Building “Word of Mouth” in the Digital Age

Nielsen’s most recent Global Trust in Advertising Survey confirms what most of us already know, that “92% of consumers around the world say they trust earned media such as word-of-mouth or recommendations from friends and family”.  Why is word-of-mouth such a reliably potent form of informational influence?  Psychologists would attribute this behavior to “social proof”, a phenomenon whereby decision makers with incomplete or ambiguous information, choose to assume that surrounding people possess more knowledge than they do. If you’d like to start leveraging this powerful form of persuasion on your website, here are a few effective tactics to consider.

Product Reviews and Ratings

In that same Nielsen study, 70% of respondents said they trust consumer opinions posted online.  While not as powerful as word-of-mouth from friends and family, adding credible product reviews to websites help consumers transition from consideration to action.   Adding reviews is a no-brainer for mass market retailers like Amazon but brands can also benefit by prominently featuring positive feedback (attained from letters, comments on social media, etc.) as testimonials prominently featured on their website.   Celebrity endorsement is yet another type of product review and one of the most powerful forms of social proof.  Brands may also want to explore working with other types of influencers, such as bloggers and micro-celebrities in their niche.

Social Proof in Copy

In similar fashion, copywriters can work positive social proof into calls to action and points of differentiation.  Adding social proof to the claim “save money” would look something like “78% of your neighbors are already saving money”.

Social Expressions Near Products

Subaru.com offers visitors a chance to declare their “Love” for Subaru models.  Coach.com lets their visitors “Want” a Bleeker Slim Brief, and countless other websites simply let visitors “Like” a product, article or page.  These “social expressions” are then automatically distributed to Facebook’s news feed so that the visitor’s friends see a social story such as “Jessica Wants the Bleecker Slim Brief from Coach.com”. Social expressions in effect help distribute and scale positive word-of-mouth via social networks. They also bake in positive social proof on your product pages just as consumers are formulating opinions and purchase decisions.

Social Ads

These “social stories” can further be further amplified using Facebook’s Sponsored Stories ad units.  These ad units look very similar to organic social stories but as paid media, appear at a potentially greater reach and frequency that you can control through bidding, targeting and budget. Of course brands should holistically consider the full range of earned, owned and paid media options that speak to their target.  Automating word-of-mouth using technology and amplifying it’s effects using sponsored social stories is simply one more way to deliver your brand’s message to it’s intended audience – this time through the validation of their friends and trusted sources.

We currently have an opening for Account Coordinator in our Client Service department. We’re looking for someone with strong instincts and lots of passion for the business who is comfortable discussing and executing marketing plans, creative, digital, research plus everything in between.

YOU

You must be passionate about great work, working on multidisciplinary teams, dotting the “i”s and crossing the “t”s. You have a bachelor’s degree and strive for opportunity and advancement. A marketing degree or MBA is a plus.

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Please email us a cover letter and resume. We offer a competitive salary with excellent benefits, including 401(k) and cash and deferred profit sharing.

Redefining the TV Household

Nielsen Media Research is a slow-moving and deliberate company. They have to be; they count the  viewers who form the basis for how much television ads cost. They provide “currency” data, information so reliable you can bank on it. So when Nielsen makes a major change in their measurement methodology, you can bet there is a reason for it.

Recently, Nielsen broadened the definition of a TV Household to include “zero TV profiles,”  or households without a television that receives programming through cable, satellite or even broadcast. So why exactly, is a company dedicated to measuring television program viewers, including people who don’t even use a traditional TV?

Because roughly 5 million homes out of the 114 million that Nielsen measures are now receiving TV content on something other than what we think of as a “TV.” Thirty seven percent are watching on their computer, 8 percent on their smartphones and 6 percent through their tablets. And at least 75 percent own a television set that receives its content from an online service like Roku, Apple TV, Netflix or Hulu.

So who are these tablet-loving, cable-rejecting iconoclasts? In short, the young folks – 25 percent of these “zero TV households” have an occupant between 25 and 34 and almost 81 percent have no children living in the household. Essentially they are young singles who have opted out of paying for their TV content due to cost and lack of interest.

What remains to be seen is how this behavior affects their TV viewing/purchasing habits later in life. Will they conform to the norm and subscribe to cable or satellite TV as they get older and more established? Or are they a sign that a cable bill is on its way to being as obsolete as a Rolodex?

It appears that Nielsen is banking on the latter, and we, as marketers will need to do the same. As our audience’s medium changes, our strategy will need to change along with it.

You’ve gotta have:

• HTML5/CSS3
• JavasScript/jQuery/Ajax
• Media Queries
• Mobile site/application development and/or responsive web development
• Photoshop
• Demonstrated attention to the tiniest of details
• Web standards and semantics

We’d love to see experience with:

• 3rd party APIs and mashups
• Object Oriented PHP and MySQL
• WordPress/Expression Engine/CodeIgniter/Drupal
• Version control systems
• Web application security best practices
• Understanding of SEO best practices
• iPhone or Android development

Hiebing is the largest integrated marketing and brand development firm in Madison, Wisconsin. Founded in 1981, the agency’s clients include regional and national brands such as Culver’s, Schneider National, Dean Health System, Fiskars and American Family Insurance.

APPLY:  Please submit a current PDF resume to careers@hiebing.com. In the subject line of your e-mail, be sure to include “Front-End Web Developer.” This is a full-time position for work on site In Madison, WI.

Compensation & Benefits: Competitive salary with excellent benefits including 401K, cash and deferred profit sharing.

Ponara Eng

Digital Director

Ponara leads the charge in digital marketing strategy the same way he practices Cambodian bokator: sly steps, polished technique and a fierce instinct as to what lies ahead. He unleashes e-commerce, social and mobile ideas for just about every client that walks through our door. With eyes and ears for emerging trends, Ponara prefers smart watches over smartphones and has a real touch for leveraging gamification, consumer heuristics and digital word-of-mouth marketing. Suffice it to say: this interactive sharpshooter practically dreams in digital. Prior to joining Hiebing, Ponara spent his time refining the e-commerce experience for brands like American Apparel and Oscar de la Renta; he also crafted social promotions for entertainment accounts including Lucasfilm and Universal. It has been said that wanderlust runs through Ponara’s veins: He was born in Cambodia, raised in the Midwest and later lived in San Fran and NYC, where his passion for deploying digital solutions was born.

Is Amazon Taking Consumer Trust for Granted?

Amazon recently surpassed Apple in having the best reputation among corporations in the U.S. (based on Harris Interactive’s 14^th annual poll results.) As a long-time fan of Amazon, I’m thrilled for them. As a frequent shopper on Amazon, I have to admit to being more than a little surprised.

Amazon’s shift to dynamic pricing last year has left me feeling betrayed. What drew me to Amazon was the feeling that they really wanted to help me find things I’d love and that I’d get whatever I love at a good (i.e. lower) price than I’d pay in a brick-and-mortar store.

Dynamic pricing leaves me with a feeling of buyer beware. If I wait until tomorrow, will the price be lower? If I don’t buy today, will I regret it? There are many published examples of what Amazon is doing. BHR tracked the price of one Xbox game during Thanksgiving week. The price of that game ranged from $49.96 to $24.99 to $15. MarketPlace (my favorite radio news program) also tracked prices during the holiday season and found large swings. For example, a Star Wars Blu-ray DVD set was $100 in October, dropped to $70 the week before Black Friday, jumped to $90 on Black Friday, then $134 the next day, then $84. A $64 swing in about a week seems excessive. Often the prices changed several times a day.

So, where does that leave me as a “long time fan”? A bit less of a fan and definitely more alert. I will also check prices on several competitive websites before I buy anything on Amazon. Wal-Mart and Target have benefited from this. Why wait a week for free shipping when I can get it tomorrow for the same price? Thanks for letting me know it’s out there Amazon, but I’ll just pick-it up at Target.

And, what does this mean to marketers? As a brand marketer, it’s important that your brand stay true to who it is, or more specifically, who consumers believe it to be. At the core of brand devotion is a feeling a trust. When a brand changes how they interact with consumers in a manner that feels one-sided (benefiting only the brand), they risk losing the devotion they’ve earned. Short-term that may pay off, but it rarely does long term.

Men Bring Home the Bacon (Really, we do!)

Apparently men have gotten off the couch. A recent Yahoo! study says:

• 51% of men consider themselves to be the household’s primary grocery shopper – which I can relate to
• 41% are in charge of the cooking – I certainly take my turns in the kitchen
• 39% percent handle most of the laundry at home – I am laundry king in my household

Where did all these guys come from? We’ve been half the population forever, but we’re rarely found in the grocery aisles with a shopping list. Here is what we know:

• The increase of women in the workforce has impacted gender roles in big ways. Grocery shopping, cooking, laundry, taking care of the kids are now on Dad’s to-do list, too.
• Since the recent recession and market downturn, men now have more free time. Why? The construction and manufacturing industries have felt the effect of the recession big time – two traditionally male-dominated trades.
• Mature and Boomer men are living longer and many are living alone. Gen X and Millennial men are also marrying and starting families later.
• Many young men today grew up with a single parent or gay parents, which has taught these young men to be less focused on older, traditional roles of men as breadwinners and women as domestic homemakers.

Ok, so more guys buy now, but this didn’t just happen yesterday. It’s been trending for a while. What’s the big deal? Well, if we remember that men are from Mars and women from Venus, then it shouldn’t surprise us that men shop differently than do women.

• Women “shop,” men “buy.” Here’s the difference: Men are very focused shoppers. They want to get in and get out. For them, it’s all about convenience and efficiency.
• Men are more brand loyal and less driven by the lowest price or promotion than women. This is most likely because of their need to be efficient.
• Men tend to buy less on impulse, keeping to their list, unless it pertains to their needs and desires. (And if that’s the case, then they’ll load up the cart!)
• Men are visual shoppers who desire functional organization, whether it is in the store or on the product packaging.

Marketers need to stop portraying the male species as invisible shopping buffoons if they want men to recognize and relate to their brand. Stores need to think like a guy when laying out planograms and designing packaging. It’s time to make buying more efficient for men who bring home the bacon.

If you want to keep up on the modern day dad, check out John Badalament’s blog about the modern dad’s dilemma at moderndads.net/blog/.

Quick question: Is your brand’s identity Madonna? Tom Hanks? Clark Gable? Uh-oh.

If your brand’s identity or personality is defined as a famous person, you’re risking a lot of confusion.

A branding trap we’ve seen marketers fall into time and again is to buy into the notion of their brand’s personality as a real living being. A brand’s personality is real and dynamic, but it’s not one person. And one person is not understood by everyone in precisely the same way.

So, your brand is the “John Wayne” of your category? Well, does that mean John when his name was Marion or when he was an athletic tackler on UCS’s football team? Or possibly the determined John when he was fighting cancer, or the patriotic John who supported the US military?

Equating your brand personality to a real person is fraught with ambiguity. Instead, ensure clarity by adhering to a “brand nature.” Select four personality words. Yes, only four. And yes, words that describe personalities—that eliminates words like “value” and “superior.” If you’re stuck, imagine your brand walking into a cocktail party. How would the other guests describe its demeanor? Is it strong and serious or fun loving and gregarious? Those are the types of words you seek. So, the John Wayne brand, if it were the patriotic John Wayne, could be loyal and heroic.

Take our advice: thinking of it this way eliminates arguments over whether your brand is Steve Martin, awkward dad in “Father of the Bride,” or Steve Martin, soulful composer. Is that really what you want to spend your time debating?

Bigger Than Television

So what were the trends in this year’s batch of Super Bowl spots? There were certainly more long-form commercials and fewer celebrities, but what stood out most to us was the fully integrated nature of so many ideas.

Brands brought forth ideas that informed and entertained in the moment but also kept the conversation and involvement going online in unprecedented fashion. And when the lights went out early in the second half, viewers showed their devotion by flocking to the slew of unique URLs and social pages pushed in this year’s spots.

It only goes to underscore the importance of maintaining a strong social presence while telling truly compelling stories. Then simply leave it to your audience to play their part.

The Art and Science of Social ROI

If 92% of U.S. brands are integrating social media into their marketing efforts, why are only 13% measuring its return on investment?

It’s no secret. Social ROI has presented marketers everywhere with one stubborn riddle to solve for. Social media offers no silver bullet, magic formula or golden ticket to return on investment. It requires marketers to practice the art of determining what social media success really looks like—combined with the science of gathering and analyzing data.

To better determine your social media ROI, consider the following steps:

• First, clearly define your social media objectives (based on your business goals).
• Measure! Here’s where art and science really come together. Keep track of discovery, trends, share of voice and sentiment.
• Level up. Measure against yourself and competitors.

Get the full story: Check out the infographic we created for a breakdown of social ROI.