I know this will be controversial but it needs to be differentiated…
When someone purchased the deal of the day or other such offers (from Groupon, Living Social, Amazon Local, or a host of other similar sites) and then shares them with their friends, they are not using true Word-of-Mouth…they are simply sharing timely deals.
Here’s the difference…
Sharing…
When a deal (or content) is offered by Groupon (or others) on their site, it is because it is discounted and at a place that you might want to try or repeat…only at a discount. The same goes for content you might see on the internet that looks interesting. You believe your friends might also be interested in this bargain or content so you share it with them as well.
What you are doing is being a “reporter” and letting others know about the deal. That’s it. You aren’t endorsing it, you aren’t relating an experience, you aren’t telling them you explicitly TRUST this product/service, you simply wanted to share the deal or the information.
Word-of-Mouth…
When you have “experienced” a product/service or content (and the people/company who offered it) and you are passionately supportive of whatever it was, you also want to tell others about it and share it. The difference in your sharing this time is that you are now telling your audience that it is an awesome product/service, content or company…and you TRUST them, and that they should TRUST your recommendation if they trust you.
Trust is the most valuable asset we have…if everyone trusts you completely your opinion and comments are highly valued. If no one trusts you, your insights carry no value (think about where Yelp and others are headed). Trust carries incredible power in the marketplace…more than ever before in history because of Social Media and the Internet.
Word-of-Mouth is all about…TRUST. Spreading the word is all about…Sharing.
You can tell everyone you know about something you like…but if they don’t Trust you, they won’t believe your opinions. It’s really that simple. But if you are a trusted resource, your opinion and comments carry a massive amount of weight. And your word-of-mouth becomes an incredibly valuable asset.
No one is willing to tell others they should experience you or your products/services or company if they aren’t passionate and if they don’t Trust you. They will share your deal or content…but without their passion or trust.
As a leader, which strategy does your company focus on…Sharing or Word-of-Mouth? Sharing will just happen because of your product/service deals or content…Word-of-Mouth (and their passion) will only happen if they trust you, your products/services or your company and your people. A company who desires the end result of word-of-mouth approaches their customers, their experience, and their products/services completely different than anyone else. They focus on the passion…the experience…and the trust they earn from each customer.
And from an economic perspective, word-of-mouth garners more margin because customers value what you are doing for them…not just shopping the lowest price they can get on the deal of the day or other offer. A topic I will be talking about much be deeper in another post…
