It was all bellinis and brain food as Nexus sat down to hear Pret a Manger’s Marketing Manager, Mark Palmer, speak at Meltwater’s recent “Digital Word of Mouth Marketing” event.
With new platforms, influencers and trends appearing almost every day, it is easy to fall behind in the digital world. Using word of mouth marketing can be important in achieving a great campaign, yet many marketers don’t know how to use it to its full potential. Here are four simple ways to harness the power of word of mouth marketing and make the most of your social media channels.
- Give consumers something that is worth talking about. Palmer’s one piece of advice to ensure a great campaign was to ban all budgets. This, of course, is easier said than done. Whatever your budget, it is important to always ask yourself “is this campaign/product/brand as good as it can possibly be”? If the answer to that question is no, then it’s time to take a step back to try to figure out what is stopping it from reaching its potential. A good product creates buzz and buzz creates loyalty.
- Social media is meant to be social, so be social. It is important to engage, interact and listen to your audience. Remember that each person who interacts with your content on social media is advertising your brand to their followers so a good impression online is key.
- Invest in influencers. Get a handful of loyal ambassadors who care about your product and can lead the conversation about it online. Be careful not to be enticed by large numbers of followers. Anyone can follow 10,000 accounts and immediately gain 10,000 followers, so go for influencers who have a large number of fans, not a large number of followers.
- Supplement any campaign with your own staff. Chances are they are already talking about your brand on their own social media channels. This means you have a group of supporters at your fingertips with the potential to be influential but who often get forgotten. Harness those easily missed opportunities for promotion and you’ll find that you are immediately reaching larger audiences.
We specialise in food and drink, nutrition and health marketing and PR, so if you want to have a chat about how we’d approach your communications challenges, feel free to get in touch.