SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues.
This week, we asked: Do you discuss products or brands you enjoy on your social media accounts?
- No — 55.91%
- Yes — 44.09%
Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most powerful tools any business has at its disposal — but taking full advantage of it can be easier said than done. Some people are naturally inclined to share products and services they’ve enjoyed in the past, but those people are decidedly in the minority. Even among SmartBrief on Social Media readers, less than half say they talk about brands or products via social accounts. If you want your business to take full advantage of the power of word-of-mouth marketing, you need to do more than just hope people will talk about you.
How can you avoid leaving word-of-mouth to chance? People need a reason to talk about you, such as giving them a story to tell, giving them an interesting feature to discuss or maybe even some kind of incentive to share your story. You also need to make it easy for people to talk about you — giving them brand content that’s easy to share via social networks or reminding them to tell their friends about you at the moment when they’re most delighted with your brand.
Social media can be a powerful ally of word-of-mouth marketing, but it is not a set-it-and-forget-it affair. You need to be constantly working to give your fans something to talk about, so that they’ll be happy to share your story with everyone they know.
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