Do you want more people to recommend your products? Would you like to maximize word of mouth marketing?
According to a Nielsen, the most trusted promotional content format is “Recommendations from people I know,” at 83%. Branded websites come in second at 70%, and consumer opinions rank third at 66%.
This makes complete sense when you think about it. People will of course trust what other people who have no affiliation with your company say about you, long before they’ll trust what you have to say about yourself. And these recommendations are even more effective when they are made by friends and family, those most trusted of relationships.
Generating more word of mouth is what all marketing campaigns should aim for. Your goal is for people to see your brand’s message, try your product and tell all their friends about it. Or you can just skip the product part and aim for them to share your message. Although it’s less powerful for driving sales than an endorsement based on actual experience with the product, the promise of viral branded content is all about spreading brand exposure.
Let’s take a look at three top methods you can use to grow your brand through online word of mouth marketing.
1. Get employee support
How many times have you been asked where you work or how work is going?
Almost everyone I know has asked me “How is work?” multiple times!
If people ask your employees this question and they respond that they are happy, it creates a positive impression about your company. Most employees will respond positively, as 89% of employees are satisfied with their jobs; 38% are very satisfied. To get the most out of this ritual, you should equip your employees with the latest news about your company.
Share everything from the latest product rollouts, projects, offers, partnerships and more, through email newsletters and social media. But the problem with both these mediums is that they are already noisy, and your message could get lost. Hence, you should use an employee advocacy platform.
Employee advocacy platforms allow you to share company news, to keep your employees up to date. These platforms also make it easy for your employees to share this content with their own social media audiences, which can increase the reach of your content and brand tenfold. And 50% of employees already post messages, pictures or videos about their employers, so you might as well get involved in the way your brand is presented.
One great employee advocacy platform you can use is Smarp. The web app and accompanying mobile apps make it easy to add branded content to a feed so that your employees stay informed.
They can also directly reshare the content from the dashboard on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and more social networks. You can connect your blog’s RSS feed and social networks so that content automatically appears here.
Employees can also communicate with each other and back to you through the app. This further strengthens company culture and gives you content ideas. Shares can also be incentivised to encourage employees to share more. There’s even a leaderboard to drive up competition, and Smarp’s detailed analytics will help you find the best performing…
