Building Buzz
Buzz.
An onomatopoeia (yes, it’s a real world, look it up) so powerful that entire disciplines are dedicated to pursuing, generating, harnessing and maintaining it. In communications, marketing, branding and stakeholder engagement, it is a defining factor of success, and, following the social media explosion, is the reason and purpose behind the term “going viral.”
I recently read an interesting article by Angelo Fernando in this month’s edition of IABC’s CW. In it, Angelo discusses the importance of buzz to Word of Mouth (WOM) marketing, in particular.
“Buzz has evolved from a hyped up tactic to an activity that delivers measurable results,” says Angelo.
Think about some of the most recognizable and successful brands in the world. Every single one of them has employed WOM tactics, purposefully or not. Mac, for example, through their unparalleled quality and fresh approach, has generated an incredibly loyal following. They are not known for their competitive price point, but people associate their products with good quality because Mac owners are often very passionate about the product.
And what about negative WOM? Angelo notes that “while people do spread buzz about bad experiences, conversations about brands are largely positive, at a ratio of 8 to 1.”
With the band of big brands entering the social media space, proactive organizations can be especially effective at combating negative WOM. Blogs and forums are often where the conversation starts, and there have been instances of company spokespersons– those that dilligently monitor the space– quelling the fire before it spreads. A great example of proactive WOM management in the SM space is Tropicana whom, upon announcing a product packaging change, received so much push-back from their followers that they quickly made the decision to move the packaging change to another line (Note: Understand that for a multi-million dollar organization to make a change that big on the complaints of their Twitter followers is progressive, to say the least). The result? I heard that story from a contact, and you can bet he heard it from one of his. The effect of that quick judgement in a relatively new space is impressive enough to generate some serious WOM cred.
Is there something that a big brand is doing that you like/dislike? Play with the power of buzz and Word of Mouth and watch the news catch like wild fire.
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