The Time Scale of Word of Mouth - What's the Shelf Life of Your Buzz?

Some of these things are not like the other. Yes, word of mouth-based strategies and tactics have a much different burn rate.

Some people believe that word of mouth is not a campaign or short term thing. Others believe that word of mouth can't be sustained and thus it's confined to being used as a short-term tactic focused on being noticed and talked about for a short interval. I happen to disagree with both of these hardline positions. Depending on what you want out of your people-driven marketing, each may have a role.

I'll share with you instances where each may apply below.

Viral - the online "turn your head and get noticed" strategy is en vogue because of its potential to spread, but typically it has the quickest burn rate measured typically in days and has the highest level of unpredictability - it only becomes memorable and more long lasting if followed up with more tactics or is picked up by traditional media

Relevant occasions where this can be used:  upon launching a new initiative, taking a risk, driving brand awareness or conducting an event

Social Networks - with the crush of competition in social networks, pages, groups or apps typically experience the most intense interest in the first few days/weeks of introduction, trailing off from there and only are sustained by an ongoing set of activities or social network tools that demonstrate something of true ongoing value/entertainment

Relevant occasions where can be used: changing perceptions, holiday seasons or relevant contextual and time-based siutuation

Buzz - the offline version of viral, typically has a slightly longer burn rate given its intent of building up toward something and its less efficient medium of real life conversation - think festival movie premieres launched months ahead of full release of movies

Relevant occasions where can be used: industries that operate on a standard cycle, influencer and taste-driven industries where key stakeholders must be seeded first as part of a two-step approach

User Generated Content - choose your flavour, vote for someone, share your profile, solve a simple problem, customize your avatar - this is the quick and typically playful version of word of mouth, if done correctly and launched as a "create, rate and develop" platform" - word of mouth can be sustained over months, but typically has finite cycle and usually run as a campaign or a successive set of campaigns

Relevant occasions where can be used: deciding on new variants, providing a platform for creative expression, repositioning brand, in advance of major media launch

Referral program - the "shaking hands" form of word of mouth - building on the time wron principle of human interaction "you do something for me and I'll do something for you", however rarely practiced well because the benefits are usually company-skewed - typically has high levels of enthusiasm upfront followed by waning interest, particularly if benefit does not add up to resources invested

Relevant occasions where can be used: with employees or involved stakeholders, in situations where it's easy to do (Amazon affiliate program) or where financial/reward incentives are clear (eBay)

Customer challenge/intervention - attempting to make a direct change in the way people act i.e. change competitive brand, adopt a new behaviour or increase consumption - if executed with three stages of buzz building, challenge participation of members and broadcast back of results/testimonial, focus can last months if not years, typically confined to a season

Relevant occasions where can be used: as the #2 player in a market, where brand benefit is complex and needs to be experienced, where results of using product/servcie are noticeable (Pepsi/Coke challenge) or noticeable over time (Nestle Purina 30 Day Challenge)

Influencer marketing - the process of identifying, incubating and seeding your most valuable audience, typically our infleucner programs last 8-32 weeks - why? Because that's how long they want to be around. Influencers are typically early adopters and tend to lose interest as the underlying product/service starts to get noticed by the mainstream

Relevant occasions where can be used: where the product category is taste or expert-driven, where the product badging/product benefit is visible, where the product/service is not yet caught mainstream attention, where influencers are readily identifiable and followed

Grassroots/cause marketing - where brands act in association with an existing charity (the RED camapign) or their own cause (Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty), although affiliation may last for years, unless companies are truly committed, word of mouth surrounding company altruism is typically confined to a year

Relevant occasions where used: targeting a new or specific audience, building a likable brand perception, wrapping the brand in an idea larger than themselves, disarming reaction to large brand social media/word of mouth efforts by focusing on altruistic motives

Experiential marketing - providing a transforming and immersive experience for a fan, customer or influencer, typically in the form of an event - lasting impressions of what the brand stands for and who it attracts may have ongoing attraction for participants (as only 10% believe they ever receive a positive customer experience anyway, this can come as a nice surprise), however, given experiential nature - feelings and memories do wane off over time unless repeated

Relevant occasions where used: where full scale experience can't be provided to all prospects (automobile sampling), creation of lifestyle brand/sentiment, affiliation with lifestyle property or values and where customers or fans like to congregate offline for entertainment, information, aesthetic enjoyment or escape

Customer collaboration/co-creation - involved exercises of crowdsourcing take awhile to develop - if we use Tuckman's model of development - forming-storming-norming and developing - this type of word of mouth has a considerably longer burn rate than its close cousin of user generated content - Lego's Mindstorm has a year long mission but frequently the passion instilled and formal group connection that last bridge across a number of years

Relevant occasions where used - where users are very involved in the product/category, where users can drive to one right answer, where organizations are transformed by the input and development, where talent on topic is displaced across geography

Social media - the "shiny thing" for clients, agencies and consultants alike - blogs, podcasts, wikis, video sharing sites and other social mashups are the cat's meow as they take considerable talent to build and incubate and to operate effectively, they need to have longevity beyond next month's campaign - most experts advocate you need to take a two year minimum run at your social media effort to truly find your voice, do enough outreach, produce enough content, analyze the results and realize the impact to your business 

Relevant occasions where used - where there is communication or information value to your product/service, where authenticity and transparency of operations exist, where there is a constant variety of news and initiatives, where there is a celebrity factor among your internal employees (ie. Richard Branson), where content can be delivered effective without an expensive middleman (media)

Brand Community - 60% of Fortune 1000s are planning a community rollout before 2010 - one of the big reasons is an ongoing stream of benefits and the longevity of value in brand insight, content, advocacy and support - many experts would indicate that a strong community starts slowly and only begins matures after 2 years and some have been going on for decades (Harley in an offline world and The Well in an online world)

Relevant occasions where used: where the company embraces the voice of the customer, where after market support and customization is required or looked forward to, where people like to congregate online and offline around their interest/brand (BMW Mini), where the company can demonstrate value from a stream of community input, where the brand is likable and attractive

Customer Evangelism - the nirvana of brands seeking community strength - customer evangelism and zealotry, where oftentimes organization of this form of word of mouth is hosted by the fans themselves not the company (Ikea positive fanatics, Apple fans ) - this is truly the area where lifetime value of the customer plays a role as brand loyalty and affinity can span decades - obviously, from an orchestrated word of mouth approach - this takes year over year investment, company-wide embrace of customer/community centricity and dedicated resources to incubate sustainable enthusiasm

Relevant occasions where used: where the customer experience is so good, where  a strong trust bond has been built up between brand and customer, premium and/or well-differentiated brands, brands with a strong point of view and experience that lives it, where employees are as big in the brand as most rabid customers

So as the women bar owner in the Blue Brothers movie responds to the question- "so what kind of music do you have here? Oh we have both kinds, country and western". I find word of mouth is considerably more discriminating and variety-driven.