember, says Emanuel, is that WOM isn’t just reserved for “cool” products (like iPhones) – people talk about boring products as well.
I agree with him on this… The key though is to know where the conversations about your product are happening, know the sentiment of these conversations, who drives these discussions (influencers) and to understand how to best join these conversations in ways that would allow you to add value. WOM plays a very important role in the purchasing cycle of your product – if you do nothing else, it’s about time you at least found out what people are saying about you.
Emanuel aslo talked about Secondhand Buzz. That’s the buzz by those who never tried the product but heard good/bad things about it and are spreading that word to their friends. Example: a review on Amazon – “I never read this book but according to these reviews it isn’t very good”. The secondhand buzz is out there and the only way to deal with this negative WOM is to encourage your happy customers to talk about your service. That’s one reason. Another reason – your customers forget, plain and simple.
“Even delighted customers forget and run out of opportunities to talk about your products,” says Emanuel, “Buzz marketing gives them new reasons to talk about your brand and remind them.” So motivate your customers to tell your story to their friends.
“Thinking that WOM is all you need for marketing is a dangerous concept”, says Emanuel. Buzz is low on repetition but high on impact. Advertising is high on repetition but low on impact. We need repetition to learn. Paid and earned need to compliment each other. Advertising still matters.
Emanuel’s last message is: buzz can be measured. This is a loaded topic in itself, but “measurement should be long-term” says Emanuel. Even if you just ask your customers a simple but important question “How did you hear about us?” you already empower yourself with a ton of knowledge – surprisingly a question very little companies are asking, adds Emanuel.
So what are YOUR thoughts on this?