Be Heard Among the Herd

Digitally propagated word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing initiatives can reach your target audience in ways traditional means can’t. WOM can also be a far more trusted means of amplifying your messages and driving results in vertical lifestyle markets and niche communities.

Viral seeds, chat room seeding, key blog commentary, message boards, forum contributions, and even SMS (Short Message Service) are just a few of the ways products and services are promoted or demoted on an ongoing basis.

Be Results Oriented

Enter online social spaces liberally and vocally but with a plan of action and an eye to nascent communication protocols—think long-term behavioral loyalty over short-term sale.

WOM works best with easily explained products and value propositions founded upon messaging that establishes future loyalty with new customers and encourages natural WOM among current customers.

A WOM campaign can:

1. Generate Buzz: Advance your brand and accelerate distribution of your message via properly tagged media assets forwarded virally.
2. Enable Proaction: Promote, mitigate, or preempt the effect of breaking news, and/or seed news of your own by engaging in online social dialogs.
3. Enhance Augmentation: Support your existing promotions, draw web traffic and gather consumer input.

Not for Everyone

Interactive engagements with your online target audience within their social networks is smart business. But WOM marketing strategies can negate value if improperly deployed. Push an agenda and social networks tend to roar right back (or bite) if they sense they’re being sold.

Finally, it’s always important to consider the current quality of your brand’s deliverable when developing a WOM strategy. Ultimately, as a marketer, you can’t control what customers say about you online.

Image: bullish1974

Miss Irresistible (Nice Teeth)

Meet Miss Irresistible, the new spokesperson/avatar for P&G’s Crest product line. A self-proclaimed “irresistible babe,” she’s helping brand giant P&G enter the realms of Social Media.

P&G’s Social Media Exploration

Miss Irresistible invites visitors to send a naughty—or nice—personalized e-card from her MySpace site—very “You.”

However, 80% of the real estate on the MySpace page seems designed for a Parent’s magazine print ad—predictable and less “social” than you’d expect.

Although the effort still needs some work, P&G is making the right move. Adopting a Social Media plan, sidestepping potential legal department concerns and institutional resistance to change is a critical move forward for the corporate behemoth.

As quoted on the Cincinnati Enquirer’s website, P&G global marketing officer James Stengel said:

“Consumers are right now very dynamic in their media habits. If you stay in touch with that and you want to be relevant in their lives, obviously, a lot of things change … It’s the same reason we got into television 60 years ago.”

New Media, New Lessons

Some large, less nimble corporations stumble a bit as they grapple with how to enter the Social Media market space.

In a move that drew fire from new media experts, Sears Canada recently launched a so-called Consumer Generated Media (CGM) site—a glossy Flash for Flash’s-sake basic voting booth where visitors could choose one of four catalog covers.

The fear of reprisal isn’t limited to corporate legal and marketing departments. The Internet is rife with examples of traditional corporate Public Relations (PR) handling and mishandling of Social Media events.

Something to Smile About

None of these companies has been ruined by its Social Media experiences. In fact, if embraced and acted upon, each Social Media corporate headline event presents an opportunity to learn and change.

Traditional approaches to marketing, public relations and legal issues can be disconnected in the Social Media marketing space.

Taking time to affirm that the people and firms with whom you’ve aligned have a demonstrated understanding and breadth of experience in the Social Media arena is a proactive step toward making your brand irresistible in a sea of free-flowing Social Media dialog.

On June 11th, Brainstorm Principal Jim Wolfe will conduct a presentation for university admissions professionals at the North American Coalition for Christian Admissions Professionals (NACCAP) 2007 North American convention held at Biola University in Southern California. The session will focus on Web 2.0 and the cultural implications of online social networking when marketing to GenMe individuals.

“This presentation has been in great demand primarily because institutions and corporations alike are becoming increasingly aware of the potential dangers and opportunities of the social networking phenomenon,” according to Wolfe.

Admissions professionals will learn how to leverage Web 2.0 techniques and engage with this illusive demographic.

For an in-depth exploration of how Web 2.0 can affect your enterprise, contact Brainstorm. For a download sample of the Brainstorm higher education presentation, click here:

Brainstorm Web 2.0 | 52KB pdf

And now for something really comforting.

A Secret Revealed

Normally classified, this first-ever release of footage from Rolls Royce documents a “blade off� test—the forced failure of an A380 jet engine blade while the engine is running at full tilt.

Dicey but Good

The goal of this costly and dangerous exercise is to contain the immense energy generated by the blade failure to the the jet’s engine housing. The ability to control and dissipate such violent force could protect passengers and the aircraft itself should an engine ever actually lose a blade in flight.

Patent Goodwill

This footage validates Rolls Royce as a premium brand with a staunch commitment to safety and excellence in design engineering.

The viral distribution of the clip invites the public to become active participants in goodwill marketing on behalf of Rolls Royce—an example of the beneficial side of virally networked, or word of mouth (WOM), public relations. Even better, it’s inexpensive (other than the cost of the sacrificed engine) and more credible than self-sown corporate boasting.

Never Fear

Instead of fearing crowd-sourced mediums like blogs, Digg and YouTube, take time to understand—and embrace—their inherent idiosyncrasies.

If your product or service is sound, social network marketing is a great way to proliferate your message. These days, the greatest danger of online social marketing is not engaging in it.

Twitter.com asks us, simply, “What are you doing?”

What’s a Twitter?

Twitter is an online social community tool that allows people to update friends—and strangers—worldwide about specific moments in their lives.

Users can send updates directly from the Twitter website, text message them from a mobile phone, or instant message them via AIM, Jabber or Gtalk.

Gaining Traction

Hitwise UK Research Vice President Heather Hopkins wrote about Twitter’s surge in popularity in a recent article, but noted a sharp downturn in market share of overall UK internet visits. Her findings indicate Twitter may still be gaining in US popularity against other internet community sites.

(Click charts for larger view.)

Well-known Canadian blogger, Kate Trgovac, has a Twitter widget on her popular MyNameIsKate blog.

Even presidential hopeful John Edwards is Twittering.

Growing Concerns

Power blogger Steve Rubel of Micro Persuasion has written extensively about Twitter lately. He’s even used “addicted” to describe his fascination with the trendy social connection tool. But in a recent article, he suggested Twitter’s lacking revenue stream may prove problematic when US-to-overseas SMS charges roll in.

Twitter has alternately been referred to as micro-blogging, a toy, and a revolution. The question is whether it is a nascent niche player or a bona fide long tail fixture in the social media landscape.

It’s far too early to tell if it has reached its maturation point so early in its life cycle or if the crowd mentality of social networks is just being dismissive and fickle regarding this new concept.

A Twitter Takeaway

Advance preparation and rapid deployment are key in reacting to emergent social networking trends. As you develop integrated marketing strategies, consider augmenting them with a flexible, at-the-ready, component plan designed to capitalize on Twitter-like opportunities as they arise.

Image Source: Inju