[Welcome back to the You Can Be a Word of Mouth Marketing Supergenius! newsletter. This is text from the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.]
A great word of mouth topic drives long-term word of mouth. There’s no magic formula for creating them, but here are a few signs you’ve got one:
1> It gets your staff excited
2> It survives after being passed along
3> It has room for improvement
1> It gets your staff excited
Your staff can be a great test audience for your topics. They work with you and the brand every day, so anything that gets them buzzing stands a good chance of doing the same for customers. Take a lesson from SNL’s Andy Samberg and his crew behind all those viral video hits — they only move forward with an idea if it gets them laughing first.
2> It survives after being passed along
Remember the telephone game? As it turns out, it’s a pretty helpful word of mouth test. After your word of mouth topic starts getting shared, watch to see how second and third-party talkers repeat it. If it comes back recognizable, you’ve got a strong topic. If not, simplify and repeat until it does.
3> It has room for improvement
You don’t have to wait until your topic is perfect before you can run with it. Actually, it’s often better if it isn’t. With room for growth and improvement, you can keep breathing new life into an older topic. Think Google Maps. Every so often they add some great new feature (Satellite View, Street View, and now, Map Maker) that gives us a whole new reason to talk.
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