Flavors of Word of Mouth
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009Its easy to get stuck applying the frameworks you know to new things. Or worse, to not know frameworks that work.
So when I saw this post at Buzz Canuck, I realized this was a pretty good way of collecting all of WOM into a cohesive framework. And while I don’t agree with all of the details, looking at WOM in terms of its effective half-life is a good organizing principle, especially when you apply it all the way to customer evangelism.
Many people think of Viral as equivalent to WOM, and try to shoehorn a viral element into every initiative. Sean’s emphasis on events and high risk ideas is right on – its nearly impossible to light a viral fire without a very, very compelling meme. Green Day has been selling out their semi-secret local tour in minutes with just a couple emails and a few sentences on their website, powered by fans spreading the word. Add a few key critics invited to the shows, and the band is building buzz without a whole lot of effort.
Do you think the fans that scored tickets have been evangelizing? You bet. And yeah, I went and it rocked.
