The Importance of Word of Mouth Marketing

Have you ever managed or worked for a small business or organization? More specifically, have you ever been involved in marketing efforts of a product or service? If your answer is yes, then you are likely to understand the value of consumer relations and referrals through word-of-mouth (WOM). The customer's will forever be an organizations greatest marketing ambassador's. When people are satisfied with a product or service, they are more likely than not to tell someone, a friend or relative, about it. Then, that person tells someone else and so on. The existence of social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, have added a whole other element to the meaning of WOM. When considering word-of-mouth marketing online, Social Media Today tells us to think of the snowball effect. For example, you start with an interesting Facebook post and it garners impressions from a few people who then share it. Before you know it, the post is creating a bit of a buzz. It is much more than just trying to gain referrals and sales. It's about giving customer's a memorable experience and engaging with them beyond that experience both in-person and online. Connect with them beyond the initial experience and increasing brand recognition.

In today's post, I would like to offer some tips that may help elevate your WOM potential on social media. But, first, I would like to address what makes some marketing campaigns more or less inspiring than others. It is all in how we communicate our purpose and belief not to those who need what you are selling but to those who believe what you believe. Simon Sinek, in his TedTalk on how great leaders inspire action, describes what he has deemed "The Golden Circle" which correlates to how the general population thinks and communicates their messages to consumers. The concept, derived from a biology standpoint, reflects the three major components of the brain: the neocortex and the two middle limbic brains. A common factor said to be found among inspiring leaders and organizations, according to Sinek, is that they "all think, act, and communicate from the inside out." The majority of us, however, operate from the outside in. It is really quite fascinating! I had a bit of an epiphany about the Golden Circle and how it could be implemented to help create or reinvigorate marketing messages to ensure the prioritization of the WHY. You could even re-train your brain!

 

For instance, if I were to create a short message for the promotion of Troy University's online programs, I could say something along the lines of: We offer a variety of online degree programs (WHAT), in a flexible and easy to use format convenient for the non-traditional student (HOW). Want to get signed up today (WHY)? Not very inspiring, is it? Instead, I could say this: At Troy University, it is our goal to inspire the future leaders of tomorrow and invest in their success (WHY). From the start, you will have a team of staff and faculty members to guide you through each step in the process and the resources available to you (HOW). Our online programs are formatted into flexible 9-week terms convenient for the working adult (WHAT). This message would, no doubt, resonate better with audiences who believe in the promotion of higher education and professional development.

Social media has proven to be an efficient means of further communicating and engaging consumers. Not only does it give you a platform to talk about your product or services, but it also provides your customers a platform to share their experiences, good or bad, with their friends. People are more likely to trust the views and opinions of their friends. With the recent outages with Verizon Wireless services in the Florida Panhandle as a result of Hurricane Michael, a few of my friends have taken to Facebook to address their frustrations in the lack of support from the company. More could have been done to ease customer concerns. Verizon could have responded openly to these frustrations. Many victims from the storm are turning to their competitors that have provided hundreds with free phones and services so that they can communicate with loved ones and access disaster relief resources. The lack of public response from Verizon is not a good look.

 

Maintaining good relationships with your  customers' is of the utmost importance. If you use social media in your business, then you know that the majority of your following are your customers. Forbes suggests that marketers follow the three E's: Engage, Equip, and Empower into their social media platforms.

Engage: It seems I have used this term a lot, and for good reason. Make an effort to create unique posts that show them what makes your business interesting and post as often as you can. Engage your followers in conversations by posing a question in your post and respond accordingly. You may even decide to do a monthly giveaway to encourage engagement.

Equip: Provide important information about your product or service. Let them know when certain promotions are available and/or opportunities to get involved. Share customer success stories if and when able. And, every now and then, maybe even add a spark of humor because it can be refreshing.

Empower: Tell them how important they are and how much you value their opinions. Find creative ways to engage them in sharing their own experiences. We did this by reaching out to local TROY Alumnus in our community and asking if they would allow us to write up a student spotlight on our blog about their experiences with the university which we would share on our social media page. We would, also, ask them to share it with their friends. They always seemed to enjoy the recognition. Plus, it gave their business/organization a plug as well.

 

Have you adopted online learning into your life?

Hello, again! I told you that I would be back! So, here I am! For those of you who may be new to my blog, my name is Savannah and I am a graduate student pursuing my Master of Strategic Communication degree at Troy University. In my professional life, ironically, I also do a lot of networking for the university and promote their online programs to the people of the Florida Panhandle. My experience encompasses many roles including but not limited to relationship building, partnership building, public speaking, and social media management. I started blogging for the first time ever just over 10 weeks ago as a part of my previous class where I covered various topics on emerging media. Hurricane Michael caused quite the stir, no pun intended, for everyone in the panhandle era. It has literally disrupted many lives, mine included. I'm currently playing catch-up in my studies as I type. I chat a little about my experience in the storm in my last post.

Over the course of the next 8 weeks, I will carry on with my blogging efforts as I endeavor to further develop my writing style and create my footprint in the digital sphere. Only this time, I will be addressing numerous topics regarding leadership and media strategies. You can expect to hear from me at least once a week during this time. I often like to relate the week's topic to some of my own experiences, and sometimes just a dash of sarcastic humor which may or may not come paired with the appropriately deemed meme. I’m often asked how I manage grad school on top of everything else and my go-to response is usually somewhere along the lines of “by taking one class at a time and pacing myself” but, also, this:

Luckily, for me at least, I am nearing the end of my program and will just have one more class left after this one. Yay! This past week, we have been discussing Everett Roger's Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory. Rogers defines diffusion as the process by which innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system. With every new innovation, or adaptation to an innovation, brings with it an adoption curve. I found myself particularly interested in the breakdown of the social system into segments, based on their propensity to adopt or reject a specific innovation, which include: the innovators, early adopters, early majorities, late majorities, and laggards. I couldn't help but relate these segments back to the students that I have encountered. Each of them at different stages in their lives and each with a different attitude toward online learning. Which are you?

Being a millennial, myself, I was quick to adopt the online learning technology late into my undergraduate career which would put me in the category of early adopter. And, if you can tell, I haven't looked back. It has been my job to share the online learning experience with others. Some, like myself, have been early adopters who have done their preliminary research and may have taken online classes before so they do not need too much convincing. Those in the early majority need more confirmation because they are often concerned about the cost difference in online versus in-class. In these cases, I will usually spend a little more time going over financial aid, scholarships, and local partnership eligibility. Late majority and laggards could very well be placed in the same boat as both groups require a lot of time and communication. Sometimes, even after months of communications a prospect will turn cold. Some are too afraid that they will not be successful, while others it strictly comes down to cost and the desire to not acquire student loan debt and I get it. This brings me to an important aspect of the DOI theory, which is re-invention. We must always strive to evolve our online learning technologies and the resources available to our online students. Personally, I think Troy University has done a phenomenal job with this as they have continuously made improvements to the technology and resources, but there can always be improvements to any innovation.

Have you adopted online learning into your life? Why or why not? 

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed my post and would like to follow me in my blogging pursuits then you can do so at https://savannahchats.blogspot.com/. You can also check out some of my previous posts if you like. Until next time!

Staying connected after Hurricane Michael

Please forgive my delay in posting. You see, I have been in some sort of limbo lately following the destruction left behind by Hurricane Michael. When I woke up in my home in the Florida Panhandle on the morning that the storm was set to make landfall, I knew that we should have evacuated. I was not located in a designated evacuation zone and even all of my neighbors had decided to stick it out. Once we lost power I was able to monitor the path of the storm from my phone. Before I knew it, the dot reflecting back to me on the interactive map, which marked where my home was in the path of the storm, was showing me that we would be facing the eastern edge of the eye and its 155 mph winds. It immediately dawned on me that there was a possibility that we may not make it....that there was no way of knowing what to expect from this storm. And, for what may have been the first time in my life, I was scared. Not just for myself and my family, but for those around me, my friends, and anyone else who made the decision not to evacuate when they had the chance. While I am grateful and blessed to say that we survived and that my home received mostly exterior damage, there are so many who were not so fortunate so that is all I will say about that out of respect.

Following the storm, many people, specifically those with Verizon Wireless service, were left without a way of contacting their relatives, their insurance providers, or emergency services. I have service through AT&T and was one of few in my direct area with an accessible means of contacting people. Social media became the quickest way of notifying those closest to me that I was safe and had made it through the storm. Now that restoration efforts have begun, I am seeing several posts down my Facebook timeline about where to go to get a hot meal, supplies, shower stations, WiFi hot spots, and much more to help those in need. Any slice of normalcy at this point feels like a luxury to most of us in the Panhandle.

Since retreating from the area to stay with relatives in Alabama until the power is restored, I have been just slightly obsessing over the role technology would play in the recovery efforts to help keep all these people connected. Many people are having to travel several miles to obtain service to make important phone calls and talk to relatives. One thing that stood out to me was the use of drones by AT&T to bring cell service back to those in Mexico Beach, FL. The drone is attached to nothing more than a thin tether which connects to their equipment on the ground. Hovering in the air at 400 feet, the drone is capable of connecting up to 6,500 users simultaneously in a 14 square mile area. A resident of Mexico Beach said that up until just yesterday, he was having to drive up to 35 miles to connect to his service provider. To see the short video on this story, click here. A small, yet great, relief to those in Mexico Beach thanks to this impressive technology

I, again, want to thank those of you who have followed me along my blogging journey. I truly hope that you have been able to take something away from at least one of my posts. This will be my last post covering topics of emerging media for a while, but I am excited to say that you will continue to see posts coming from me over the course of the next 8-weeks as I have begun another course! So, please stay tuned to see whats next at https://savannahchats.blogspot.com/.

Thoughts and concerns about children and technology

Children, today, are growing up in a much different world than ever before in comparison to previous generations. Technology has officially taken over all aspects of our lives. Over the course of the last several weeks, I have been covering different topics on technology and emerging media and how they can be used by way of self-growth and professional development. I would like to tilt the board just a little to discuss some of the concerns we are facing with the current generation of children being raised in this digital age. Most people, nowadays, have acquired multiple devices both for themselves and for their children. Technology has quickly inserted instant gratification into the way we learn and entertain ourselves and our children. We have become so connected that we actually have to put forth effort just to put our devices down and really connect with people. Laws have had to be put in place just to keep drivers off of their phones on the road. It has become acceptable for groups of people to go out to eat at a restaurant and instead of interacting with one another they are on their phones. That is just about as disrespectful as not taking your hat off while indoors. Yes, I'm from the South. Now, I am not a parent in the sense that I do not have any children of my own, but I did stumble upon parenthood in a more non-traditional sense. I have two beautiful nieces that I have had the pleasure of being a great part of their upbringing. Then, I have my 4-year old godson whom I have been caring for over the past year. I would caution you, however, to not come to me for parenting advice but I do feel as though I have been able to make certain observations about children and the effects of technology.

One of the observations I have made is that there are two types of parents when it comes to monitoring screen time. There is the parent that regularly monitors and limits their child or children's screen time. Then, there is the parent who does not limit their children at all. Neither method is right or wrong. It all falls down to the individual child and the choices parents make for them. Personally, I'm a firm believer that all good things that we enjoy should be consumed in moderation much like the food we eat. The way in which we use technology today is still a little new in that there are not currently enough studies available to determine the lasting effects of technology on childhood development. One mom blog sheds light on a study that highlights the shifts in child behavior after using technology which includes effects on sleep, attention, and learning, along with a higher incidence of obesity and depression. She goes on to explain how her own child displayed aggressive behavior (screaming and hitting) after it comes time to turn off a computer game that he/she had been playing for 30 minutes. I related to this because I have experienced similar behaviors with my godson when it comes time to turn off the television for bed time.

Many times have I witnessed a child trying to get one of their parent's attention while the parent is greatly consumed in their own device to notice. Then, the parent gets upset with the child for doing exactly the same thing. If you are looking to set limits for your child, I think it will be important to set limits for yourself as well. Children lead by example after all. Technology has becoming more and more of a distraction. As children grow, they seem to be spending less time outdoors with their friends and more time indoors secluded on their devices. The same could, also, be said about some adults. I know that I have been guilty of this at times.

Technology is a great tool to further engage children in education and occasionally for entertainment but, again, moderation is key. Technology has offered such an endless stream of entertainment for children that it has greatly impacted their physical activities. When I was a child, I couldn't wait to get home so that I could play outside with the other neighborhood kids, running around barefoot, having bicycle races, and playing hide-and-go seek. Everyday seemed like an adventure. Today's kids are much different as they would much prefer to come home and play their Xbox or PlayStation gaming consoles or be on their phones until late in the night. Another blogger sheds light on the drastic increase in childhood obesity that coincides with this digital age. According to Patel, this is because technology encourages children to be sedentary.

If any of this resonates with you and what you are experiencing with your own child, then I encourage you to evaluate your family's technology consumption. You do not have to completely rid yourself of your devices but perhaps set some limits and designating more time for physical activities and outdoor play for your children. It will be difficult initially and you may get some resistance from the kids, but I assure you that you will all be more grateful for it. You can also find creative ways to use technology to promote family activities. My mom once told me about this cool app called Geocaching which is now known as the world's largest treasure hunt. I, actually, didn't even think about it until now. Users plant their treasures, which may just be a child's trinket or book, in different places and mark its location on the app for other user's to find. I believe this would be a fun way to incorporate technology and outside adventures with your family. It can be a once a week or even a once a month thing. You may or may not find a treasure, as some are much harder to find than others, but either way its the journey that takes precedence over the destination. Plus, its an experience you can share with your children and create memories with.

Thanks for reading. Have you ever gone Geocaching? Do you know of any other similar apps that encourages such adventures? Please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences on this topic.