When it comes to marketing initiatives, a successful word of mouth campaign can work wonders for your brand. WoM initiatives be sustained with minimal ad spend, let you quickly measure user sentiment, and then grow in value over time. But word of mouth campaigns don’t just happen — they’re notoriously difficult to control and require careful planning to launch effectively.
With these facts in mind, what can marketers do to get customers talking?
Know your word of mouth drivers
As human beings, we naturally share stories and anecdotes about topics that interest us—which is precisely why social media is so popular! For WoM marketing purposes, however, it’s essential to understand the key drivers that motivate viral engagement. In his book Contagious: Why Things Catch On, marketing professor Jonah Berger outlined STEPPS — a list of the factors determining why people share information en masse. Those factors are:
- Social currency: People often want to impress others within a social group. By sharing information that reflects social expectations and values, these individuals gain social currency points.
- Triggers: A social trigger is some relatable detail currently embedded in the mind of your audience. It might relate to current events, holidays, sporting championships, or some hot-button topic that audiences are always prepared to engage with.
- Emotion: Information that arouses an emotional state has a strong likelihood of going viral on social media. A recent Zola commercial that featured a lesbian couple’s wedding — and was briefly banned by Hallmark — was a great example of word of mouth marketing which generated all kinds of emotions.
- Public: Widely circulated talking points are far more likely to be referenced and imitated by everyday people. During the height of Game of Thrones’ popularity, millions of fans engaged with marketing content related to the series.
- Practical value: Many people love to share content that has some practical application. Examples range from instructional videos, to public health issues, to tips on DIY projects.
- Stories: Humans enjoy stories and narratives, even when they don’t overtly match the drivers mentioned above. This creates plenty of opportunities for marketers to create stories that carry “Trojan Horse” ideas and messaging with them. One recent example is this romantic short film that also happens to be a Renault Clio commercial.
Ideally, a word of mouth campaign should include as many of these drivers as possible to maximize its shareable potential. In practice, some STEPPS drivers will be at odds — most notably, the categories of emotion and practical value. One alternative is to default to categories that will resonate with your target audience. Alternatively, marketers can develop stories that bundle together multiple STEPPS characteristics.
Reach out to influencers
Influencers are an excellent resource to set the stage for a successful word of mouth campaign. Many brands have already formed influencer partnerships due to the tendency of millennial and Gen Z demographics to consider products recommended by trusted sources online. Since influencers have large social media followings and frequently share personal stories, they represent an excellent opportunity for WoM initiatives.
While influencer marketing and word of mouth content sharing have different goals, the two practices overlap. The trick is to present a partnership that creates a valuable brand association which still feels authentic to the influencer’s fans. One example comes from wine brand Vivino, which managed to organically associate itself with NBA stars who were fans of its web platform. Vivino’s efforts weren’t overly promotional, but it managed to gain widespread attention with an exciting story.
Seed word of mouth opportunities among your loyal customers
When word of mouth marketing first emerged, it was primarily managed as an organic process. Brands let their customers publicly discuss their products however they wanted, and boosted positive feedback accordingly. Today, marketers remain hands-off but encourage brand discussions where possible — a process called “seeding.”
Seeding is the same principle that drives referral and organic word of mouth campaigns: loyal fans and customers tend to be more than willing to spread your message on their behalf. When handled correctly, it can maximize the positive association of WoM marketing while maintaining the authenticity of genuine customer experiences. Marketers’ only job is to create opportunities or incentives for sharing their content.
The exact approach to seeding can take many forms. Some brands train their customer service teams to provide highly positive experiences that customers will be inclined to share. Others implement referral marketing programs that incentivize word of mouth using reward programs or limited-time promotions. Whatever method you choose, customers should be encouraged to share their stories on social media to aim for the broadest reach among your target audiences.
It’s not easy to predict which initiatives will have an impact, but that’s the nature of word of mouth campaigns. The job of marketers is to understand what makes your audience share branded stories and create opportunities for them to do so. The good news is that if you’re successful, you won’t need to dedicate ad spend toward sustaining the campaign — your customers will do that by themselves.