Book: Product Review & Opinion Websites

I'm actually excited talking about this next book tactic: Conversational Marketing in Product Review and Opinion websites.

The reason I'm excited is because I actually use the product review features located on most eCommerce websites all the time.  But let me back up for a minute.

What is a Product Review / Opinion Website?
It all started a few years back with Amazon.com.   I'm not saying they invented the product review concept, but they definitely brought it to the mainstream.  At the time, the concept was fairly radical.  By allowing the public to comment on a product, it allowed true opinion based commentary that could both help or more likely, hurt, a product.  It also opened up the possibility of people gaming the content and posting fake commentary in an effort to boost sales.  But for the most part, product reviews are real and tremendously helpful.

So what you have are basically three categories:

1. User Generated Product Reviews on eCommerce websites (Amazon.com, BestBuy.com)
2. Professional Product Review websites (CNET, Consumer Reports) / editorial commentary on eCommerce websites
3. Opinion Websites and aggregators (Epinions.com)

Now, starting conversations in this area isn't going to get you too far.  If you simply post, "Hey, our product is great!" you are not going to make many friends.  The user-generated product review areas on sites like Amazon are fairly sacred.  When I am deciding between two or three similar products, the reviews play an important role in helping me to decide which purchase to make.  I'd hate to find out that the positive reviews were all fake.  (Knowing full well that many are!).  Which is why I tend to read the negative reviews with greater intent than the positive reviews. 

Meanwhile, if you respond to a reviewer who has just destroyed your product in his or her editorial column on a website, blog, or online magazine, you better think carefully about what you say.  Refrain from the need to berate the writer.  The likely result will just be a war of words which will ultimately make you look bad.

Good Ideas
Rather than share a list of best practices, I'd prefer just to offer up a few good ideas.

• Offer Thanks
• Offer Solutions
• Offer Rewards

Offer Thanks
You want to keep information flowing.  You don't want to make people feel like they are being watched and that they have to be careful of what they say.  Thank them for their comments.  For example, if someone wrote a bad review of your product, a simple, "Thank you for sharing your opinion.  I'm disappointed that you are unhappy with your purchase" then discuss the actual problem and either acknowledge the shortcomings or explain that this is an extremely rare occurrence and that you will happily refund their money or exchange their purchase.  Also, notice I said, "I'm disappointed" which was intentional.  By using "I" instead of "We" you show personalization and ownership.  It is much more appealing to a customer to see that someone is personally interested in their opinions vs. a company.

Offer Solutions
Often times what people identify as shortcomings or problems with a product is just their lack of knowledge on how to properly use the product.  This is especially true with electronics.  If someone claims the battery life of the product is too short, suggest methods for extending it.  If you know the competitive landscape, explain that your competitors have similar issues and that this will be experienced by whichever product a customer decides to purchase.

Also, offer insight and tips that few ever know about.  Once again, thank people for their thoughts and then give them special tricks they could only have found about from you.  If these are compelling they will often spread virally.

Offer Rewards
Keeping with the theme of thanking people for their thoughts, offer rewards.  Drive people to a website or social network page where they can get a coupon or something of added value just for offering their commentary.  Offer these rewards to everyone, good reviewers and bad reviewers alike.  If you do this correctly you'll end up creating fans who will ultimately become advocates for your product.  Which is of course the best advertising you can buy.

Book: Conversing in Social Networks - Part 2

Continuing on from last week's post, I was discussing top level best practices for conversing in social networks.  Last week I covered the first three of this list, now I'll continue on...

• Friend / Fan
  
• Research
  
• Reach out to administrator first to post message on your behalf
• If administrator doesn’t respond in 2 -3 days, post on wall, discussion board, or wherever is most appropriate
• Be transparent when posting on pages
• Target groups that are recently active. A good rule of thumb is to look for wall activity within the month.
• When posting on a group page, keep in mind it is best to enter conversations and answer questions rather than start new ones

Posting w/o Administrator 

You've done the right thing, you've reached out to the administrator.  But he / she is not getting back to you.  Either the page is so active that they can't possibly keep up with everyone, they're just plain M.I.A. or they just don't bother with the whole moderation thing.  So go for it.  Post on the wall, but do it appropriately.  Study the wall closely.  What is being talked about?  Don't create a topic that isn't relevant and please, for heaven's sake, don't sell!  Integrate.  Participate.  This is not your home, it belongs to someone else.  Follow these next steps...

Transparency

If you answer a question, state why you know the answer.  Specify that you work for Product X and you have found ______ to be true in relation to the topic at hand.  Be an expert and subtly identify your product.  Make sure that your profile states who you are and who you work for.  Know that if someone likes what you have to say, or more likely, doesn't like what you have to say, they will check out your profile.  So be up front and save them the trouble.  Admit that you have expertise in a certain area and that is why you are on the page. 

Target Active Groups

With literally hundreds of millions of profiles having been created on social networks, a large portion will be inactive.  Don't waste your time with inactive groups on social networks.  Most social network pages and groups are created with the best intentions, but hek, people have lives.  What is interesting one moment may not be a priority a few moments later.  So spend some time to see how active the page is and how relevant the discussions are to you.  Your time is valuable.  You could post on thousands of pages, but maximize your effectiveness by taking the time to identify the most relevant places.

Enter Existing Conversations vs. Starting One

This is conversational marketing rule number 2 (behind transparency).  Don't post something on someone else's page that is not relevant and that isn't already being discussed.  Going back to an earlier point, show expertise.  Answer a question that is specific to you and your product.  If you do a great job with this, you will engage people further and this will help integrate you into the community on this social network page.  This will give you the opportunity to do future marketing because you've been accepted.

Book: Conversing in Social Networks

As I continue to write, it becomes tougher not to sound repetitive.  I could follow a similar format each time I write about a particular tactic, but if I do that, I'll bore the reader.  Well, I'll at least bore myself and if I'm bored, then there's no way I'll be able to convince others that what I have to say is interesting. 

So, for the next couple of discussions on explaining the conversational marketing tactics as it relates to social networks and others, I'm going to just riff.  With the understanding that when this book actually comes together I'll have to go back and edit these sections a bit to make them flow with the rest of the book.  So here goes...

Conversational Marketing in Social Networks

Conversing in a social network is fairly similar to conversing in a message board.  You follow many of the same best practices and as always, you need to respect both the moderator / owner of the social network and the community within that social network.  Here are some top level best practices to follow for conversing in a social network (this is based around Facebook, but can be used on most social networks):

• Friend / Fan
  
• Research
  
• Reach out to administrator first to post message on your behalf
• If administrator doesn’t respond in 2 -3 days, post on wall, discussion board, or wherever is most appropriate
• Be transparent when posting on pages
• Target groups that are recently active. A good rule of thumb is to look for wall activity within the month.
• When posting on a group page, keep in mind it is best to enter conversations and answer questions rather than start new ones

Friend / Fan

Your goal is to communicate within a specific social network or social network page on a larger social network platform (Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc.).  Step one is to actually become a friend or fan of that page.  Information is often hidden unless you are a friend or fan.  In some cases certain information is open to the public but other more desirable content is reserved for friends or fans only.  Become a friend / fan, enter the community and look around.

Research

Once you are a friend / fan of a social network or page within a social network, explore.  Look at the content provided.  Often times there is tremendous information such as photos, videos, widgets, games, and more.  Read the "wall" or information flow and notice what is being promoted.  Basically you want to familiarize yourself with what the administrator is promoting and what the community is reacting to.  When it comes time to communicate, you are going to need to know what people are talking about and how they are communicating.  You need to assimilate and this starts with some solid research.

Reach Out to the Administrator
With a social network, you are really stepping into someone's personal life.  Or in the case of a company or topic, it's a very interactive space with tremendous information flow vs. a typical website that may stay fairly static.  Ideally you want to get the administrator to participate in your messaging because that gives it authenticity and endorsement.  The administrator can also solicit response and interaction thus giving your message greater impact.

The Innocence of Children

If you want to know what life is all about, watch a child that is captivated by something wonderful.  One of the movies I identify most with my childhood is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  I have seen that movie a hundred times and it still resonates.

When I first started this blog almost two years ago I wrote a quick post showing my 10 week old son Brandon watching Willy Wonka sing, "Pure Imagination."  Every few days I still pop it on the bedroom television and watch it with him (rather I watch it, because Brandon prefers to just jump on the bed and ignore the TV).  Today something fantastic happened.  Brandon was truly captivated by the song and he stopped jumping on the bed to watch Gene Wilder sing. 

There is nothing more moving than watching a little child captivated in something from your own childhood.  I stared at Brandon watching the song and my heart melted.  It proved that sometimes you really can go back.  For a moment, I was a child again as I stared at my boy while I sang the words, "If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it."

Meanwhile, after the song was over and Brandon was eating his breakfast in his high chair, I heard him singing, "Oompah Loompah."

Have a great day!

The 10 Most Innovative Viral Video Ads of 2009

I was reading Mashable today and stumbled across an article by my friend Josh Warner. Josh runs a company called Feed Company and they specialize in helping brands get their videos seen on places like YouTube.

Check out the article, you'll get lost for about a 1/2 hour.

The 10 Most Innovative Viral Video Ads of 2009

My three favorites are:

1. Amazing


2. Compelling Story


3. Hysterical 

Book: Inisght

I started writing my book on Monday, September 8 and let me tell you, it's hard.  Every Monday I stare at the screen and I try to write.  If you've ever tried to force yourself to write, you know how hard it can be.  Especially non-fiction.  I'm trying to write down a simple to understand road map to anyone who wants to know how to do digital word of mouth marketing; a collection of tactics that will help you understand how big the social media space is and how to navigate it for the purposes of marketing products and services.  I feel good about what I've written so far, but boy, sometimes I wonder what I've gotten myself into.

To give you some insight into what I'm doing, I have this grid of social media tactics taped to a shelf in my office.  Each week I stare at it to see where I'm at.  I was just staring at it now and wow, I'm just getting started. It's daunting.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I'm excited to put this all down, I just had to step back for a moment and recognize how hard this is.  I don't know how guys like Malcolm Gladwell and Seth Godin do it.  These guys spit out books left and right and I'm just trying to get one done.  I know, I know, it's their full time job and I'm trying to do it on the side.  Still, I envy those guys.

I've always admired people who can write for a living.  Probably because I like to read so much.  As for whether I'm a writer or not, I'm not sure yet.  

So, this is me procrastinating and hitting a bit of writer's block.  I'm taking this week off to tell you that.  But I'm not stopping.  Still to come is the continuation of my discussion of Conversational Marketing and it's related tactics.  So far I've covered:

1. Message Boards & Forums
2. Blog Commenting
3. Q&A / Knowledge Websites

Next up are the remaining segments in Conversational Marketing:
4. Social Networks
5. Product Review & Opinion Websites
6. Brand Evangelist Forums on Blogs, Websites, & Social Networks
7. Crowdsourcing Websites
8. MicroBlogging (Twitter)

After that I'll get into working with Influencers to spread your message.  And so much more.

Thanks for reading.