Day 2 of Social Media Week found us on the 82nd floor of Chicago’s Willis Tower for the 2014 and Beyond: The Future of Going Social event, where Suzanne Fanning of WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) gave us her expert outlook on what businesses of all sizes need to know about word of mouth marketing, with some excellent tips that you can use to improve your relationship with your customers. We thought we’d share the highlights here.
Social is the Future
Remember when people said social media was for teenagers and nothing lasting would come of it? Well, they were wrong. Obviously. At this point we all know that businesses that don’t acknowledge the power of social media are destined for mediocrity. But the future gets brighter and brighter: according to a recent report by CMO Survey, one fifth of a business’s marketing budget will go toward social in the next five years. Why is this so important? Because, according to Nielson, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family over any other communication. Fanning pulled up the Edelman Trust Barometer and let us see for ourselves: consumers are more likely to trust other consumers these days. At the top of the list are friends, family, employees, etc. At the bottom? CEOs, text ads, display ads, banner ads you get the picture. So what do smart marketers do with this information? They get social and focus on word of mouth.
Solving the Social Media Puzzle Isn’t What You Think
Everyone is trying to solve the social media puzzle, Fanning said. Dividing focus between all these different platforms. But smart marketers don’t focus on platforms: they focus on people.
And while people do spend a lot of time on social media, they spend more time off. Yes, 25 billion conversations happen on social media in a year, but what about offline, says Fanning. Try 750 billion. If you want to get people talking about you offline, then you need to take actions online to drive those conversations. There are a few things that many marketers do that Fanning insists are passé, and offers some different options:
- Instead of disruption, focus on delight. Consumers want to be delighted. Make their lives easier. Do something that helps them. It will have a deeper impact.
- Instead of making them care about you, show you care about them. Get customer obsessed.
- Instead of focusing on high ad spend, focus that spend on WOM. Don’t let your budget cramp your creativity when it comes to getting the world talking about you.
The Essential Elements to a Successful Word of Mouth Marketing Program
Aside from focusing on people and creating experience-driven campaigns that place your customers at the center of all that you do, Fanning offers five essential elements for putting together a successful word of mouth marketing program.
- Credible. Customers don’t trust a lot of marketing efforts these days. If you’re trying to slip them something, they’ll know it.
- Social. Give them the tools they need to share your campaign, make it easy for these conversations to take place.
- Repeatable. Buzz campaigns are over. Instead of focusing time and budget on a flash-in-the-pan scheme that will garner a lot of attention for one stunt, instead aim for something with long-term impact that you can replicate easily.
- Measureable. Fanning emphasized measuring what matters. Not just likes, but engagement, brand lift, and more. Know what you want to measure and do it.
- Respectful. While we hope that our efforts will get our businesses into people’s homes and hearts, there is such a thing as pushing too hard. Be transparent and respect privacy, etc.
Whether you’re to B2B or B2C, every business should focus on being C2C, Fanning says. Get consumers talking about your brand, and the rest comes naturally.
Were you at Fanning’s talk today? Let us know what else you learned in the comments, or subscribe to our blog and follow us on Twitter to keep up with our Social Media Week updates!