Connected Women + Viral Content = Information Wildfires
We all know that women talk. It’s a natural part of our gender culture to share information. Prior to the second generation of the Web, the term ‘word of mouth’ reflected the spread of information as it traveled primarily through person-to-person channels such as coffee dates, phone calls and e-mail messages. In the wake of Web 2.0, however, women now have the opportunity to share information using content platforms such as wikis and online social networks, which essentially allow us to broadcast information to a connected community in a fashion similar to that of traditional media outlets.
As a follow-up to my last post, I’ll show what word-of-mouth currently looks like among a group of young, connected women within my social network on Facebook. Each armed with a virtual match (content) and camp in the forest (social network), they’re starting information wildfires among the communities that they’re connected to.
Allow me to introduce you to some of my pyro friends. : )
The Quirk Factor
My friends Katie and Alicia are excellent sources of odd, quirky and down-right bizarre forms of entertainment. I can’t help but laugh out loud as they lace their witty messages with poems from FOUND magazine and links to an online gallery of Hobo portraits. Knowing I wouldn’t be disappointed, I checked out Katie’s page only to find the following link to a collection of stuffed animals for sale in the form of plush, giant microbes. I never knew mono could look so cute.
Lesson: Entertaining, humorous, unique, quirky or shocking content is highly viral among a connected group. (No pun intended.) Just because you don’t sell giant microbe stuffed animals doesn’t mean that you can’t tap into this craving. Read this article by BusinessWeek to see how worthwhile a good laugh can be.
The Public Rant
While schlepping through the “news feed,” which is essentially the People magazine of my network, I noticed my friend Greer started a group called “Greer and Sara are Homeless.” The purpose of the group was essentially to let everyone in her network know about “Frank,” the big, bad landlord from a property management company in the area where she attends school. According to the group’s description, Frank cheated them out of an apartment and the girls are now looking for a place to live.
Although you can’t see it in the screen shot, the group’s members left comments in the form of advice, condolences, and vows to spread the word about Frank and his company.
Lesson: There is a high valued placed on transparency in the marketplace. Shady, unethical or dishonest business will be quickly brought into the spotlight.
The Call to Action
Looking at my friend Maria’s page, I saw that she posted information regarding the RED campaign and wrote a message encouraging her friends to support the cause. Even though she posted it nearly one year ago, the link to the message and campaign is still visible and accessible from her profile.
Following a similar thread, my friend Mari recently told me about a pair of shoes she purchased from a guy named Tom. Looking at the simple khaki canvas shoes I didn’t think they were anything special…at least not until Mari sent me the link to a video that she posted on Facebook regarding the shoe maker’s story. Watching the video of a ‘shoe drop’ in Argentina, I learned about the mission behind TOMS shoes and the inspiration behind her purchase.
Lesson: Women are looking for ways to give back, which includes spreading the word about worthwhile causes. One way to let women in your brand community participate in your give back initiatives is by giving them access to great content they can easily share with their network.
The Eyebrow Lifter
On Alisa’s profile I found a small collection of her favorite videos. She’s an incredible dancer so I wasn’t surprised to see music videos. However, amidst the new Nelly Furtado remix and hip-hop competition clips, I saw that she posted a video from the ‘Bom Chicka Wah Wah’ campaign by Axe deodorant.
After seeing the commercial on television, Alisa found the video on YouTube and posted it on her profile to share it with her friends. This progression demonstrates the way campaigns can come to life in different mediums, formats and communities. Although it may have started as a television advertisement, Axe’s ‘Bom Chicka Wah Wah’ reaches an exponentially larger group than the audience tuned-in during an MTV broadcast of the spot.
Actually, after doing a little research I found that the campaign is currently living in a shocking number of places online. You can now view the spots on YouTube, look at photos on Flickr, read about and watch the videos on blogs, download the music as a ring-tone, learn about it on Wikipedia, buy a t-shirt on CafePress, post it on your network profile, etc., etc.
Lesson: Do a content audit and find out where your brand story is currently living. Think through both online and off-line conversations. Ask: 1) What is the desired outcome and purpose of this content? 2) What communities and formats do we want this campaign to live in? 3) Can it travel through new technologies such as social networks, blogs, cell phones and live interactions without losing its integrity? 3) Does it inspire our brand community?
While looking for word of mouth examples among the women in my network, the common thread I noticed many of them shared was that they use content like virtual clothing—they dress-up their online identities with different styles/types of media and information to express who they are and want to be, what they like or don’t like, what they want, how they live or want to live, and who and what they admire. Therefore as a marketer or business owner, I think the appropriate question to answer is: How does the content you produce relate to her identity, values, interests and activities?
This post was written by Cassie Pruett
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