Whitepaper on Social Media and Word of Mouth

Here’s our take on Social Media and Word of Mouth, taken straight from our whitepaper. If you’d like to talk more about either subject and how you can use them for your brand, feel free to drop us a line.

Word of mouth (WOM) is nothing new. It has been around for centuries, millennia even. An act of WOM is simply the transmission of communication from one per-son to another. WOM even exists among insects that use chemicals called pheromones, as well as special movements and behaviors to communicate. The point is that WOM exists naturally without the work of marketers. Our job as WOM marketers is to harness the power of conversation by giving consumers something to talk about, and with the use of social media, provide them with the tools to spread your word.

We truly are living in a time of change. Social media signifies an enormous shift in the way people communicate with one another. This is especially valuable for brands as it provides yet another way for companies to reach current and potential consumers in a changing market. Where more traditional forms of advertising have become overcrowded and congested, early adopters of social media have been able to reach their audience to degrees which they previously could not have imagined.

So what is social media, you ask? Simply put, social media is any platform in which someone with an
Internet connection can communicate a message in a public forum. Take for example, blogs, forums, social networks, review sites, video and file sharing services, and virtual worlds, just to name a few.

Using social media tools to reach consumers will allow you to speak directly with them, and create a stronger relationship. This is the type of communication that can turn current and potential customers into life-long brand loyalists, ensuring that your brand is on the minds and in the vocabulary of your greatest asset, happy customers.

What’s most appealing to marketers is that the cost of running a WOM campaign is significantly less than any traditional media campaign but can reach the same amount of consumers, if not more, in new and exciting ways. Additionally, the ability to effectively measure the impact of such campaigns and make adjustments (if necessary to maximize its potential) makes WOM one of the most valuable resources available to marketers today.

How we do it…

Develop
Once we’ve identified the brand-specific strengths, weaknesses and opportunities, we can make recommendations and develop a strategy that will deliver the best possible results and make the most impact for your brand.

Execute
This is where you engage your community on social networks, social bookmarking sites and forums.
Here’s when you run your contest, send product to bloggers, push your content.

Report
By keeping tabs on the accomplishments of your evangelists, observing the changes in web site traffic and conversions, and evaluating impressions, comments, volume of participation, etc., we’ll be able to quantify the value of our efforts.

Still think your target audience isn’t on Facebook?

Often times, business owners and brand managers tend to think that “Facebook is great, but our customers aren’t using it; Facebook is for teenagers.” That logic is simply not true. Recently, Facebook hit the 200 million user mark, making it the largest social networking platform in existence. By not using Facebook, you are missing out on opportunities to connect with your customers that do.

Facebook users aren’t broke, female, college students. Here are some stats on the Facebook user base that just might change your preconceptions:

• 46 million users are older than 35
• 18 million users are over 50 years old
• 116 million have graduated college and beyond
• 58 million users earn over $100,000
• 110 million of them are female, 90 million are male
• 100 million of them have children under the age of 17

Those are BIG numbers. I’m sure your life insurance company would like to connect with the 46 million users that are 35 or older. As well, I’m sure your retirement community may want first dibs on the 18 million users 50+ that are thinking of retirement. By not engaging consumers on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms, you are passing on the opportunity to connect with consumers through the tools and services they use.

If you’d like to talk about how you can connect with your consumers using social media, feel free to give us a call, we’d love to chat.

Traveling via Twitter

On March 1, Twitter user, Paul Smith, started a 30-day journey to travel to New Zealand without spending a dime. Instead, he decided to rely on the generosity of the Twitter community to see how far he could get. The “Twitchhiker” succeeded in traveling 11,000 miles relying solely on donations from other users.

On his blog, Paul writes about his experiences during the trek and posts some amazing photos of the journey, allowing users to see what he sees and interact with him as he travels; all the while raising money for Charity:water, a non-profit organization that brings clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations.

Paul met quite a lot of Twitter users along the way that helped him by giving him rides, food, encouragement, and financial contributions. In his own words, Paul says:

“The Twitchhiker project showed that kindness is universal, that the whole can be infinitely greater than the sum of its parts, and that social media may begin online but it will converge with the real world whenever and wherever you let it. Twitter proved without a shadow of a doubt that it is much more than a social network, but a user-defined network that can be harnessed to change lives and expectations, and provide unique experiences and viewpoints.”

Paul’s story offers a unique view at how powerful connecting through social media can be. Maybe your goal isn’t to travel to New Zealand, but whatever it is there are newer, more creative ways to spread your message. If you’d like to learn how you can do that for your brand, feel free to contact The Cyphers Angency, we’d love to hear from you.

Defining Social Media Experts

Many people have written about the influx of social media “experts” that Twitter and other social media tools seem to have attracted. You may see them refer to themselves as specialists, experts, mavens, consultants, etc. But, with so many “experts” out there, how do you know which ones are real, and which ones are abusing the label? One University is now trying to make the distinction official.

Starting this September, Birmingham City University will be offering a year-long Masters in Social Media course attempting to “explore the emerging area of social media through scholarly research or practice.”

According to Jon Hickman, the course convener:

“During the course we will consider what people can do on Facebook and Twitter, and how they can be used for communication and marketing purposes. There has been significant interest in the course already, and it will definitely appeal to students looking to go into professions including journalism and PR.”

Dr. Hickman offers this video to outline how he sees the MA program:

Is a Masters degree what it takes to prove you are an “expert” in social media? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

Are you More Social than a 5th Grader?

According to UK newspaper, The Guardian, Children across the nation will be taught the ins and outs of a number of social media platforms including Twitter, Wikipedia, blogging, and podcasting tools. These changes are part of a draft proposed to to overhaul the primary school curriculum.

The new curriculum would reflect the biggest change to primary schooling in the past decade. The plan, which strips away hundreds of traditional specifications to allow schools and teachers much more flexibility in what they teach including more modern media and web-based skills.

With the speed at which technology and society shift, schools are often well enough behind the times. This shift in the focus of education marks a HUGE change for the UK school system, one that I personally would love to see here in the U.S.

What do you think? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!

Teen Uses Web for Tuition Help

Michigan high school student, Rachel Harris, recently launched her website, IWantToGoToNotreDame.com in an effort to raise enough money to attend the University of Notre Dame. Her grades are there, she’s got the recommendations and all other qualifications, but the only thing holding her back is the $40,000+ tuition to attend and she has turned to the web for help.

Inspired by the Obama campaign’s use of the Internet to affect change, Rachel hopes that her website will attract people that will help her cause. In her own words:

“Currently I am a senior at Reeths Puffer High School in Muskegon, Michigan. I plan on attending the University of Notre Dame in the fall, to study Biomolecular Engineering, with the ultimate goal of attending medical school and becoming a pediatric endocrinologist. I want to do this because I am a type 1 diabetic, and I want to help children who are going through what I have been through.”

On her site you’ll find her transcripts, letters of recommendation, her application and essay, a bio and details of her academic achievements. Here’s how you can help.

The way in which we use the web and communication is changing. How do you use the web to achieve your goals? If you need help determining successful ways to do that, we here at The Cyphers Agency would love to hear from you.

The Race to Getting More Followers

Don’t get me wrong, we love Twitter. It has become an excellent source for networking, meeting new people, building community, and generating leads. One unfortunate byproduct of this has become a sort of unspoken race to see who can gain the most followers. But, does the number of followers one has determine how important or relevant they are? Not exactly…

There are many instances of attempts by people to gain a large number of followers. See TweeterGetter, the latest pyramid scheme-like system to attracting tens of thousands of followers. It is easy to see why some people have become obsessed with their follower numbers… When you look at people like @ChrisBrogan or @GuyKawasaki it is easy to think that their success stems from the sheer volume of people following them, and who doesn’t want to make $15,000+ per speaking engagement?

Many sources have spoken out about how the number of followers one has does not determine their influence or authority. Here are a few of them:

On Twitter, Followers Aren’t Really Friends

Attention + Influence do not equal Authority

It’s Not How Many Followers You Have That Counts, It’s How Many Times You Get Retweeted

All of this is just to say that as you go about building your Twitter account, remember that it is more about the people and the community you build, connections, and friends you make, than the number of “followers” you have. After all, this is Social Media.

Teenagers and The Internet

A new poll conducted by CyberSentinel, reveals current trends in Internet use by teenagers. On average, they spend 31 hours per week online, almost 4 hours using social networks alone. With this volume of Internet use, and much higher volumes predicted for the near future, you’d be right to assume WOM will have a HUGE impact on how advertisers reach their targets.

Here’s how they are spending their time online:

* Downloading music 1 hour 40 minutes
* YouTube 2 hours 2 minutes
* MSN 3 hours 29 minutes
* Chatrooms 2 hours 5 minutes
* Virtual World sites 1 hour 55 minutes
* Homework/research 3 hours 10 minutes
* Shopping 1 hour 49 minutes
* Auction sites 1 hour 28 minutes
* Cosmetic surgery 1 hour 8 minutes
* Soft porn 1 hour 40 minutes
* Dieting/weight loss 1 hour 35 minutes
* Family planning/pregnancy 1 hour 32 minutes
* NHS Direct/Health 1 hour 22 minutes
* Samaritans 1 hour 1 minute
* Dating 1 hour 15 minutes
* Social networking 3 hours 47 minutes

Millions of Reasons to Find Out What Else your Product Does

Of course you’ve seen the Levis “guys backflip into jeans” video, the Gatorade “amazing ball girl catch,” or maybe even the Corona “beer freezing party trick.” Somewhere in there you’ll find LITERALLY millions of reasons to find out what cool things your product does other than what it’s intended for.

Just like the videos that injected both Diet Coke and Mentos into regular conversation, here are some other videos that created millions of impressions and put their brands in the mouths of consumers:

Corona Beer Freeze Party Trick

Amazing Ball Girl Catch

Guys Backflip into Jeans

Zippo Lighter Tricks