Do not trust companies? Then trust your friends

http://empowered.forrester.com/groundswell/book.html

In the book groundswell says:”people believe other people more than media.(P 131)” As a matter of fact, this is true. Although almost every company tries to persuade its customers in many ways, posting blogs, sending emails, update facebook or twitter, people are more likely to hear from each other. Consequently, if you can’t change your customers, then provide them with opportunities to receive messages from people around them.

 

According to the marketing funnel, we know that “Once people are aware of your product, a new dynamic kicks in: people learning from each other.(page 102)” But it doesn’t mean that getting people’s attention is not important. A company should at least let its consumers see it is beckoning to them and attract them to get closer. As we all know, it will spend a long time to gain other’s trust. Generally speaking, consumers will ask their friends for suggestions about this company or search reviews and comments on the internet, which help them make a decision base on these suggestions, reviews and comments. As Groundswell says:” with so many products trying to get people’s attention, shouting at them isn’t nearly as effective as it used to be.(page 102)” Looking at the advertisements, they are full of our life. To be honest, sometimes, people tend to have a feeling of resistance to advertisements—they are full of boast, superficiality and lie, though in most of time, ads actually can get people’s attention. If a company just delivers its messages through ads, putting so many ads in the public, maybe it will make its consumers have a suspicion on its products.

http://adamhcohen.com/the-new-marketing-funnel/

 

So consumers don’t trust company, and then let them hear from their friends and online reviews, comments. “According to the Word of Mouth Association (WOMMA), word of mouth ‘is the most honest form of marketing, building upon people’s natural desire to share their experiences with family, friends, and colleagues.(page 131)’” Consequently, company should energize the groundswell. The first step is to cultivate your enthusiastic customers and deliver your messages to consumers through their mouths. In order to maximize the influence of enthusiastic customers, company can choose its big fans from different group base on some certain standards, such as age, race, culture, geography, social class and so on, which can spread the messages more efficiently and widely. Besides that, another better choice of word of mouth is people who are authorities in that area. Considering that some people can’t get advertises from their friends or still can’t make a decision after reading positive reviews on the internet, some suggestions from authorities may strengthen their confidence in products. Take cosmetic products as an example, nowadays, many girls are entangled in a large amount of cosmetic brands. Some beauticians will introduce cosmetic products in magazines or their facebook and twitter. Some cosmetic companies will keep contact with several famous beauticians—sending samples of new products to them and beauticians will post opinions of products in their social media tools. This is another good choice to increase consumers’ confidence, though customers may regard them as another type of ads.

 

 

“Hear it from one person, and it’s intriguing. Hear it from five or ten, even if you didn’t know them before, and it has to be true.(page 130)” It’s no doubt that group psychology does make senses in some case. Psychologist Solomom Asch conducted famous experiments"Asch Conformity Experiment" in 1950s."The result shows that the power of conformity is strong. That is, the willingness to conform publicly to attain social reward and avoid social punishment. Consequently, we can apply this theory on energizing the groundswell. Repeat is very important.

  

                        

In all, energizing the groundswell is an effective way in marketing strategy.

As the book groundswell says:” Word of mouth succeeds because: It’s believable. It’s self-reinforcing. It’s self-spreading.(page 130)” In modern society, everything change so fast, such as technology. So satisfying customers psychologically is crucial to success.