The Building Blocks of a Successful WOM Platform 

Sonia Nash, Social Media Manager, Random HouseWarren Ackerman, EVP and Principal, Affinitive

www.randombuzzers.com

Random House Children’s Books

• Focused on Teen Division

• Typically 30 – 45 books published each year

• Notable Authors: Christopher Paolini, Lauren Kate, Carrie Ryan, Markus Zusak, Michael Scott, James Dashner

Random Buzzers Background

• In market since 2007, program evolved and optimized year over year

• Brand community, free to join, currently 62,000 registered members

• 2010 redesign, iPhone app, brand ambassador program

Socializing the Reading Experience

Book/Author-specific Forums

Reviews and Ratings

Member “Bookshelves”

Reader Groups

Video Case Study

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people

interested in you.”

-Dale Carnegie

Education Drives Sustainable WOM

• Adopting a ‘Give to Get’ Philosophy

• Willingness to talk about products you don’t sell

• Teaching aspiring writers about the writing process

• Encouraging critical thinking and discussion

Engagement Lessons

• Curation & collaborative approaches

• Monitor external engagement success

• Primary relationship with consumers but teachers, librarians, authors have engaged

Author Lauren Kate created a special video message for Random Buzzers prior to her visit in the fall of

2010.

Teacher Feedback

“My students just read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and I have asked them to join the forum and post their own questions. I just wanted to say thank you! I have been reading their posts, and I am impressed with the quality of the discussions they are having. During class, a few students will run the discussion, but this forum creates the safety and anonymity for all of them to participate.

- Kerri M., English Teacher

Author Feedback

“What a gift for an author to be able to go where the readers are.  Unlike Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and other social networking sites, Random Buzzers brings young adult authors directly in touch with their audience.  I love the contests, Q & A pages, discussion groups, and other ways the teen readers get to participate.   If Random Buzzers had been around when I was a teenager, I would have been on that site for hours every day!”

- Robin BrandeAuthor of Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature

Efficiently Managing Ongoing Content

• Staffing and Post Frequency

• Weekly - Author Visits & Profiles, Editorial Activities, Polls, Surveys, ARC Giveaway, Email Newsletter, Blog Posts

• Monthly - Video Book Reviews, Contests

• Quarterly - Store Updates

• Ongoing – User generated content (Groups, Send to Friend, Product Registration, Reviews, Blogs, Forums)

Evolving a Platform into a Corporate Asset

• Getting executives on board

• Synching business units, acting cross-functionally

• Leveraging success of ‘Buzzers’ for other divisions

• Internal momentum from WOMMY recognition

Brand Favorability Results

Purchase Intent Results

Offline WOM Results

Key Metrics And Results

87%Indicated Random

Buzzers has improved their perception of

Random House

62,000+Members

43,000+Offline WOM

Conversations

106,000+Consumers

Reached Offline

14,000+UGC Objects

(photos, images, video)

45,000+Text and

Feedback Items

19,000+Books Added

to Bookshelves

13,000+Book Reviews

2,500+Author Questions

25,000+Monthly

Visits

25+Minutes per Visit

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76%Indicated Random

Buzzers has increased their likelihood to

purchase from Random House

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5,000 – 7,000 offline WOM conversations per month,

each reaching 2.5 consumers

Offline WOM Anecdotes

"How do you know when books are coming out and if

they are any good?" I mentioned sites like Goodreads

and Shelfari and then I said RandomBuzzers. My

friend really liked the idea of being able to come on a

community and be able to express her love of

books. :) I said it was an amazing place.”

A Marketing Program that’s ‘Amazing’

“Someone did a post on how we could get free books

and this site was mentioned there. I checked it out

because I am a blogger and finding recently published

books is hard. I got involved with all the other things

that were happening here. Now I am addicted.

Random Buzzers is an awesome community for all

book lovers.”

A Marketing Program that’s ‘Addicting’

“Well, one day my books that I got from Randombuzzers

store arrived and my friends were over, so we all

started reading the book out loud like a big read a

long! (Book was The Running Dream by the way)

Anyhow, my friend ended up really loving it and she

even bought a copy for herself!”

WOM at Home with Friends

“In English class we had to find books to read for a

project and I suggested to my friends a number of the

books featured on Random Buzzers, as a result a few

of them read the books for the project”

WOM at School in the Classroom

“I am always on the site in my spare time to see if there

are any more updates. When I am in class (Our school

has laptops) everyone is fascinated by the look of the

site and they ask me what it is. So I explain to them

what the website is about and how they can join.”

WOM in School while Online

“I went to see my sister and my two nieces whom I' m

lucky to see once every couple of years. And when I

went to see them I brought about twelve books

published by Random House. And they loved them so

much that my sister ask me where I got them and I

told them that I earned them on Random Buzzers.com

by answering quizzes, activities, reviews, etc. "

WOM on the Road with Family

“I have come to love so many of the featured books on

this website that I have started sharing them with my

mom who is now reading them with me. Its very cool

to be able to share something like that with my mom!

We read one of the books and then talk about it.”

Improving Family Relationships

“I try to be really active on social media to help

promote books that I love, including (and especially)

Random Buzzers books. I discuss the ARCs that I've

received and other Random Buzzers books that I'm

excited about or have read on Twitter with other book

lovers, on Goodreads and LibraryThing as well. I make

sure to post reviews of the books on my Tumblr blog

and always mention the Random Buzzers program

when I do, and I recently convinced my boyfriend's

younger sister to check it out .”

WOM from Online Influencers

“I got up in front of my English class and told

everybody in it that there was a great book website

for teens where you can win books and they're just

awesome and everybody loved it!”

WOM at School in the Classroom

“My friends and I talk about Random Buzzers A LOT at

school. Different people hear us and ask about the

site and the books. One time in Spanish we started

talking about the books before class and the whole

class got involved in the conversation and wanted to

know what the books were about. A few said they

even wanted to buy the books when they came out!”

WOM in Spanish Class?!

“I showed my students some of the books I won/earned

from Random Buzzers. Once they saw they could get

free books they couldn't wait to check the site out.”

WOM in Class from Teacher

“Through Random Buzzers, I have helped turn students

on to authors like Rachel Cohn and David Leviathan.

Now, names like Dash and Lily and Naomi and Eli are

common language in our school.”

WOM in the Classroom from Teachers

“I asked a girl at my public library if she had the book

Fly on the Wall and she said she didn’t. She asked

where I'd heard of the book and I told her about RB.

We had a talk about all the books; now she is trying

to get them into the library.”

WOM in the Library

“I am a librarian so whenever I'm stuck for a display in

the teen area, I go back and look at books that have

been featured here and put them up in a Random

Buzzers display.”

WOM from Librarians

“I really like being able to ask authors questions

directly on the forums. As an aspiring author, I think

it’s really neat and valuable to be able to do that. I

get such good insight from the authors and their

advice has even helped me with my own writing.”

A Marketing Program that Educates

“My cousin took an interest in young adult novels after

I told her about Random Buzzers books! I don't take

full responsibility, but she did switch majors (English

Composition to Creative Writing) and she is at work

on a young adult fiction novel.”

A Marketing Program that Inspires Novelists

“When I won a book off of Random Buzzers I ended up

really liking it and I went on and on about Random

Buzzers so much that a friend decided that she had to

check it out. Now we both are unpaid walking

spokespeople for Random Buzzer featured books.”

A Marketing Program that Breeds Advocates

“I'm a poor college student, so I'm giving some of the

books that I bought with Buzz Bucks as presents. It's

a win; win; win situation: friends and family members

get to read some of my favorite books, I don't have to

be stingy with Christmas gifts or spend money that I

don't have, and I get to spread the word about

Random Buzzers and Random House books.”

A Marketing Program that Saves Christmas!

Thank You!

Sonia Nash, Random HouseWarren Ackerman, Affinitive