You might say, “That’s not what we meant!”  But understand, blunders can happen. You develop a campaign for your brand (company or personal) and you put it out there through traditional media, online or both. You think you’ve got a great thing going and wham! The bad buzz gets unleashed like hornets from a nest you didn’t mean to disturb. And the hornets aren’t happy. What do you do? Panic? Swat them back, shout obscenities and tell them what you really think?  Crawl into a hole and cancel your Facebook account?

The Lesson…

So before you post on social media or put your message out there, think through how your words and actions can be twisted, then if you are okay with that, and have planned a good response, go with it. Most important, however, is avoid the mountains entirely. Why rile the swarm when you don’t want to? Does this advice doom us all to becoming P.C. bowls of vanilla ice cream? Yes, it does, but as long as you stay true to what makes you genuine, meaningful and different, if it’s vanilla ice cream we must be, it can have a healthy dose of chocolate sauce and a  whole lot of cherries on top.

What is branding? Heart &  Mind® Branding.

The reality is that word-of-mouth marketing happens whether your boss believes in it or not. In fact, people will talk about your brand–good or bad.  That’s the way it’s always been and the way it always will be. Why? Because we are human and with that comes all our human tendencies to want to communicate. So let’s agree that word-of-mouth marketing is happening regardless of whether we believe in it or not. Doesn’t it make sense then to add strategies to guide what people are saying into your marketing plan? Of course it does.

So what kinds of word-of-mouth tactics work? Here’s my list. Feel free to comment and add your own tried and true methods. Just remember, the tactics must be Genuine, Meaningful and Different. No gimmicks that are “off brand,” please, for the sake of earning chatter

Word-of-mouth tactics that work

Build your business on extraordinary service – I just experienced this today. I bought my husband a Sekonda Expose watch while in England a month ago. For some strange reason, it stopped working. I contacted Sekonda and they are sending a replacement from the UK (with their sincere apologies) at no cost to me.  That’s extraordinary service.

Align with a cause – I was at an event recently and the speaker was talking about the power of relationships in building business.  He asked, how many of us had seen a Geico TV commercial. All 400 of us raised our hands. He asked, how many of us have Geico insurance. About eight people raised their hands. Not good. Then he asked how many of us ever heard of Girl Scout Cookies. We all raised our hands. (You know where I’m going…) When he asked how many of us buy Girl Scout Cookies, nearly every hand in the room was up. Case closed.

Make people laugh – My only answer to this is…”Hello, ladies.  I’m the man your man could smell like.” Of course I’m talking about the Old Spice campaign that has created more word-of-mouth buzz than just about any other in recent years. And did you hear, sales of Old Spice have doubled since the spots hit YouTube.

Create unforgettable “moments” – If making people laugh isn’t part of your brand story, then make them talk about you through “moments.”  It’s easier than you think. If you first understand that “moments” are the language of the heart and that we buy with our emotions, then you’ll see the connection. Even if you have no budget for this, you can create a “moment” by doing one simple no-cost thing:  making everyone you meet know they are special in your eyes.  We all want that in life, and it happens so seldom.

Find the hubs – It’s not that everyone doesn’t do some talking about their likes and dislikes with a product or service, it’s just that some do more talking and are more influential than others.  Your job is to seek out the ones who not only talk more, but who have more connections.  You’re also looking for people who bind different groups–connectors you might call them.  These are influencers who can leap frog your brand exponentially overnight.  Who’s the grand dame of all hubs?  Oprah of course.  But if you can’t get on Oprah, look a little closer to home, every town has influencers with lots of connections and lots to say.

Of course whatever you do, understand that word-of-mouth can take some time to build. And like any marketing you do, you must sustain it.  Too often people quit before they get any momentum. Recognize that we are trying to move people to action. And oh, are we stubborn! We don’t like change and we are slow to act without a tantalizing call to action.  That leads to my final comment.  There are no silver bullets.  Word-of-mouth is the best form of marketing money can’t buy, but it is even more effective when integrated with solid PR, online, advertising–a fully branded campaign that includes all the tactics that make you look formidable, credible, and trustworthy.  So go for it buzz-builders! Do what it takes to get some quick results and measure, measure, measure! That should keep the naysayers in the C-suite quiet until at least the next board meeting…short memories!

What is branding? Heart &  Mind® Branding.

Enter the 60′s when few mod girls wanted their guys smelling like their uncool “establishment” dads. And the 70′s disco era brought on designer fragrances like Pierre Cardin with its phallic-shaped bottle conjuring up images of bare-chested, disco-dancing  John Travolta, not dear old dad.

Tough market. The 80′s and the 90′s weren’t any more friendly; Old Spice was what grandpa smelled like, not Rick Springfield or Kurt Cobain. Old Spice seemed dead in the water never to be resurrected again.  Until…2010 and one of the most brilliant brand revivals ever staged.  Maybe it is because most original Old Spice wearers are long gone, may they rest in peace. Or maybe it is the brilliance of branding–specifically writing and casting–that has put Old Spice back on the map. Whatever it it, a brand that seemed all but gone is back. 

As if the first ads touting the product weren’t breakthrough enough, enter Isaiah Mustafa, the man your man could smell like and his follow-up YouTube responses to viewer comments. Videos feature “the man” in his iconic towel answering real posts from Justine Bateman, Alyssa Milano, George Stephanopoulos, and others.  Well written, well executed, once you watch one, you’ll watch them all.  And share them too. What a fantastic use of social media and video.

Officially, we’ll call Old Spice a brand resurrected, made relevant, and desirable to a whole new market of people who have no clue that Old Spice smelled like their grandfathers. Branding magic at its best.

What is branding? Heart &  Mind® Branding.

Blunder #1.   Spending too little time developing your brand voice.

What is a brand voice? Simply put, it’s your brand’s online personality, and it should be genuine to you and your organization.  Whether you are fun or serious, direct or low key, educational or inspirational…pick a voice and stick to it.  This is the first step to creating a standout persona on the web.  ACTION:  Figure out your voice (an important part of your messaging) before you even bother uploading a logo or photo album. Click here to order “The New Brand…YOU” audio CD and workbook.

Blunder #2.   Assuming each platform serves the same audience.

The small talk you make at a business cocktail party would be different than chatting with your friends on a night out, right?  We hope you answer “yes.”  Well, each social media platform, like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, has different audiences who have unique expectations.  Posting the same messages across all platforms can make you look socially inept.  ACTION:  Don’t take a “one size fits all” approach.  Tailor your message to your audience just like you would in the real world and even in traditional media.  It’ll save you hours of time and lots of frustration.

Blunder #3.   Spreading yourself too thin.

Are you a member of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, MySpace, Bebo, Friendster and Meetup?  Does your home page, with all its social icons, look like a catalogue of social media outlets?  Are you letting your sites sit inactive with just your company name, one photo of your co-worker at the holiday party and a single post from 3 months ago?  If so, you just wrote the book on how to lose brand respect.  Stop the madness!  ACTION:  Find the top platforms that are attracting the people you are serving or want to serve, and post quality content.  Get rid of the platforms that miss the mark.  Then actively post a few times per day.  You aren’t jelly.  Stop spreading yourself so thin.

Blunder #4.   Becoming a “used car salesman.”

Do people really look at a used car salesman and think, “I wish I could sell like that”?  If so, sorry but…YIKES!  Social media marketing is not a place to use your “hard-sell method.”  Social marketing is about building communities, engaging in conversation, monitoring feedback, sharing information and in the process creating brand loyalty.  ACTION:  Ask the people you serve what they really want and need from you, and build content from there.  Empathize with them.  When you do, you can really stand out.

Blunder #5.   Missing the benefits of blogging.

We live in the world of the expert, and carving out your own niche is what gets you in the game.  Blogging is how you showcase and share your knowledge while you create interesting content for the people you serve.  A good blog keeps people coming back to your website time and time again.  (That’s the goal.)  Place a blog on your website and it not only declares your own and your company’s opinion, but also boosts your search engine rankings.  Two big advantages!  ACTION:  Get blogging.  We get it.  You’re busy and don’t have time to write a blog.  Well, be creative.  It doesn’t have to be a time-intensive project.  Post an image or a link along with your comment.  It’s an easy way to provide content to your site.   Post daily, weekly and schedule posts in advance.  Or hire a writer to do it all for you.  You can’t afford to miss this, and now that you know, you have no excuse.

If any of these hit home, don’t worry, it’s not too late to adjust.  Remember, making your business “social” is all about building relationships, not selling.  So for those of you are already taking advantage of social media, this list will help refine what you’re doing.  It helps you analyze and adapt.  For those of you who have not yet gotten social, avoid these blunders and get started…it’s really that simple.

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding.

The “Tell You Everything” Tell All. “Slept 8 whole hours!” “Had oatmeal for breakfast.” “Paid my bills.” If you think this is fascinating, it’s not.  While some events may be interesting, your multiple Facebook friends probably don’t care if you’re going to sleep or about every meal you had to eat today.

The “My Life is Awesome” Person. We all have triumphs that we want to let people in on.  In some cases, Facebook is a great way to let people know something special that is going on.  Keep in mind though, after a while your friends get sick of you rubbing it in that you just got a promotion, have a new car, your relationship is perfect, and are going on yet another vacation.

The Over-Friender. People with friends between 150-300 are believable.  You have high-school, college and post-grad friends.  Those of you who are more social can have in the 300-400 range.  Those of you with 500, 600, 700 + friends…you’re not fooling anyone.  You can’t possibly care what all of those people are doing.  Meeting someone in line at the grocery store does not mean you need to immediately find and friend them on Facebook.

The Tell-It-All Person. “Hitting up Walgreens for tampons.” While that is true, no one in your social network wants to know that information.  In fact, you probably lose friends weekly for the inappropriate posts.  If you have a fight with your spouse, find out a friend is cheating, or have a weird mole that needs to be checked out…please keep that information limited to the people who actually need to know.

The “Needs a Dictionary” Person. “R U going 2 go 2 the seminar 2 get new biz on friday?”  While the rules of digital speak are different than writing an essay, does it really take that much more effort to spell out the word “you” or capitalize the day of the week?

The Reporter. “Kate Gosselin is causing so much drama on ‘Dancing with the Stars” is not something you should be concerned with posting.  In fact, if people really want to read that information they’ll check out people.com.  With all of the ways to get news these days – text message alerts, daily email updates, google alerts, not to mention countless websites for every subject matter possible, do not kid yourself in thinking you are or need to be the source of people’s news.

The “Debbie Downer” Person. “My life sucks!”  “Could today get any worse?”  “I can’t wait until this week is over.”  We all have bad things happen to us.  If you feel the need to talk about it, call a friend or send an email.  Don’t bring the rest of us down.

The “Photo Freak” Person. Pictures from an event are always fun to see on Facebook.  Pictures of your friend at an event spilling their drink and falling over are not.  Facebook is a public place, please don’t prevent your friends from getting a job or being judged by their current colleagues because every moment of their personal life is publicized and posted immediately courtesy of you.

The “Event Sender/Game” Person. Between the games (Farmville, Café World, Mafia Wars), causes “Sign my petition” “Take this quiz,” gifts “Accept this heart” “Accept this drink” “Accept this pair of shoes,” and “Come to my event, even if you live in another state”…Facebook can be a full-time job.  If you have the time to send out 50 hearts, shoes, invite everyone you know to an event and play games on Facebook all day, good for you.  The rest of us however have jobs and responsibilities.  Let Facebook be a site to connect and look at some photos, not something like going through your spam folder.

So what should you post on Facebook?  Like we mentioned before, it’s anything so long as it’s in moderation.  If it’s a celebration, go ahead and post those pictures.  If it’s 60 pictures of your child or dog at once, don’t.  We’re not saying you can’t post a picture of your child or dog, but we don’t need to see an entire album dedicated to their first bath.  Listen to that little voice in your head.  If you feel like you’re showing off, you’re over-indulging, you’re over-posting…you probably are.

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding.

To put it in business terms: using social media is a great way to build relationships with people who may or may not be your customers by attracting them to your brand, letting them get to know you and what you stand for and nurturing as many of them as you can to the level of brand enthusiast.  At last, the Internet has become a powerful vehicle for delivering the heart aspects of a brand.  It has always been good delivering the mind-based facts.

I call the branding world we live in today “The Post-Obama Era” because at just about the time of his inauguration, the lid was blown off of the box that was containing social media and labeling it a time waster for the world’s youth. Finally the online brand-building strategies we have been recommending to many and being accepted by few has now gone mainstream…almost.  Connecting with the many to win their hearts and minds (in that order), a main tenant of Heart & Mind™ Branding, has never been more attainable for such a low relative cost.

I encounter my share of skeptics who say, “I tried Twitter and it doesn’t work.” Or, “I hired someone to get me on Facebook and it was just a waste of money.”  My responses to statements like these are usually in the form of probing questions, the most telling of which is, “How long have you been working on it?”  Usually they say a few months and sometimes less.  At that point, I know.  They haven’t given it a fair shake.

In that short of a time span, people who can likely buy their services or products haven’t even had a chance to find and form a relationship of any sort with them. Think about it.  It’s a rare person who is ready to get married after dating just a month or two.  And it’s an even rarer person who marries someone he or she doesn’t know…without alcohol being involved.

How soon we forget that campaigning for the 2008 presidential primaries started in 2006.  Obama and his legions spent two years, maybe more, planning, building followers and swaying voters to his camp.  How much time have you worked your social media strategy before throwing up your hands?  Is it that social media doesn’t work, or is it that you haven’t worked social media?

Remember Newton’s First Law of Inertia, otherwise known as Heasley’s First Law of Consumerism: An object (or consumer) at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by an equal and opposing force.  And in Heasley’s Law, acted upon means acted upon often.

If you are old enough to have spent some time or any time doing traditional marketing or traditional media buying, then you know how long it takes and how many impressions you must make on a person to get him or her out of the chair. It took a lot in the pre-Obama era and it takes even more now.  The Post-Obama Era is an exponentially more cluttered world than before.

So my point is before you discount the very strategies and tactics that handily won a presidential election in 2008 and possibly even won a Nobel Peace Prize, make sure of the following:

• Be sure you are working with someone who knows how to do more than set up a Facebook page and a Twitter account.  Social media like any other media endeavor requires a strategic branded approach.  It requires marketing experience and technical know-how mixed with extreme passion and dedication.  This is not for dabblers.  There’s too much to know,  and too much to learn in an environment of constant change.  It’s easy to fall behind; take a vacation and you’re out of it!
• Infuse the principles of Heart & Mind® Branding into what you do.  Make yourself  genuine, meaningful and different. Depth on your posts matter. This is your chance to look like a leader.  I know some companies hire high school kids to work their fingers posting. That scares me.  Kids may be bright, get the technology and be very cheap labor, but are they savvy enough to position you and your company as a leader?  I don’t think so.  Your reputation is on the line.
• Set goals and keep adjusting your online strategy to meet them. Like anything else in marketing, it takes trial and error to find the home runs.  Most people give up too soon. Know what success looks like and head there, adjusting as you go.  If success was easy everyone would be successful, and clearly that’s not the case.  The people who don’t give up are the ones who win.
• Understand that social media is media; just like TV, radio and newspapers are media.  If you put garbage into a TV or radio commercial, would you expect the commercial to drive any business your way?  Of course not. Why then would anyone think social media would be different?  So as Heart & Mind® Branding teaches us, make what you do meaningful to your audiences. Show, don’t tell and never blatantly promote.  You want someone who can generate excitement and buzz, not just post a few happenings here and there. That takes a creative, strategic marketing mind.
• And finally, the magic comes through creativity. Yes just because your mom has a Twitter account doesn’t make her a creative marketer. You want a creative marketing mind who understands this new medium and how it connects with the rest of the online and 3-dimensional worlds. Social media is just one strategy and most seasoned marketers know there is no one strategy that will drive success. It takes a blend of strategies creatively working together.

The Post-Obama Era brings with it business opportunities like the world has never seen before.  But let’s not mistake opportunity for ease.  Success in this era will take work. Lots of it, in new ways.  Seize social media now and you’ll be ahead in the game. Wait too long and you may struggle just to get in it.

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding.