...."because they don't know the words".
If you've ever walked by a hive of bees, it's uncanny how their buzzing intensifies as you approach (apparently they buzz even more if your wearing dark colours). It's a simple and perfect communication system; workers and queen bees alike know what the buzzing means - danger.
If we could only bottle what cues drives human buzzing, oooohh the power we could reap (sound effect: evil demonic laugh).!
Well maybe we haven't received the final answer but In the hive of word of mouth, we've just received some interesting research back from our panel of crack evangelists on what ONE aspect of a product, service or retailer makes them buzzable - the eyebrow raising results ranked top to bottom below:
Something with which you personally associate | 25.7% |
Innovative | 22.5% |
Exciting | 13.1% |
Solves problems | 11.0% |
Easy to talk about | 9.9% |
New | 8.0% |
Newsworthy | 2.9% |
Exclusive | 2.7% |
Other | 2.7% |
Fashionable | 1.3% |
Expensive | 0.0% |
Claimed responses sometimes blur the psychology behind why we do something but taken on face value, the five takeaways I have from our panelists' responses above:
1) buzzing is about what we love and therefore very category specific. It intensifies when we feel passionate about a particular topic, in fact - buzz is self-identity itself (take the advocacy of a restaurant -the #1 ranked word of mouth category - can typically reveal a lot about a person's tastes)
2) buzzing rewards brands that bring something new to the world - wondrously new and innovative always trumps improved and better (Prius > Camry, Chrysler 300 > Chrysler Malibu)
3) buzzing is less about the sizzle and more about the steak - fashion without function at best has a short buzz lifespan and at worst doesn't excite the hive at all (Apprentice Trump> Apprentice Martha, )
4) buzzing is very democratic and not very status-driven - perhaps if this survey was conducted in the 80s, the results would be reversed - however in 2006 buzz embraces authenticity, inspiration and original experiences over high end attitude and privileged exclusivity (Southwest > British Airways, Lounge > Club, Costa Rica > Las Vegas)
5) buzz rewards the sender and receiver - for the sender, its exciting to show special stuff, mavenism and the altruism to help others, for the receiver, buzz is important to solve problems and feel in the loop (Swiffer makes housework easier, Blackberry improves business lives, IPOD makes entertainment better)
Social Media Zealots
Problogger
Conversational Media Marketing
Greg Verdino
Altitude Branding
The Buzz Bin
Being Peter Kim
The Altimeter
CoBrandit
Web-Strategist
Groundswell