Promoting won't get you WOM - unless you're a coupon

While I am on the topic of Authenticity and how it is such a key component to success these days, I wanted to bring another topic into the conversation - how does it help you build "Word-of-Mouth" with your audience.  From a business perspective, this is the holy grail - "getting more of the right people talking more about you."

To start with, it is key to understand that Word-of-Mouth from a positive perspective only comes from someone that has a certain degree of trust with you.  If someone doesn't trust you, even in the slightest way, they won't talk positively about you and spread the word - won't happen.  So your first order of business is to create some level of trust with your audience.  The ideal of course is to have a great deal of trust and a relationship - this gives you massive word-of-mouth.  Also, it is important to remember the degree or intensity of their word-of-mouth is also proportional to the amount of trust you have earned - more trust = more passion in their word-of-mouth.

Another key ingredient is this issue of promotion.  Too many people today are using social media for "promotion" and somehow believe they will increase their word-of-mouth if they do more of it.  That is so "90s and doesn't work in today's connected world, unless you are a "coupon" that someone wants to share.  If you're not, then you need to step away from the microphone and let your customer or prospect or partner or employee have turn.  They need to talk to you so you can understand what they need from you.

Look at it this way.  If you were at a party and standing in a small group of people and all you were doing is promoting and talking about yourself, how long do you think it would be before everyone left the conversation - not long.  In an earlier post I talked about the concept of "It's all about Me" which talked  about our new world and audience.  The question to ask yourself is, "If you are always promoting, how does your audience get to know the real you and if they don't get to know the real you, why would you expect them to talk more about you in an authentic way and build more word-of-mouth?"  They can't and they won't.

You  can really create a desire in people to talk more about you and talk about you through the most powerful sales and marketing tool ever invented, "word-of-mouth".  Just stop promoting and start listening and engaging in an authentic way and as they get to know and appreciate the real you, they will be anxious to spread the word - which is what it's all about.

Authenticity is an "accelerator"

One of the wonderful aspects social media has brought to the forefront is the need to be authentic.  This was never a problem decades ago when everyone pretty much knew you and what you were about so it wasn't a big issue.  But as we have spread out around the world it has been much easier to "hide" and "pretend" to be something you're not - until social media arrived.

Now there are multiple ways, thanks to the tools of social media, for people to find out the "real you" - it is much more difficult to hide and pretend.  Those that get this and are naturally authentic individuals are leading the pack in using this to their advantage.  Those that are still trying to hide are being discovered and discarded.  Unless you are a "coupon" that is being sent out, you need to demonstrate authenticity to win your audience over.

The beauty of authenticity is that your audience actually wants to get to know you and learn more about you and see all your strengths and warts. This is what makes us human.  Regardless of whether it is personal or business, the sooner you get to authenticity, the sooner you will begin to build TRUST and as you continue to build trust, you are able to start building a RELATIONSHIP with that person or your audience.  But the core ingredient is authenticity.  The Relationship Management Institute gives you a much deeper look into what makes up authenticity in their post, "The Journey Towards Authenticity."

Social media simply allows you to do it much faster and more effectively than ever before.  There are many more ways people can see who you are and what you are about by what you say, write, comment, respond, etc.  Social media simply allows your audience to "peel back the onion" on you and begin to see who you really are by what you say, who you interact with, what you support, etc.  The good news - those who have nothing to hide can use these tools to really accelerate their relationships and build a solid following faster than ever before and more globally.  The pretenders or posers will eventually  be discovered and discarded.

Getting "It's all about ME" to work for you

There is absolutely, positively no doubt in the world today that the key mantra for people is "It's all about ME".  We see it in TV programming (approximately 70% of today's programming is "reality" TV), we see it in the traditional advertising and we really see it in social media.

In one of my earlier posts, every customer today has a microphone, I talked about how customers today not only have a microphone in their hand and can talk about you and your company, but with the introduction of social media, they also have the ability to self-publish.  This has changed the future of sales, marketing, customer service and all our communications going forward.

The way to have this working for you is to STOP TALKING ABOUT YOU and START TALKING ABOUT THEM.  Sounds simple, but if you are watching the content out on the airwaves it is apparently very hard to implement.  The majority of people using social media obviously either don't understand this rule or they can't get their arms around what it really means.  Your audience wants you to talk about them, pay attention to them, and cater to them.  What they don't want is for you to "broadcast" and "promote" you and your company.

If you can get your arms around this simple yet often misused principle, you will be able to build much stronger and lasting relationships, more trust, and ultimately more loyalty and advocacy.  So write about your customers, tell their stories, showcase their great achievements, and you will find some incredible feedback and achieve your own "word-of-mouth on steroids" that will help you grow your sales and advocacy.

Crap is still Crap...

OK, so this post is a bit out of character for me but it is something that comes up all the time so I wanted to at least address it and then move on.  As you read through my posts my focus is on keeping things positive and giving some ideas, solutions, and helpful insights into how you can create more positive relationships leading to Advocacy and positive Word-of-Mouth.  This post is different.

I can't tell you how many times I get asked this question after giving a speech on Social Media and Word-of-Mouth on Steroids, "My business is really struggling and I know we have the best product or service, how can I use social media to improve this situation and drive more sales?" Or at least some version of this type of question.

My approach is to tell people the way it is or the real, authentic, straight story - at least from my vantage point and perspective. So regardless of the audience, I always give an answer that has something like this included in it, "Crap is Crap and no amount of social media can fix a crappy product or service, it can only amplify its good or its bad. Authenticity rules in social media and people will talk about what it really is, not what you want it to be. Spend the time to get your product or service to not be so crappy and you will then be able to create viral word-of-mouth about it and drive more of the right people to you and that will drive sales".

Granted, that is NOT the answer they wanted to hear but it is the answer they should understand. Get your house in order and then the social airwaves will be your best friend and people will spread the right kind of word-of-mouth out there about you and your product/service. It reminds me of the well used phrase, "You can dress up the pig but it the end, it is still a pig". If you are trying to sell pigs, then this approach works. But most are trying to sell something else and in the end, everyone figures out it is a pig and not only leaves, but leaves spreading the wrong kind of word-of-mouth - negative.

Social Media and specifically Word-of-Mouth is an extremely powerful tool to have in your arsenal but it isn't the "silver bullet" some may lead you to believe.  It creates massive leverage when done well and correctly and can be the most cost effective and results oriented aspect of your sales and marketing program.  If you get the rest of your business "right", we can make social media put it on steroids - but it has to be right.

Social Media isn't about the Marketing Department

OK, I know there will be lots of people jumping on this one but someone had to say it. Social media in my world is helping companies get "more of the right people talking more about them - proactively" - this is true Word-of-Mouth. Social media takes this concept and puts it on steroids - makes it happen faster, at a deeper level (because you can interact and touch your audience much more often) and at a lower cost than most traditional marketing.

So why doesn't it fit marketing? Well, it does fit marketing, but not as good as other areas of your business. If you think about it, when was the last time you used word-of-mouth to tell someone about a great flyer you just received or what wonderful brochure this was or how great the direct mail piece is you just got in the mail - it isn't happening. Word-of-mouth happens from a marketing perspective when there is a coupon or offer that people want to share with others but it is short lived and needs constant repetition - it's expensive.

Contrast this with your Sales and Customer Service groups. These groups are designed to build relationships and solve problems with the customer so they can either help them to be loyal advocates or keep them engaged so they won't move to the competition. These groups focus on "relationship building" not campaigns and promotion. Social Media shines in the area of building stronger and deeper relationships. It helps people learn about you in ways they wouldn't normally be exposed to through traditional marketing.

Take Sales for example, they have processes and metrics about creating and building relationships - marketing doesn’t. They have a "sales process" designed to create a sale, then build the relationship deeper so they can get the customers loyalty and referrals. Their goal is sales, repeat sales, and leveraging the customer to create more sales. The good ones do this through building great relationships. Those that don't are either in a pure commodity business or they fail. Sales groups should be demanding social media be built into their process and demand to manage the process and not leave this to the marketing department.

Customer Service is similar to sales but not as direct in most cases. But, they have the same goals in mind to build loyalty through their interactions - creating stronger relationships. They aren't campaign based either, like sales, and they focus on the customer relationship and have the goal of maintaining loyalty and building advocacy. Once again, it is a stronger argument than marketing. So while marketing is relevant, it isn't the best "owner" of social media - Sales and Customer Service are much stronger.

Ready, Fire, Aim - why it works with social media

We have all heard that the only way to have things work right is Ready, Aim, and Fire and I have supported this for years whenever I do strategic planning for organizations. However, we are in a new and different world these days and for once I can say Ready, Fire, Aim is a worthwhile approach when you use social media.

The reason the new approach of Ready, Fire, Aim works is because of the "AIM" part of the equation. Social media is best when it is fresh, authentic, real, and customer focused. This means that today it is more important to have something in front of your audience quickly (and even first) rather than spend hours, days, and months "polishing" it up for release. Your audience wants expediency ahead of polish in the new world. Just ask yourself, would you rather know about something going on right now that is a little rough around the edges or hear about it when it is "old news" but have it all polished up? Pretty obvious if you ask me.

But there are issues with this approach…

• The internal process of most organizations has taken multiple steps for the past number of years to ensure they make decisions and release information in the Ready, Aim, Fire approach so now we are asking them to go against what they have perfected - not well received.
• Most people inside the organization have lost their "spontaneity" and are basically afraid of being fired or reprimanded if they put something out that isn't polished. This mentality in an organization causes people to miss the immediate opportunities and focus on the more stable, less controversial, and less fresh approach to sharing information.
• The groups inside your organization generally responsible for communicating this information are your marketing group, communications group, and PR group. By definition they have all been "trained" and have years of experience in "polishing" the message - "fresh" and "authentic" has not been part of their vocabulary.

These are just some of the issues that plague most organizations and why they are either stymied by social media or they are using it in the wrong way. Is there any question why most organizations are hung up on "promoting" and "telling" instead of "helping" and "sharing" in a real time mode? I don't think so - it just isn't in their DNA. If you want to be successful, find someone to help train your leaders how to integrate READY, FIRE, AIM into their vocabulary and the way they operate. This is one of the areas I spend a great deal of time helping leaders and organizations overcome but when they do, look out, it is very exciting!!

Elections will never be the same again...

This election today will be looked back on in history as one of the few remaining where traditional marketing approaches were used.  In the future, the amount of flyers that are sent out through the mail will drop dramatically.  Most I'm sure will be like me and take them from mailbox to recycle and never even pay them any attention.  The phone calls all go to voicemail and are deleted without anyone listening.

Next campaign, hopefully the up and coming candidates will realize that to reach your audience they need to be using the media that voters are reading - social media and the internet.  With the phenomenal growth of such engines as Twitter and Facebook where we can get the opinions of others we trust and know, why would we pay much attention to the mudslinging and rhetoric that is being mailed out?  We won't.

Word-of-Mouth is by far the most dominant way people learn about candidates and get more information.  Your friends and colleagues have their perspectives that they have probably picked up on the internet or heard from someone else and this is what they are sharing.  If you agree, you share.  This can go viral quick and will be the "weapon of choice" for candidates in the future.  Once again, word-of-mouth will triumph, only now with the tools and power of social media, it will just be a whole heck of a lot faster and less expensive for the candidates.

The days of the shiny flyers in the mailbox are gone.  Now, hopefully we can figure out a way to eliminate all those annoying street signs stuck in the ground?  Maybe next time...