The 5 most-clicked links in SmartBrief on Social Media this past week:
- 6 quick conversation starters for your blog
- Social media is scary. Not doing social media is scarier
- 5 ways to make a message viral on Twitter
- 6 steps to authentic word-of-mouth
- Four case studies on building customer loyalty with social media
Image credit, iStock (read more…)
A great word-of-mouth topic is anything portable, repeatable and emotional. It’s not brand attributes or official messages. Because regular folks don’t repeat brand messages, it’s up to you to find the topics that people will talk about.
What to do:
- Add remarkable features. Adding something special or unique to your product can be a great topic, such as the original pink and purple iMacs.
- Look for existing conversations. If an existing conversation is already taking place about you, that means there’s already a topic. Jump in and help it spread.
- Perform stunts. A great publicity stunt — even when executed on a tiny budget — will offer people an exciting topic to share with their friends.
The rotten economy isn’t killing newspapers, it’s just pulling the proverbial plug on a senescent patient. How else to explain a study by the Bivings Group — referenced here on the blog at the Knight Digital Media Center — that found that “only 10 percent of the top 100 newspaper sites in the United States had 
implemented social networking tools.”
The Washington Post, always ambitious in the realm of online media, is trying something interesting: a wiki-like directory of government power players called WhoRunsGov.com. It’s in the very early stages; as of this writing, its section on House staff only contains four profiles. To succeed, The Post will have to build up a critical mass of users to the point where it becomes a professional embarrassment not to have a profile up.
Even if it does succeed, the question is “So what?” A searchable, interactive database of government workers may be a killer app for journalists looking for sources and D.C. (read more…)
A recent study by the CMO Council found that more than half of the companies surveyed had no programs to track word of mouth. Without a basic system of measurement, you’re shooting in the dark with your word-of-mouth efforts. And while there are some great vendors out there who offer sophisticated measurement systems, you can start a basic word-of-mouth tracking system tomorrow, for free.
What to do:
- Examine your “How did you hear about us?” responses. By simply asking your customers how they heard about you, you’ll discover major sources of conversation about your brand.
- Analyze tell-a-friend usage. A tell-a-friend form is just as good as any other lead source, and it can be a key measurement point for determining which Web pages, newsletters, or blog posts are driving word of mouth.
- Review e-mail offers. When you send out e-mail offers, track the customers who were not included in the original contact list.
The Social Media Announcement
A co-worker of mine r
eceived a message via Facebook from his mother in law: a simple “hello there.” Thinking she already knew her other daughter was pregnant, my colleague posted a big “Congratulations!” on her wall. Naturally, the pregnancy was news to her—and he was lambasted for spoiling the surprise. The cruel lesson he learned was that sometimes news travels faster in social media than in real life.
In business, similar scenarios are just as likely — and quite possibly more dangerous. If you have an itchy trigger finger and have the urge to get that press release, media advisory, or product announcement out there (via Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc.) before the official “green light” has been given, think again. Social media carries remarkable speed, and once it’s out of your hands, there’s no delete button to make it all better.
So let’s hear from you: Is the intersection of personal and professional via social media more likely to create opportunity or disaster? (read more…)
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