Managed Word of Mouth-Still Thinking
I just re-read Dave Balter’s Word of Mouth Manual. You might recall that I wrote about it here a few weeks ago. There’s a link to a free download on that last link, and/or a pointer to the physical book on Amazon, in case you want to pick up a copy. I’m still thinking about word of mouth, as Dave lays it out.
Between this book and Andy Sernowitz’s book, I’ve come to realize that I was thinking the whole word of mouth thing was planted people talking about products, street teams, etc. Dave’s book says that’s traditional marketing. Instead, managed word of mouth is just an effort to put products and services in the hands of those who would likely appreciate knowing about them, such that they might choose to evangelize under their own steam. (There’s more to it than that, but that’s the gist).
I think it makes much more sense that giving someone a product they might actually like, and might talk with others about, is a reasonable strategy for driving interest and adoption. If you give Corvida a sneak peak at a software application, and she likes it, she’s going to evangelize it. If you share Guy Kawasaki’s Famous Teriyaki Sauce recipe with someone like Grace Piper, she’ll probably tell folks about it, if she digs it.
I just cant see that it’s wrong. And further, with blogs and podcasts and the like, there’s the ability to spread such word of mouth even further. And the only major important element, just like I mentioned the other day, is transparency. If you’re given something to evaluate, call it out. Don’t make it a big fat issue, but explain that you’ve been given an evaluation copy or the like.
I’m thinking it makes sense, and makes even more sense on the web. What’s your take on this?
Photo credit, suneko
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Is Your Blog For Rent
Great story at Trendspotting (and I’m sorry that I forget who sent me this) about Coke trying to work with 9 bloggers in Brazil about a product rollout, where they sent the bloggers some of the new Coke, designed special front page replacements for their blogs, and summarily got lots of negative coverage for creating what the news media called “rent-a-bloggers.”
Blogging and social media are a great set of tools for promoting products and services by the digital version of word of mouth, but it’s a tricky situation. There are lots of opportunities to raise the ire of your community, and lots of ways that the marketer’s campaign could backfire.
The secret weapon: disclosure.
The best of the word of mouth campaigns that I’ve seen, and the few opportunities I’ve had to be part of a promotion, are executed by using strong rules for disclosure, plus the opportunity for the blogger to take the product or service and do with it as they will (versus sticking very tightly to a message). By allowing the blogger to work within their community and communicate in a way that’s appropriate to the people around them, the campaign’s intent was still spread, but without any kind of degradation of trust or relationships.
My personal examples are the Nikon D60 and the Garmin Nuvi 200. There are two different ways this came about. I’ll explain both.
Two Ways To Manage Word of Mouth Opportunities as a Blogger
Nikon, as you may remember, raised the attention of the blogging world and the mainstream press with their attempt to run an awareness campaign around their D80 product about a year ago. Instead of shying away, they took the lessons learned from that project and rolled it out into the D60 campaign. They contacted me, and here were the basics of the campaign:
- We’d like to send you a camera to use for a small period of time.
- You’re not obligated to blog about it.
- If you DO blog about it, please explain that we sent you the camera for evaluation, that you’re not obligated to blog about it, give full disclosure, etc, etc.
- At the end of the time period, you can send the camera back, or buy it at a discounted rate.
I brought the camera around with me to several conferences over the last few months. Any time someone looked at or talked about the camera, I’d say, “Yeah, this is my blogola. Nikon sent this to me to evaluate. I’m not obligated to write about it. But so far, I’m liking it. It lets even idiots like me snap decent photos.”
There are over 600 photos taken by that camera in my Flickr stream.
And, I can attest that two cameras and accessories were bought based directly on my walking around with the thing, because a good friend bought two for a business project.
So, did that work for Nikon? Did that work for me and my community? I feel it did. I feel like I disclosed, etc, etc.
The other opportunity was Garmin, and this one is more about Twitter, and the power of listening.
I get lost a LOT. Boston isn’t an easy city, and I’m not a very good directions person. Between the two, I had lots of opportunities to tweet that I was lost. In fact, @newmediajim once helped me find where I was in Manhattan while he was home in DC.
One day, I started tweeting things like, “Dear Garmin: I’m lost. If I had you, I wouldn’t be lost any more.” I did it to see what would happen. I did it a lot. And then one day, I got an email. “Dear Chris, we listened. May we send you a journalist evaluation unit?”
I have no obligations to Garmin to do anything with the unit, no request to blog about it, etc. And yet, when I use the thing, I tweet, “Not lost, because Garmin sent me a unit to test out,” or versions of the same.
What do you think? Does that work? Do you think Garmin and Nikon get something out of my efforts?
Considerations for Bloggers and for Marketers
With all that said, consider the following:
- Always be outright and up front. Don’t be OVERLY apologetic or explanatory, but explain it. Disclose whenever you feel you should.
- Make sure the program’s goals can be tracked (as a marketer). If you’re just lobbing your products out there, will you know whether there was any effect?
- Be ready for fallout. Not every blogger has the same motives, nor do they always understand the tactful way to do things. Should there be an issue, it will probably hit hard and fast. Be ready and listening.
- See if there’s a community project you can wrap around the offering. NikonUSA, I’ve observed, does things like hand out cameras to rockstars and then collect the photo albums. Are there other ways to get that kind of pop on the grass roots level as well? (I think they’ve done that, too). Could your project work on both fronts.
- Be clear about what happens at the end of the project, so that expectations are fully met on all sides.
What else? What’s your take on all this? How do you view blogs differently when you feel they are pitching you things? Can YOU tell the difference between when someone says something’s neato, and when someone’s trying to sell for someone?
(By the way, that’s a personal worry of mine all the time. I’m not paid to pitch any one or any thing except my company’s events, and I’m forever worried that when I’m praising something or someone, people will wonder if I’m being paid to do so. Answer: no.)
Is your blog for rent?
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The Social Media 100 is a project by Chris Brogan dedicated to writing 100 useful blog posts in a row about the tools, techniques, and strategies behind using social media for your business, your organization, or your own personal interests. Swing by [chrisbrogan.com] for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them, as this is a group project, and your opinion matters.
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Photo credit, tifotter
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How Does the Internet Impact Consumer Behavior
My friend, Rachelle, from Fleishmann-Hillard sent me this release about her European offices’ recent work on understanding how the Internet affects consumer behavior in Europe.
Key findings:
- The Internet beats TV two to one on influence, and eight to one over print.
- People ask other people for personal purchase advice, but for airline tickets and stuff, they prefer the corporate sites.
- Only 28% of people trust the information they read online, and yet 66% say the web helps them make better decisions. Huh?
- No surprise: different parts of Europe use the web differently: Germany uses more search; the UK has more social networking interest.
The full paper is free to download here.
Photo credit, Paull Young
Whats Your Take on Word of Mouth
The folks at BzzAgent sent me a nifty book, The Word of Mouth Manual: Volume II. Dave Balter writes and Seth Minkin illustrates (some fun stuff, by the way). What’s different about this book than some others, however, is that Dave LIVES this stuff. He’s in the word of mouth business.
Not BzzAgent specifically, but when it comes to “managed word of mouth,” as Dave calls it, I consider some of these plays to be something like when a liquor vendor pays someone to sit at a bar an talk about how much they love new Zima Black. And yet, that’s some of what’s taking place on the web. I’ve been circling these waters at different points over the last few years and have yet to make up my mind completely.
Balter’s point is that very few companies make a product that speaks for itself, and that guided word of mouth is just a way of helping something take root. I get that, and I think I endorse it, but here’s where I stick (and I haven’t read the whole book in detail, so maybe this is covered very well). I need to know that you’re endorsing something. I need to know that someone sent it to you. And then, I’m quite okay.
That’s how I’m handling the few things people have sent me of late:
- Nikon D60 camera. (They want it back, but I guess I can buy it off them).
- Flip Ultra.
- Garmin Nuvi 200 (this is a loaner).
When I meet someone at a conference and I pull out the camera, someone immediately comments. I then immediately reply that Nikon USA sent it to me to check it out and play with. You might notice that I’ve never blogged about the camera. But EVERY single time someone sees it, I talk about the fact it was sent to me. Ditto the Flip, the Nuvi, etc. (In context. I don’t blurt out confessions).
So, if there’s disclosure, I’m really cool with it. If not, it’s lying. (Oddly, I just searched my PDF version of the book for “disclosure” and found zero hits; searched for “lying” and got about a dozen.)
By the way, if you want a FREE copy of the book for yourself, just click that link.
So what’s your take on it? What do YOU think about Word of Mouth and how this all works?
I don’t think you should discount the book. It’s a decent read, full of ideas and arguments. I think it’s worth considering, if only to further your impressions and opinions on the matter. Me? I’m still out. Why don’t you tell me your take?
