Get Employees Involved In Word of Mouth

Managing a word of mouth campaign by yourself is challenging. It takes time, and it draws you away from other activities. For that reason, think about getting your employees involved in encouraging word of mouth, both in the store and, especially, online.

The key is to make sure employees understand their role in the WOM process. You should spend some time thinking about what that role should be. Good social marketers recognize is that it may be difficult to just turn employees loose to represent your company in the social media sphere without a clear understanding of the role of social media in the company.

Additionally, your staff needs to understand how their social media work fits in with the other work that they’re expected to do. Finally, the staff should realize the difference between information that is interesting to them and information that is interesting to your followers.

One yogurt shop uses WOM and Twitter very tactically.  Store employees are on the front line of noticing how much inventory is likely to go to waste if it doesn’t get sold. If there is an abundance of mango in one store, for example, an employee could send a tweet that says “Free mango toppings for anyone coming in between now and closing today.”

This message can be quickly retweeted among friends,  can drive traffic to the store, and makes the yogurt shop seem connected and timely.

One company where participating in word of mouth is an important aspect of people’s jobs is the Roger Smith Hotel, where the CEO wants the entire staff to have a voice online.  The hotel’s marketers believe that the front-line employees are important contributors to the hotel’s brand, and that the staff’s interactions with customers both online and off are key. Employees share what types of events are happening at the Hotel, what is going on at the neighborhood, and what types of drinks are popular in the bar.

The hotel teaches their staff that all messages should be positive: avoid saying anything in any channel that wouldn’t be said to the owner, a guest, or a reporter. Messages are also monitored regularly so any possible negative messages are discussed with employees to make sure they understand why the message was problematic and to correct any underlying problems.

Other companies help staff understand the voice of the company by providing sample scripts, conversation starters and online message topics to their staff along with ideas about how to encourage interaction online.

Interestingly, a manager of CD store told me he was surprised that his employees—young, tech savvy people—rarely think about using social media to send out messages on behalf of the store. He encourages his employees, when they’re visiting message boards for the bands they are interested in, to refer to CD World and their social media presence.

He often finds, though, that his employees don’t see the connection between their hobby and their job. He is constantly reminding them to mention CD World in their Internet travels, and also encourages employees to post on the store’s Facebook page. He finds that his own presence in social media is a great model for what he wants his employees to do.

It’s all a balance…as a business owner, you will give up some degree of control when you encourage your staff to participate in WOM. But at the end of the day, it is all about building community and encouraging the community to spread good WOM about your store, and your staff is a key part of that.

– Kim