Book: Word of Mouth

It's my first time writing a book, so I'm not sure yet how it will all come together. This first part here will either be part of a preface or the first chapter.

Word of Mouth

The number one reason people buy something or try something is because someone they trust told them to do so. That's word of mouth.

It could be a family member telling you about a great book they read or a co-worker relating a great experience they had shopping at a particular store. Word of mouth is more influential than any television commercial, magazine ad, or roadside billboard.

For literally millions of years word of mouth has led the way for people to try new things. The first caveman who rubbed a few sticks together and started a fire must have shared his or her findings with another. Same would have been true for hunting tips and the corresponding cooking with said fire.

The examples of word of mouth are endless. From Paul Revere's cry that the British were coming to finding the location of the local speakeasy during the Prohibition era. If you stop and think about it, you can probably think of a dozen times that a word of mouth conversation has influenced you just in the past few weeks alone.

Moore's Law loosely states that the speed of computation doubles every eighteen months. As technology progresses at this breakneck speed, the rate at which we receive information increases as well. Remember when you used to receive "not appropriate for work" joke emails from associates and those would become water cooler fodder? Those emails soon turned into YouTube video clips which have morphed into Facebook posts and more recently Twitter updates. Information reaches us in seconds now and we share it immediately. The power of word of mouth has grown exponentially along with the expansion of technology.

The platform enabling this quick dissemination of news and advice is Social Media. Media that is, as the name states, social. Not just a one way conversation where one authority dictates what you learn, but rather a mutual communication that enables all to comment, rate, and share. As a result the information flow is not only fast but approved and endorsed. Good news and bad news travels fast.

There is a desire in us all to alert our friends of information that might make them laugh, save them some money, or manage their most valuable asset - time. Social media is not a new concept, just one that, until fairly recently, was slow and complicated. A reader's response section in a newspaper or petition intended for your local congress person was the closest you could get to participatory media. But along came Amazon and we could rate the products we bought. Blogs gave a voice to those who had an opinion about anything. YouTube channels made celebrities out of normal people.

How to communicate in the social media space and influence word of mouth is the goal of this book. The intention is to inform and not interrupt. Integrity, honesty and transparency are the core values. Listening is as important as talking. Rewarding is as important as asking.

This book aims to give you great tips on how to market your products via social media and help you create positive word of mouth with your core customer which will ultimately lead to more customers.