Mouth-to-mouth marketing (WOM) is a technique that consists of taking advantage of the most powerful channel to publicize the benefits of a brand: conversations between people. It is the strategy, or the set of these, with which the aim is to make the audience talk about a company, about its products, about its services, about its qualities or any point of interest.
On paper, it’s a pretty interesting concept, and about practice too. However, getting that word of mouth is something that requires certain measures by the marketing team that tries to achieve that result. You have to show interest for the clients, with some type of compensation; elaborate some interesting story or detail about the brand; facilitate the dissemination of the content that explains it and reinforces everything that allows it to spread.
In order to achieve good word-of-mouth marketing, especially a positive one, the company must strive to leave a positive impression among its clients. In fact, your clients are the best agent to act as a brand ambassador. This is the only impression that can get people talking about what is offered.
This type of marketing takes something tremendously traditional, but at the same time, it is effective. Conversations between consumers can be the best way to publicize what a company does.
How Does Word-Of-Mouth Marketing Works?
Word-of-mouth marketing serves to reinforce the presence of a brand in different consumer circles. Getting these to be expanded through an effective dissemination campaign is one of the priorities of any company. It is the most effective way for you to get positive marketing effect..
The advantage of this marketing is that it does not require to make powerful investments. In addition, it can arise in a natural way just by reinforcing the positive values ??of a company. If a firm treats its clientele well and satisfies its needs correctly, it can make this happen without much effort. Of course, this translates into greater visibility for new consumers through the satisfaction of those who are already customers.
It improves the image, attracts leads and generates income. It is full of advantages.
Examples of Marketing mouth-to-mouth
To give examples of Marketing mouth-to-mouth, imagine that you want to reinforce your presence. If your service is good, your clients are satisfied and can suggest to other users to count on you to buy certain products or services you sell.
In this way, you would receive a completely effective promotion and without lifting your finger on it.
How To Optimize Word-Of-Mouth Marketing In Social Media
Users rely on social media apps to decide where to go, what to buy, and what to do. In fact, 92% of consumers trust the opinions of people close to those they know, and 77% of consumers are more likely to buy a product when recommended by a friend or relative. Word of mouth marketing can be up to 10 times more effective than traditional advertising.
You may think that word of mouth marketing is easy to generate. However, making your establishment, product or service go viral is not easy. How can we turn our consumers into brand advocates?
How can we get our message to go viral? Next, let’s look at 5 ways to implement word of mouth marketing in your SME in a simple way:
1. Exceed the expectations of your customers.
According to the Entrepreneur website, “companies should focus on turning consumers into fans who can not stop talking about the brand.” This goes far beyond providing excellent service. Word of mouth marketing is generated when we surprise the customer.
We must remember that it is not so much what is given or the promotions that are made, but rather the treatment and communication. How can the consumer experience be improved? A good example is Colorado’s Vail Resorts, which launched an app that connected customers to social networks.
It allowed that the guests of the five tourist centers saw their performance and could share it in social networks. Clients could see where to ski, what clues, how much they traveled, etc. This app encouraged clients’ motivation and made them want to share their achievements.
In December 2012, 100,000 guests used the app in the Resort, generating more than 35 million connections. With this, Colorado`s Vail Resorts managed to exceed the expectations of its customers, creating a perfect word of mouth marketing.
2. Play with the surprise factor
The brands not only have to satisfy the customer with a product or service, but they have to surprise. How can they get it? By transforming a satisfactory experience into a special experience. For example, if you have a hotel whose client orders a breakfast service, you can send a handwritten note thanking them for their trust from the reception, generating the surprise factor.
It is likely that afterward, customers leave positive comments on portals such as Booking or TripAdvisor. Thus, a very positive word of mouth will be generated, encouraging other consumers to visit the establishment.
3. Allow your customers to leave comments
When you want to start with a word of mouth marketing campaign, the worst thing you can do is make it difficult for customers to leave comments about your company. You should make it easier for customers to leave comments and ratings about your brand. Make sure you allow comments on your Facebook and other social media profiles.
Another option is to create automated marketing campaigns so that users can value your business in portals such as Google My Business or Yelp in a simple way. You also have to allow consumers to give feedback directly on your brand’s website.
For example, the brand 3M ESPE, of dental products, allowed such a simple system for the Feedback that the valuations on the brand increased by 200% in just three days. A website like Google My Business and Yelp can facilitate the creation of reviews and opinions of your users.
4. Establish measurable goals
Like any other marketing strategy, goals such as “making everyone talk about my brand” are too generic to be effective. In marketing plans, goals must be established that are measurable.
For example, “we want X new consumers this month”, “we want X publications in press this month”, “we want to generate X potential customers this month”. Each goal should have time and budget limits for its realization.
5. Keep customers informed with your latest update
Public relation is a very effective way to keep your brand on everyone’s lips. A social media marketing should foster the relationship with local media, newspapers, and radios. In addition, social networks are tools that will allow us to reach a large part of our public (and for free).
Therefore, do not neglect the strategy in social networks, one of the best ways to generate conversation is through these tools. Keep users informed of all news about your brand, answer their comments and actively participate in conversations that are generated in social networks.
Creating a word-of-mouth marketing strategy is not easy. However, it helps a lot to make your business profitable on the Internet, and in addition, following these tips you can achieve it.
6. Promote your campaign in multiple channels
If you carry out a Facebook campaign, all your fans will see it, right? Not necessarily. The decline in Facebook’s organic reach affects some industries more than others. For example, if your page gets 4% organic reach, this means that 4 out of 100 of your fans will see your campaign.
So, the best thing is to promote your Facebook campaign in all available channels. Make sure to promote your campaign on Twitter, on your company’s blog or your website, Pinterest, send an email to your database, and even promote it on offline media. For example, you can use posters or brochures.
Also, include a link in all your digital channels so that participants can access your campaign in a single click. A poster that promotes a word of mouth campaign will attract consumers who may not be as active on social networks with brands. In addition, this audience may share this news beyond your social circle.
Therefore, the likelihood of having a new group of followers increases.
Electronic devices such as iPads or laptops are a very common prize among businesses. However, these awards will not attract quality participants. The bounty hunters only go after this type of awards and they will never become your customer.
So, the most advisable thing is to give something that relates to your brand or business. At times, it is difficult to identify what is a valuable reward. This is where the power of social media kicks in. You can ask your fans for their opinion on the ideal prize for them!
If you choose an award that relates to your brand or business, this will bring you greater benefits. For example, Xiaomi is a Chinese company that sells smartphones. These phones are sold in seconds every time a new model goes on sale online.
Now, you can think that a valuable prize related to this business would be a smartphone, right? Well, there is a more interesting reward. And NO, even giving two smartphones are not what I have in mind. In fact, Xiaomi has way better strategy.
As smartphones are very popular and users are already willing to buy the product, Xiaomi thought of another reward. They offer their fans on Facebook a smartphone pre-sale! In this way, they will have in their hands the smartphone that everyone wants before the rest of the users.
By understanding what your consumer wants, you will be able to attract more participants, have happy winners and lower your costs.
8. Campaigns should be easy to understand
Word of mouth campaigns should be very easy for everyone to have an opportunity to enter. If the process is very complicated, the conversions will decrease. Currently, developing an online game from scratch can cost you $ 15,000.
If the game is very complicated for your audience, all your money, effort and time will go to waste. Also, if the game does not give you the conversions you expect, it does not make sense to develop something that is so complicated. Many of the campaigns that I see on Facebook only require its participants to “Like” the post and share it.
The reason? The simple competitions do not require much effort from the participants. Therefore, it raises the possibility of entering without difficulties. If you want to hold a contest, make sure that your mechanics and questions are simple.
Better yet, ask questions that promote your business. For example, asking where your new branch is. As a result, it can promote the new location of your business and your participants can answer quickly.
9. Make product launch special
Announcing your Facebook contest just at the time of the launch will bring you a certain number of participants. However, creating teasers before the contest will help you increase the number of participants. In fact, it is statistically proven that making sequential publications generates more conversions than single publications.
Nobody likes to miss great opportunities. Then, replicate this in your Facebook contest. When your fans are excited, they will create that expectation. When people are exposed to that expectation, they will also want to join in the fun!
10. Your campaign must be available for mobile devices
89% of smartphone users use their phone during the day and those who are active on social networks, need their mobile devices to access their accounts. It is essential that your campaign is available for mobile devices. If you carry out a photo contest, make sure your participants can upload their photos directly from their smartphone.
Any inconvenience in this aspect can alienate your participants. Your participants depend on their mobile devices to enter their social networks. So, if your word of mouth campaign is not mobile-optimized, you leave money on the table (and that’s a lot)
To Sum up
If a word of mouth campaign is designed and executed efficiently, then the short- and long-term benefits will be evident. Word of mouth campaigns are an excellent way for your consumers to interact with your brand through social networks, which allows them to build increasingly strong bonds of trust. Even if your budget is limited, you can carry out these campaigns.
With a little effort on your part, your consumers will spread the word about your brand! A well-crafted word-of-mouth campaign will attract the right audience, grow your business and allow you to build win-win relationships with your consumers.
What Now?
Do not be afraid to give free rein to the imagination, creativity will help you generate word of mouth. This form of communication is one of the most effective forms of advertising, since each satisfied customer can recommend your business to dozens of other customers. What are you waiting to start your strategy?
Have you tried any of these techniques yet? Tell us in the comments ?
This definitely explains word of mouth marketing in the simplest way possible, thank you.
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