Word-of-Mouth Gets Viral

July 15, 2010 | Written by Lucie Zhang

In college, I joined a sorority. Being in one not only meant attending formals, mixers, T-shirt making parties, and more, but it also meant I was part of network of women on campus. Over the next four years, these girls became an invaluable source of advice, inspiration, humor, and support. The cheesiness aside, there is no question in my mind that “word-of-mouth” advice (i.e. a recommendation from a friend, relative, or other trusted source) is one of the most powerful persuading forces out there. And now that social media has allowed individuals to easily tap into each other’s brains, the wealth of knowledge, useless trivia, and endlessly helpful tips people exchange with each other is not only instantaneous and trackable, but it can all potentially go viral.

Here’s a look at what companies, brands, and advertisers have been doing lately to use that organically-created discussion in their favor.

The Old Spice Man

Ladies, he’s done it again. Just when you thought the “Old Spice Man” (real name: Isaiah Mustafa) couldn’t get more irresistible, he’s followed up his “Questions” commercial with answers — personalized videos in response to fan input he’s received via Twitter (example video above). Intelligent, witty, good-looking, and attentive? He really is the perfect man.

Directed at everyone from celebrities to stay-at-home mothers to the Huffington Post, all of his almost-instantaneous replies are available for viewing on his YouTube channel, along with his famously hilarious commercials. My personal favorite? A marriage proposal he did for one fan, Johannes S. Beals (below).

(She said yes!)

And then (yes, there’s more), the Old Spice Man one-upped himself when he made a voicemail message for Pandarr on Reddit. This led to @knitmeapony asking for a voicemail message for ladies (when you give a mouse a cookie…), and within just a few hours an Old Spice voicemail generator popped up from Reddit.

Brilliant.

SocialAds

Twitter will begin hosting its own video advertising network, called SocialAds, on its video hosting site TwitVid. Meant to be an alternative to traditional pre-roll and overlay online video ads, SocialAds aims to help advertisers enter the social media realm and increase a brand or company’s number of Twitter followers and online mentions. Pricing for SocialAds will be based on a price-per-action model, where advertisers only pay once a desired action (such as retweeting an ad displayed in a video on TwitVid) has been taken.

So far, a private alpha test has shown that brands who participated in SocialAds got over 400 new followers in less than an hour. Additionally, SocialAds will have the ability to offer quantifiable data on the number of added Twitter followers and retweets an ad creates, an important advantage in a field where measuring ad effectiveness can get tricky.

Hauls

Hauls (short, look-what-I-got videos made by teens) are the latest trend in YouTube, with over 159,000 posted, and stores are doing their best to leverage their buzz-creating ability. J.C. Penney is the latest to join the likes of American Eagle and Forever 21 in incorporating hauls into their back-to-school marketing campaign. Some retail stores have even offered to cover travel expenses or give free gift cards to haulers to encourage them to feature their goods. Haulers are obligated under Federal Trade Commission guidelines to acknowledge when this happens, but either way, these influential videos have been shown to shape not only teens’ tastes but also the tastes of parents of teenagers.

Uncensored

Innocean Worldwide Americas has launched a new campaign for Hyundai Motor America. Called “Uncensored,” the campaign allows people who saw the cars at mall tours around America to test out Hyundai’s new versions of the Sonata, the Santa Fe, Accent, and Elantra for a month. The commentary will be, as the name implies, uncensored, and it will air on both cable and network television channels, with outtakes available on YouTube. Hyundai will also have 125 people who did not previously own a Hyundai car test-drive a 2011 Sonata for a month and document their experiences on Hyundai’s Facebook page. The campaign will last throughout the entire summer, meaning that Hyundai is putting a lot of faith in user-generated content.

Extra Bits

• Help spread awareness about the dangers of using fossil fuels by creating your own oil spill (virtually, of course). Enter in a URL and watch as that website gradually becomes covered in oil, until the entire screen goes black. Donate, sign a petition, volunteer, or share the site with friends afterwards.
• Walt Disney Studios became the first sponsor to have an exclusive offer at @EarlyBird, Twitter’s new deal-hunting tool. Followers of either @EarlyBird or @DisneyPictures have the chance to receive a special 2-for-1 deal on tickets to The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
• Starbucks became the first brand to have its Facebook page reach over 10 million fans.
• Calvin Klein Jeans, known for their provocative billboard advertisements, has replaced three of these ads (two in downtown New York City and one in Los Angeles) with a QR code (below). Passer-bys who take a photo of the billboard with their smartphone will pull up a 40-second commercial featuring models Lara Stone, “A.J.,” Sid Ellisdon, Grayson Vaughan and Eric Anderson. Users can then share the code with their friends via Facebook or Twitter.

Love the use of social media to enhance real-life? Think it’s all a big ploy to turn communication tools into floods of advertising and brand talk? I would love to hear your thoughts.

More from RFI Studios

• 15 Minutes of Fame – Left Brain
• Mass Consumption
• Munchies Go Mobile – Left Brain
• Mood Swings and Pretty Things
• Buzz-Worthy? Googleâs Attempt at Becoming the King of the Internet – Left Brain