The new ‘word-of-mouth’ advertising

By Liz Walz
Contributing writer
On Jan. 16, Honda Motor Co. made social networking history, simultaneously unveiling a flurry of social networking initiatives in preparation for its launch of the Honda Fury.
Despite only posting 17 updates to its Twitter.com/FuryIsUnleashed account between Jan. 16 and April 9, the company attracted more than 400 followers. And its Facebook site, also named FuryIsUnleashed, took on a life of its own with 1,400-plus fans conversing with each other and the manufacturer about their ownership experience or desire to become an owner. But perhaps most successful has been the company’s YouTube campaign. Between January and early May, Honda posted nine videos to its YouTube channel, FuryIsUnleashed, generating tens of thousands of views.
That is the power of social networking.
“Imagine how amplifying your ability to connect with people and maintain relationships could create a competitive advantage and higher economic performance for you and your company,” writes Juliette Powell in her book, “33 Million People in the Room: How to Create, Influence and Run a Successful Business with Social Networking.”
Social networking presents many positives in a challenging marketplace, including:
Attracting the industry’s target demographic, which is increasingly migrating to these sites and joining the masses that have already
discovered them.
Strengthening relationships, as well as extending them to those with whom you share common friends, colleagues and interests.
Google and other search engines index social networking sites, so a company’s involvement in social networking impacts the ranking of their brand on search engine results pages.
In the wake of the crumbling of big businesses like AIG, Lehman Brothers and GM, consumers want to do business with people, not big companies — and social networking tools allow companies to make personal connections with their customers.
Here then are three steps to reap the benefits social networking provides:

Listening
Creating buzz for new products is only one of many ways businesses can benefit from social networking, from event marketing and customer service to increasing customer loyalty and conducting customer research.
Regardless of how social networking is used, the first step is to listen to what riders and powersports businesses are saying in your region on sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube and Flickr, as well as through blogs and online forums. If you’re not listening to these conversations between customers or potential customers, you’re not only missing an opportunity to participate in them, you’re risking your brand’s reputation, experts say.
“Consumers in the groundswell are leaving clues about their opinions, positive and negative, on a daily or hourly basis,” write authors Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research in their book, “Groundswell.”
“If you have a retail store, they’re blogging about your store experience, your selection and their favorite products. If you make … just about anything, they’re on discussion forums dissecting the pros and cons of your product’s features, your prices and your customer support. They’re rating your products and services … And it’s all there for you to listen to.”
The authors define this “groundswell” as “a spontaneous movement of people using online tools to connect, take charge of their own experience, and get what they need – information, support, ideas, products and bargaining power – from each other.” They argue that while the technologies that allow this connection to happen are constantly changing, the groundswell represents a permanent change in the way the world works, and therefore companies need to not only live with it, but learn to thrive with it.
Consider, for example, the opportunity available to Honda’s dealers. On May 1, the OEM posted a link on its Facebook page to its Heartland Honda dealership’s Facebook page, which contains photos of the Fury unveiling held in the store. This Arkansas dealership had been using its Facebook page — in addition to pages on MySpace and Twitter, as well as mobile marketing — to provide fans with Fury photos, videos and news leading up to its big launch party.
General Manager Greg Donahoe says the dealership didn’t know exactly when the Fury would arrive, so it teased followers about the party until the truck arrived with the bike. Then, it used social networking and a text campaign to give customers two days notice of the launch party, which attracted more than 150 people.
In addition to new product launches, Heartland Honda uses social networking to share information on events, such as pancake breakfasts and Bike Nights, as well as coupons and special offers. While the dealership had only
131 Facebook fans as of early May, the multiple comments it receives on many of its updates suggest the company has effectively used Facebook to connect with its “fans.” Donahoe says the popularity of this page, officially launched in March, continues to grow.
“It takes some time,” he said. “You get a network, and then they tell their network about you and they tell theirs. Thus far, it’s going pretty well.”

Participating
Once you’ve observed how customers and competitors are using social technologies, it’s time to consider the best way to participate.
“When choosing which social network to spend your time with,” writes Powell in her book, “consider what your goals are, how much time you want to spend online and just how much you plan to engage with the tools.”
At Heartland Honda, the dealership has experimented with a number of social networking sites, including MySpace, Flickr, Twitter and Facebook. However, the dealership is considering narrowing its focus.
“My guess is that MySpace will go bye, bye, but Facebook we’ll continue to promote aggressively, as well as texting,” he said. “I don’t know about Twitter yet. We get four or five more people following us every day.”
No matter which social networking sites are used, the same basic advice applies:
Search for your best customers on social networking platforms, take note of which platforms they’re using and find out which of them is best at online community building. Be sure to follow their posts and respond when possible, especially when you can be helpful to them, whether it’s an industry matter or completely unrelated.
Look for other powersports groups and businesses in your community and see who they are following and/or who their friends are. Then, ask those people to connect with you as well. “Social technologies have revved up that word-of-mouth dynamic, increasing the influence of regular people,” write Li and Bernoff. “When we surveyed online consumers at the end of 2006, 83 percent said they trusted recommendations from friends and acquaintances, and more than half trusted online reviews from strangers.”
Of course, that was before the corruption and business failures of the past year. As HarvardBusiness.org blogger Peter Bregman recently wrote, “In an era when huge businesses are faltering, the new competitive advantages are trust, reliability and relationships.”
Bregman believes that small businesses have a particular advantage in these times because of their closer relationships with employees, suppliers and customers, which allow them to communicate better with all of them. “We simply don’t trust companies anymore,” he writes. “We trust people.”
And it just so happens that social networking is an opportunity for companies to further develop those personal connections with their customers, sharing information that helps them make better purchasing decisions and live better lives.
“Never forget that the groundswell is about person-to-person activity,” write Li and Bernoff. “This means you as a person must be ready to connect to people you haven’t met, customers of yours. Blogging, connecting in communities, ‘friending’ – these are all personal activities.”
Public social networking sites also give small businesses a more level playing field with their competitors because they’re free.
“We don’t have the money to have a Cabela’s catalog,” said Jerry Brouwer, general manager of marine dealership Action Water Sports of Hudsonville, Mich. “I hear it costs Overton’s millions to send out a catalog. Now, with Facebook [and other social networking sites] your small independent business person can compete with them and maybe do a better job of it.”
If you’re not comfortable using social technologies, consider asking employees who are loyal to the company and most connected to the powersports lifestyle to share those passions online. You don’t have to have a corporate presence on social networking sites. A personal touch is actually appreciated within the groundswell – and the more “people” from your company who participate, the stronger your social brand will likely become.
Many of those dealerships that you do find on Facebook haven’t updated their page since last year. That is a prime example of what NOT to do when it comes to social networking. The groundswell phenomenon is based on back and forth communication. Fail to hold up your end of the conversation, and those with whom you’re connected to will move on.

The bottom line
When it comes down to it, calculating the return on investment of your social networking efforts isn’t scientific. When, really, can you put a dollar value on building relationships? Yet most of the industry’s leading brands spend thousands, even millions of dollars per year establishing and building relationships, holding customer and community events, offering education classes, giving demo rides and taking customers on getaways. Today, with marketing budgets tightening and consumers increasingly turning to the Internet to make connections and purchase decisions, it’s time to develop a social networking strategy for your company.
“In business, it’s not just about what you know. It’s also about who you know and how well you use those relationships,” writes the author Powell. “None of the current winners in business are going to win in the next
30-40 years if they don’t have the sense to invest in and harness the power of social networks.”