In my previous post I’ve shared with you pearls of wisdom from Emanuel Rosen – author of “The Anatomy of Buzz” (2000) and “The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited” (2009) – about Word of Mouth (WOM) and why it’s important.
In this post I’ll summarize his advice on HOW TO stimulate buzz.
- Find good stories. What is the story behind your brand/company? How was it created? Why was it created? Bring that story to the surface, help people relate. And don’t focus on the product, focus on people behind your stories! Make video about your story and share it – videos help establish that human connection much easier than the written word. Take for example the story of Brian Maxwell, Canadian marathon runner and the founder of PowerBar – the snack bar recipe that was developed by Brian and his wife in their own kitchen to help him and other athletes in their endurance competitions.
- Evoke emotional response. The “wow” effect is the strongest thing that creates buzz. Look for that “wow” effect and how you can delight customers every step of the way from inquiry to delivery of your product.
- Allow customers create visual buzz for you. A lot of what we learn comes from our observations and not from words. Just think of Livestong’s yellow band – it is immediately recognizable. Almost all of the C2C value comes from people seeing the brand within their social networks.
- Give customers something to talk about. Provide them with new content constantly. Give them ‘something’ to talk about and make sure that that ‘something’ relates to the product and illustrated a good and relevant point about that product. Example: Red Bull’s slogan is “Red Bull Gives You Wings.”
The Flugtag competition they hold in multiple cities every year illustrates that very well – people design their own human flying machines/gliders and fly off the 30ft ramp into the river. Participants are judged by: distance, creativity of craft, showmanship – pre-flight 30 second skit. The event attracts thousands of people every year and creates a ton of buzz. I know, I went to the one held in Portland. - Encourage participation. Whatever that may be: voting, reviews, creation… BlendTec got over 1,000 requests from users to blend and iPhone, so they did it! Their video created buzz for a while (almost 8 million viewed their video) and they were one of the most talked brands.
- Encourage self-expression and creativity. When we create, we share our creations with others, there is a human need to brag about the fruits of our labor. M&M now allows you to put your name on M&M candy – “I can guarantee no one eats that candy in the dark room all by themselves,” says Emanuel.
- Make it easy to spread the word (online and offline). Whatever it is: coupons, videos, pictures, cards… Add a “tell-a-friend” mechanism, look for pass-along opportunities, teach your fans how to post and share on Facebook… Or have a “free scoop of ice-cream day” like Ben and Jerry’s. There is a tradition – once a year you walk into their store and get a free scoop of ice cream. A couple of days before the “free scoop day” on Facebook a picture of a gift appears that you could share with friends – in 24 hours half a million Facebook fans shared it with their friends.
- Listen. On Twitter, blogs, YouTube, etc. If you listen to what people want and you answer by providing it you will get positive buzz.
5 tips to get you started:
- Start with current buzz – listen
- Add a tangible element
- Create an event (special event)
- Run a simple tell-a-friend promotion
- Ask your customers to tell their stories and put them on your website
Anything else you would like to add to this list?