Why useful is remarkable

[Welcome back to our Word of Mouth Marketing Lessons newsletter. This is text from the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using this handy form.]

We love viral stunts and funny ads as much as the next person. But there’s a more sustainable way to get your customers to talk about you that earns word of mouth for the long term.

Here are three ways to do something so useful your customers can’t help but talk about it:

1. Make recommendations
2. Do more than say “thanks”
3. Make the small details count

1. Make recommendations

Photo thanks to our teammate, Evette.

When you check out at Barnes & Noble, they give you a list of reading recommendations with your receipt based on what you just bought. That list is a great reason to come back to their store and a great word of mouth tool. What’s something you can put in your customers’ hands they can use right away?

2. Do more than say “thanks”

Photo thanks to Disney Meetings’ Twitter.

When our sister brand, SocialMedia.org, held the Brands-Only Summit at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, we were amazed by the fantastic service and awesome food. But everyone was also talking about a particular “wow” moment. When one attendee tweeted, “The foodie in me can’t help tweeting about the yummy egg salad @DisneyMeeting at #grandfloridian,” Disney responded by giving her the recipe. That’s going above and beyond a simple “Thank you.” The recipe was useful for the attendee, but more importantly, an entire conference was talking about this incredibly helpful moment Disney offered.

3. Make the small details count

Photo thanks to Peter Shankman’s YouTube channel.

You can nail the important stuff — like having a great product and amazing customer service — but sometimes it’s the tiniest detail that helps your customers talk about you. For example, entrepreneur Peter Shankman was pleased to find his Uber driver was on time, friendly, and kept his car sparkling. But it was the fact that he had two different types of phone chargers that inspired him to make a breathless video about him.

Tags: Barnes & Noble, Disney Meetings, handy, Peter Shankman, receipt, recipe, recommendation, social media, taxi, twitter, Uber, useful