10 Ways toDrive Word of Mouth.

Jonathan Carson,

President of Online, International, The Nielsen Company

The explosion in Consumer Generated

Media over the last couple of years means

consumers’ reliance on word of mouth in

the decision-making process, either from

people they know or online consumers

they don’t, has increased significantly.

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Nielsen Survey

70% of consumers trust other consumer opinions posted online.

90% of consumers say they trust recommendations from people they know.

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They are talking to...

They are talking about...

their next door neighbor.

their PTA friends at dinner.

an audience of MILLIONS online via

Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and other

online communities.

their favorite places to eat.

the worst customer service they had.

their most memorable experiences.

and they could be talking about you!

So let’s make sure more and more

people are positively talking about your

small business.

What does this mean for your small business?

Your current customers, as well as potential customers who haven’t met you yet, are talking.

10 Ways toDrive Word of

Mouth

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People act differently in person than they do online. Shocking!

# 10 # 09Don’t get hung up on being newsworthy,just be yourself.

Customers are more likely to

share what is at the top of

their mind at any given point

of time. So a product that is

cool, or interesting doesn’t keep

conversation going too far.

Common products or services

are talked about just as often if

not more, so focus on delivering

the best service and products

you have.

Stay on the top of your customers’ minds.

To stay top of mind

and mentioned in

conversations, you need to

be where the people are

talking. Do this by printing

your business name and

logo on your napkins,

cups, bags, etc. so when

your customers leave, your

business can still be on the

top of their mind.

Word of mouth, in the real world.

In digital settings, consumers are more aware they are being watched by peers and, therefore, are motivated to post about things that are aspirational or will be well received by others. But in face-to-face interactions, they are more more motivated to talk about what is top of mind.[Source: AdAge & Wharton School of Business Study]

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# 08 # 07

# 07

Give customers a test drive, and make it an experience to remember.

You can’t say much about

something you’ve never tried.

People talk more often and

more easily about things that

they have experienced first

hand. But, this isn’t just handing

out a sample of ice cream.

Provide a fun experience,

display complementary food

or beverages, or show how the

customer could use your product

or service in their everyday lives.

Provide conversation starters through wearable or usable promotional items.

Offering t-shirts, reusable

bags, sunglasses, koozies,

or pens, etc. allow your

business name or logo to

be in places that people

are talking face to face.

If you are clever, funny

or catchy text or images

can become conversation

starters for people.

Due to the widespread and continually growing use of social media, conversations about food, services, and products are no longer just face-to-face. You now have access to larger amounts of potential new customers through your current customers’ online friend network.Use it to your advantage.

Online and mobile word of mouth.

# 06 # 05Provide your customers incentives to mention you via their social networks.

Free dessert by mentioning us

on Twitter! Log into our wifi

network by checking into our

Facebook page! Receive a 15%

off your book purchase with

a Foursquare check in! These

are all great ways to encourage

customers to share you to their

online friends.

Encourage the Yelp review community and give feedback to any non positive experiences.Customers will spread the word

about bad experiences more

frequently and quickly than good

ones. So you may have to put in

some extra effort here. For instance,

make it easy to give reviews on the

spot by setting up a small laptop

right in your store.

The best of both worlds:

Word ofmouth, online

and off.

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# 04 # 03Help customers get together and learn something new.

The more people know about

your stuff and have good

experiences, the more they

will talk about it. Teach your

customers how to style an

outfit, cook a 30 min dinner,

grow a herb garden, or

whatever is relevant to your

small business. Have in-store

events or post video how-to’s

on YouTube and Facebook.

Implement a customer rewards program.

There is nothing like watching

your points get closer and

closer, and then finally earning

something free or a big

discount. Your customers will

feel the same and share their

excitement to their friends

online and off.

FiveStars can allow your customers to automatically post to their Facebook when they’ve earned their reward.

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People get good, or even just decent, customer service everyday.

It is only the experiences that go beyond what they expected

that drive these customers to joyfully it shout it to all their

friends and families.

Give your customers not just great, but over the fence out of the ballpark, grand slam customer service.

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Get your best customers to be your cheerleaders.

You know those customers that are always mentioning you on Twitter? Or checking into

your Facebook page? Engage, recognize, and reward your most frequent visitors (and

most talkative online) for being loyal to you. These Facebook fans and Twitter followers

immediately become part of your marketing team.

Two examples of above and beyond customer service that payed off in ways no one could have expected.

Morton’s Steakhouse

Peter Shankman, author and business

consultant, was getting ready to board a flight

back home and decided to jokingly tweet out

his craving. “Hey, @Mortons – can you meet me

at newark airport with a porterhouse when I

land in two hours? K, thanks. :)”

Morton’s Steakhouse saw his tweet and saw an

opportunity to make a customer for life. They

made his steak, found his flight, and drove the

25 miles to meet him just in time for his flight

to land. Shankman was shocked and

sang their praises online, which

eventually went viral. It caused

hundreds of thousands of

social media mentions about

Morton’s, as well as actual news

stories.

Source: Huffington Post

Panera Bread

Brandon Cook, a young man from New

Hampshire, was visiting his grandmother, who

was hospitalized with terminal cancer. She was

complaining about the food in the hospital and

mentioned how she would love some of Panera

Bread’s clam chowder. However, Panera only

offers clam chowder on a specific day of the

week, which was not that day.

Cook called their local Panera and explained

the situation to Suzanne Fortier, the manager

on staff. “I wasn’t looking for anything

special just a bowl of clam chowder. Without

hesitation she said absolutely she would make

her some clam chowder. When I went to pick

up it up they wound up giving me a box of

cookies as well. Its not that big of a deal to

most, but to my grandma it meant a lot.”

Cook’s mother posted the story on her

Facebook page, and since then has received

over 800,000 likes and 35,000 comments. One

small act of amazing customer service reaped

huge rewards.

Source: Ad Week

To learn how FiveStars can help increase word of mouth for your business, go to