How to Create Brilliant Word-of-Mouth Marketing Campaigns

Marketing campaigns? The best marketing techniques in our minds are word of mouth marketing campaigns, hands down. The key to its success is the ways to get people to talk about you and start the buzz.

The first thing you need to know about word-of-mouth marketing is this: generating consumers to talk about your business isn’t as random as you think. There’s a science to creating a marketing buzz, and it’s something you can learn to do.

Related: 12 Lessons from Ben and Jerry’s Marketing Strategies

Remember, the main goal of your business is not just to create customers. It is to create customers who then will also create customers (that is, customer advocates). This is the perfect marketing solution for 99 % of all businesses and this is why we believe word-of-mouth marketing is your most important marketing campaign tool.

So what’s the difference between word-of-mouth marketing and traditional marketing?

The difference is that word-of-mouth marketing is to get people talking about your brand – not just to make people aware that your brand exists.

Word-of-mouth marketing takes consumers by surprise, makes an indelible impression, and pops up where and when people least expect it. It often has a large targeted audience and often can be accomplished at a reduced cost.

By being a little more clever and unpredictable, you challenge consumers who appreciate a little fun in their products.

Word-of-mouth marketing was made for small business owners. It requires creativity, flexibility, and a willingness to take a little risk. We use Guerrilla programs usually when a client says to us, we don’t have much budget but we’d really like to get some media attention.

A small business should ask themselves, what’s their essence–what’s the core message that can be distilled into a 5-second exchange or in a clever installation?

To get a better idea, let’s talk more about generating marketing buzz.

Most people think it’s something that happens by chance, but that is certainly not the case in most instances. Let us begin by discussing some material from the book Buzz marketing by author Mark Hughes.

In his book, he talks about how buzz can be generated by following a few basic principles. Businesses that follow these principles are much more successful at getting people talking about their brand than businesses that only use traditional marketing tactics. So a good place to begin, yes?

So how can you apply these basic principles and generate brilliant word of mouth for your business? Here are some ideas to consider:

Principle of buzz marketing

A good starting place is learning the fundamental principle of buzz marketing. It is pretty simple. It states if you want to generate buzz, you need to give people something special that they will remember and want to tell their friends about. Sounds simple, but just the opposite is the norm.

To do so, you need to learn the types of topics that get people talking. Yes, people talk about a lot of things, but there are particular conversation starters that get people talking more often than other topics.

So how do you apply this principle, and what are some examples of businesses that have used them effectively? Let’s discuss those topics.

Taboo topics

Taboo is a big buzz topic. The basic idea here is that people have a tendency to talk about things they shouldn’t talk about. There’s just something in our nature. As an example consider the parents of toddlers who can’t resist bringing up topics like diapers and “accidents” at a dinner with other parents. It’s a terrible topic for the dinner table, but parents can’t resist talking about it.

In order to apply this principle to internet marketing, you want to do things that are edgy and controversial. You don’t want to cross the line and create enemies, but blog posts and other controversial content will get people talking more than content that’s safe and boring.

Create curiosity

“No rails to damage your tires.” That was the headline on one car wash’s sign that made them different from the three other car washes on the same street. Did you know that car wash guide rails could damage your tires? Probably not. But it makes you curious about what it is all about, doesn’t it? It’s that one simple sentence that tells everyone why that business is different.

So what is the lesson you say? Before this car wash put its selling point on its sign, it probably got a lot of questions like “Where are the guide rails?” Are you listening for these opportunities to explain what small details make you better?

Awesome customer service gets the attention

Mention.com analyzed 1 billion brand mentions in a recent study. What they found is somewhat surprising: 76% of brand mentions on the web and social media are neither positive nor negative.

What does this mean? On social media, neutral mentions blend into the background. When 76% of brand mentions are basically ignored, the positive and negative mentions stand out.

So how can you turn a neutral into a positive? One way is to provide excellent customer service. Use your website and other platforms to let customers know they can find you on social media when they have customer service needs.

Use the unusual

When it comes to unusual or unique topics, your objective is to create content that is unique to stand out from the crowd. Using sameness won’t stand out, and you won’t get people talking about your product or service. Doing something different will often get noticed and get people talking.

Make your content entertaining

Here’s the unfortunate truth: No one spends time on social networks for advertising. However, 82% of consumers do enjoy content from a brand as long as it provides personal value—usually in the form of humor.

In fact, Pew Research shows that 35% of men and 43% of women are on Facebook to see entertaining or funny posts. If you’re not afraid to get creative, you have a huge opportunity right in front of you.

Go for the remarkable

Another way to stand out and get people talking is to do something remarkable. Like Seth Godin’s Purple Cow. Average and ordinary don’t get people talking but remarkably do.

The goal here is do something extremely well with very high quality. If everyone else is creating average content, you need to create something above the average. If a hotel gives decent service, no one tells their friends about it, but if a hotel goes beyond what is expected, people will talk.

The obvious online business that comes to mind here is one brand that we write a lot … about Zappos.

Their insane “365-day” returns policy and stellar customer service are still unmatched in their space. Zappos goes above and beyond status-quo expectations which makes their brand something easy to talk about.

The beauty of this Zappos’ technique is: its marketing is built into company culture values that make it work so effectively.

Give customers value

Seems like another cliché doesn’t it? But as customers, we see companies breaking this rule every day. This happens when we focus on selling rather than helping. It happens when we make suggestions before knowing something about our customers. It happens when we don’t listen well. It happens when we push products or services on customers because of our quotas or commissions. Keep it simple by knowing what your customers consider valuable.

Unique products and services

Being different in your products and services is one of the best ways to get talked about. This is especially true if your differences match up with your target customer’s wants and needs. Do you know what your target customers put a high priority on?

Surprise customers

Want to know one of the most effective examples that some businesses use to build their marketing and create reciprocity with their customers? Use the element of positive surprise.

People like getting things for free and like them, even more, when they are viewed as ‘favors’. But even more, they love receiving these favors as surprises.

Employ emotion

Effective word-of-mouth conversations are sparked when consumers are highly aroused. People choose emotionally and then justify logically.

If your brand can:

Spark amusement/humor
Create amazement and awe
Stimulate anxiety

Then it stands a far better chance of being talked about by more people.

The higher degree of emotion creates more differentiation and makes it easier for your brand to project uniqueness and its word-of-mouth messages.

Emotion is the secret language of the brain … works on emotion if you want to improve your persuasion or influence.

Be best at convenience and saving time

It is really simple … customers put a high priority on being simple and convenient. Do what you can to help them with this.

Give customers reasons

You can have all of the fantastic features you want, but if your customers don’t know why they’re fantastic, those features mean nothing. You have to give them the “why.” You have to say “because…”

For example, Maker’s Mark claims to be “purposefully inefficient” with how they make bourbon. They use a roller mill to break up their grains instead of the modern hammer mill most distilleries use. It’s slower, but it doesn’t scorch the grains like the hammer mill. That’s a tiny detail that would probably go unnoticed if Maker’s Mark didn’t point it out in their newsletter to their customers.

To most people, the difference between hammer-milled and roller-milled grains means nothing. But Maker’s Mark helped their potential customers make better decisions by telling them why they make their bourbon the way they do.

Focus on what customers do with the product

A beer glass is beer glass is a beer glass. Even if it’s a fancy beer glass. So how do you get people to talk about something like a beer glass? You focus on what people talk about over the beer glass instead of the product.

In defining guerrilla or viral marketing, many creative descriptions have been put forward.

At its core, this form of marketing is simply the “spread of an idea” that helps market your business or cause. It’s putting material out there that by its very nature attracts attention and is talked about.

The best method to look at the practice of guerrilla marketing is to examine the research of some highly intelligent folks who have dedicated years to deciphering the elements of its content.

The Subtle Art of Building Customer Personalization in Brand Design

Sephora is a great brand example of building customer personalization.

The beauty retailer has 1,700 stores in 30 countries, so imagine the variations among consumer profiles Sephora must manage. Julie Bornstein, EVP, and Chief Marketing and Digital Officer for Sephora, gives much of the credit for the company’s personalization success to its loyalty program Beauty Insider, which enables the brand to convert anonymous visitors to recognizable entities.

Sephora can match the shade to products in the store, seamlessly enabling a more personalized customer experience. Folks, matching shade to products is not simple—there are 110 skin tones in Sephora’s universe.

Without personalization, customer experience is clunky. Customers trying to match products to skin tone must use trial-and-error until they find a match.

It’s a connection that enables us to add value. The math is simple: when people with different assets, needs and views come together, they’re able to produce more than they ever could on their own. Trading goods, skills and knowledge without friction creates a leap in productivity. It might be easier to burn a bridge than it is to build one, but in the long one, bridges are what we need.

When a customer becomes part of the Beauty Insider program, a profile is created that can be accessed through mobile and desktop devices—and through the iPad located at counters throughout its stores.

This connectivity enables Sephora to link, for example, a customer’s skin tone with products for sale within the store. So Brad can find the perfect match for his 3R08 Pantone.

This interactive personalization campaign, by the way, is a boon for both consumers and salespeople, who can recommend suitable products with deeper relevance.

This type of building isn’t easy, or we’d already be doing all this. We need to demand more of our political leaders, of our CEOs, our entrepreneurs, our investors. We need to demand more of our culture, of our society. And we need to demand more from one another. We’re all necessary, and we can all contribute, to building.

Swisscom relies heavily on analytics to drive personalization campaigns. And it has not been disappointed with results. It has achieved a 40 percent lift from restructuring Web resources toward a more personalized experience for its subscribers and prospects.

Using targeting

You can target nearby customers with special offers. Traffic data enables you to measure the number of clients coming through your door during different time periods, allowing you to properly allocate resources and distribute fliers and coupons throughout the day.

You can then compare activity rates on different offers and even the level of interest customers express to your staff about your initiatives.

If your business has a mobile app, you can use behavioral data to send push notifications to users in your vicinity that entice them to head your way. Ask users to allow the app to pull location, travel, and purchase data to enhance their customer experience, then use that information to tailor offers to their circumstances and preferences.

Outback Steakhouse uses geolocation data to woo potential clients away from competitors. The company has established geo-fences within five miles of its own buildings and 10 miles of its competitors, placing ads on location-based apps to showcase promotional offers. Outback saw an 11-percent conversion rate increase with these geo-targeted campaigns.

Starbucks has utilized geofencing, which is where you can set a virtual boundary around a specific location, like a store. Once they cross that set geofence, people with the Starbucks app receive a location-based notification highlighting a coupon or offer and reminding them there’s a Starbucks nearby.

This kind of personalization inspires more engagement and brand loyalty and provides the ability for any business to make national campaigns hyperlocal.

The key to encouraging more customer loyalty on social media is to make your fans feel like they matter. Whether you have 1,000 or 10,000 fans, each one should feel special.

A simple way to take a personal approach on a daily basis is to sign off on posts and comments with your name. Another method is to literally personalize your product or service for fans.

Coca-Cola fans can personalize and share a virtual bottle of Coke and Heinz ran a promotion that gave their fans and customers the opportunity to add a friend’s name to a soup can and send it to him or her.

While there’s nothing wrong with rewarding regular engagement from fans, the key to appreciating your social media community as a whole is to reward fans based on the quality of the interaction, not the quantity.

Remember, a fan who comments once, but leaves very detailed feedback (for example, a testimonial, suggestions or visual post), is just as valuable as someone who comments 40 times on posts.

Involve and reward your entire social media community with offers, such as unique discounts, contests, and bonuses or sneak previews.

GoEnnounce gave away exclusive “Welcome to College” gifts to the first 50 high school seniors who posted a photo with their college acceptance letters.

Surprise Customers

Add to your customers’ experience on social media by finding ways to create surprise and intrigue.

One option is to surprise fans with a random act of kindness. For example, reward your community with a discount code when you reach 20,000 fans.

Also, send fans who go above and beyond in adding value to your company, product or service a handwritten note and gift.

When a young fan submitted a dragon drawing to Samsung to impress the brand, the company not only replied back with a great drawing of a kangaroo on a unicycle but also took things one step further.

Samsung sent the fan a Samsung phone, which included a case customized with the dragon drawing. Now that’s what you call a surprise!

Share Your Values

A study published by the Harvard Business Review, which surveyed over 7,000 consumers, found that of those who had a strong relationship with the brand, 64% had said the number-one reason was shared values.

Since fans on social media tend to be more loyal to a company that shares their beliefs, share updates not only around your products or services but also posts that exemplify the core values of your organization.

Toyota supports non-profits with their “Cars for Good” campaign. People voted and the top 100 non-profits were all awarded with a Toyota car or truck.

If your company has a strong view on a particular topic or issue, share it with your community. This does not have to be limited to issues within your niche.

When your fans and customers relate to your core values, they’re more likely to stay loyal to your company and cause.

Most email marketers have made a habit of greeting recipients by name in their emails, but not nearly as many have started implementing subscriber names into the creation itself.

This can change both the look and feel of an email and create a more seamless experience. FreshDirect, for example, sent out a deal that was personalized with the subscriber’s name front and center in the creative.

This builds an immediate connection between customers and brands that can prompt engagement and loyalty.

The Knot

The Knot, a premier wedding planning, and media company know that wedding plans and gifts are different for every couple. By adding subscriber names and individual wedding dates to the products within each email,

The Knot helps customers visualize what each product could look like without even going to the website.

The business also ensures higher click-through rates by optimizing the emails for different devices and positioning a “click-to-call” button accordingly on mobile screens.

Warby Parker

Months ago I became fascinated with Warby Parker, a company that sells prescription glasses and sunglasses online, and last weekend I finally got around to ordering a pair of lenses. I received an email a few days later.

The brand immediately got points for using my first name, but the email goes above mere typical personalization methods.

It’s written by a real person in a personable, casual style. It’s starkly different from the automated “ORDER RECEIVED” or “ORDER SHIPPED” emails slapped with the tragically impersonal and cold “do not reply” message I usually receive after purchasing something online.
It gives me a brief yet informative update on the status of my order.
It lets me know who to contact should I have any questions.
It’s friendly, helpful, courteous, and gracious all at the same time.

The email added a welcome and much-appreciated personal touch to the whole purchasing process.

The bottom line

Brands are not built through gimmicks or sleight of hand. The consumer can not be fooled for long. Great companies build great brands by valuing their customers and wanting to make their lives better in some way.

In the end, despite all the gimmicks and tricks that gurus use to sell books and seminars, it comes down to one simple equation: Brand Value = the value of promises kept. Everything else is just optimizing efficiency.

So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you.

It’s up to you to keep improving your branding and brand marketing. Lessons are all around you. In many situations, your competitor may be providing ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.

When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.

Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find him on Twitte r, and LinkedIn.

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.

Personalization Strategies: What Marketers Need to Know

Are you working on customer personalization strategies? They are an excellent way to build trust. And influence consumer behavior. We all like to be treated as individuals, and that is why personalized service builds loyalty.

Feelings have a critical role in the way customers are influenced.

-David Freemantle

More to learn: Innovation in Marketing … the Birchbox Subscription Model

Personalization just means presenting information to a consumer that acknowledges whom he is and what his intentions are — to make his interaction more meaningful.

Check out our thoughts on creative marketing.

Consumers favor personalization

It is very clear to retailers that today’s consumers love customization. A recent survey from MyBuys indicated that a record 40 percent of respondents said that they buy more from retailers who comprehensively personalize the shopping experience across channels. Additionally, shoppers love one-on-one personalization at the point of sale, as indicated by a Syngenta survey that revealed that not only would 3 in 4 respondents rather receive personalized coupons than generic, but 62 percent would find the checkout process more enjoyable if they received personalized coupons based on their purchases.

In a study from the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, researchers were able to increase the average tips that waiters received by over 23%, without significantly changing their service.

This was accomplished by having waiter’s follow-up with a second set of mints after they brought customers their check.

Waiters that brought mints but didn’t follow-up received an average of 7% less in their tips.

And from a different perspective, it pays to remember customers’ names and relevant information. It turns out that people are more attentive and interested when they hear their names. When working on building relationships, use names when appropriate.

Few sounds are as pleasant as hearing our names. And likewise, for example, nothing makes us feel less loved quite like a post-purchase email from ‘DO NOT REPLY.’

personalization strategy example — Personalization strategy example.

Areas to personalize

Personalize where ever you can. Even if you can’t invest in an e-commerce platform or development project to deliver personalized shopping, you can customize other areas.

Landing pages

Create landing pages for promotions, for repeat customers when they log in, or any other time you can create a custom experience.

Wish lists

Provide a method for customers to quickly return to the things they are interested in.

Transaction emails

Offer complementary products along with a promotional coupon in your confirmation emails.

On phone and chat

If you talk or chat with a customer, offer her upsells and related items. Be sure to pull up the history of the client while you are talking to her and personalize the experience in some way.

Loyalty programs

Offer rewards to customize the customer experience and pay them to share more with you.

Packaging

Include printed promotions for related products when you ship an order.

To help you navigate your way out of generic marketing messages, we’ve mapped out some simple tips to get you started on your journey to deep personalization your customers will love:

Personalization strategies … set examples

When you personalize your fans’ experience, it boosts their trust and loyalty. It also gives them a chance to take full ownership of and share the experience with their network.

A perfect example is where Heintz gave customers the opportunity to send personalized get well notes on soup cans to ailing friends. An excellent way to set and encourage good deeds.

An example from Taylor Swift

“I INVITED TAYLOR TO MY GRADUATION PARTY AND SHE SENT ME FLOWERS AND THIS CARD I LOVE YOU HONEY @taylorswift13,” an awesome example from Taylor Swift.

The fan named Ashley Silvers — who has seen Swift in concert eight times — tweeted , along with photos of the flowers and a hand-written note by the singer.

The 27-year-old singer’s message was personally addressed, starting off, “Ashley, Hi love! I’m so sad that I can’t make it to your graduation party!

She applauded the graduate, continuing, “I’m so proud of you, your hard work and dedication, your excitement and ambition. I’m very lucky that a girl like you cares about me.”

The sweet card also included an illustration of the New York skyline with a stick figure labeled, “You!” The card concluded, “Sending you my love and hugs (and to your family!). Love, Taylor.”

Personalization on-the-go

Research has shown us that mobile has the potential to offer shoppers the most relevant and unique personalized shopping experience. A recent study by Google indicates that 84 percent of smartphone shoppers use their devices to help them while they’re in a store, 63 percent of smartphone shoppers use search engines to look for promotional offers, and 44 percent of smartphones indicated that using a mobile device saves them money.

Surprise customers

Add to your customers’ experience on social media by finding ways to create surprise and intrigue.

One option is to surprise fans with a random act of kindness. For example, reward your community with a discount code when you reach 20,000 fans. Also, send fans who go above and beyond in adding value to your company, product or service a handwritten note and gift.

When a young fan submitted a dragon drawing to Samsung to impress the brand, the company not only replied back with a great picture of a kangaroo on a unicycle but also took things one step further. Samsung sent the fan a Samsung phone, which included a case customized with the dragon drawing. Now that’s what you call a surprise!

You can always find unique ways to surprise customers. For example, companies can send fans a surprise on special occasions, such as after their first purchase, the one-year anniversary of their first purchase, their birthday or on seasonal holidays.

Surprises are a great way to build word-of-mouth marketing. They also encourage brand advocacy, because fans who get a treat are likely to share the experience with their network.

Individualized pricing

Leading supermarket chain Safeway knows that no two shoppers are the same, and now offers digital coupons and customized deals based on a customer’s buying history. The retailer has also started personalizing pricing on products as a reward for brand loyalty — based on the data collected from the client’s club card. This signals that price tags in the stores can be replaced with individualized pricing, offered through a website and rung up at the checkout stand when the club card is swiped.

Follow up with fans

Many companies offer great customer support on social media. They respond to comments promptly and ensure all customer questions have been answered. However, this is only half of the equation. To build long-term relationships with your fans, follow up. Ask your fans how they’re doing since your last contact.

Follow up with fans who commented on a recent blog post, posted on your wall or sent you a message. Also, send follow-up messages to those who previously inquired about your product or service, and to whom you already replied.

Some follow-ups are more extensive than others. Here’s how Nissan followed up with a customer who created a homemade video trying to sell his Nissan vehicle.

Following up lets your customers know you’re still interested and value their time. It also demonstrates that your company is reliable and genuinely cares about their happiness.

Put fun into everything

It’s hard to list all of the fun stuff going on at Thomas Foolery, but here are a few gems: If you order in an angry voice during “Angry Hour,” they’ll take a dollar off your order. They put stop watches in the restrooms. If you perform 30 seconds of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” they’ll give you a Ring Pop. You can also make your cocktail with a kit that includes mini-bottles, specialty soda, and candy.

Each one of these is a photo op, a word of mouth opportunity, and a reason to tell someone about Thomas Foolery — and none of them are that expensive or difficult to pull off.

Tell the stories everyone else is missing

Thousands of people a day come and go at any given deli or corner shop in New York. And for most customers, even if they shop there every day, it’s about getting in and getting out as fast as possible. What most people don’t think about is that behind the counter is someone with an absorbing story. So Deli sought to tell those stories, in short, illustrated interviews with owners of delicatessens across New York. They also print small, customized books and stickers for each one.

Interesting ideas and stories are all around you. Instead of fighting for attention with content that’s already covered to death, go for the stories no one else is telling.

Cultivate trust

Trust takes a long time to acquire, but only a matter of seconds to lose. The easiest way to maintain the trust of your community is to keep your promises. If you tell fans you’ll respond to their messages by 2 pm, then make sure you return no later than 2 pm. If your promotion ends on December 10, keep the promotion going on that date.

If you do make a mistake or end up with a social media crisis, the first thing you should do is own up. Admit to mistakes and take action to resolve the situation. This transparency lets your fans and customers know what happened and what you’re doing to fix it. As a result, customers’ trust in your company should remain intact.

You work so hard to acquire the trust of your fans and customers on social media. Do whatever you can to keep it.

Make it more interactive

A quick glance is typically the most interaction recruiters and hiring managers to give resumes. And with more applications submitted digitally, they’ll probably never even touch it. But one designer got his portfolio into potential employers’ hands by making it the “World’s Tiniest Portfolio.”

His postage-stamp-sized portfolio included minimalist graphic designs to represent his best work with a short description and a magnifying glass included. It forced companies to hold it in their hands, take the time to each page, and pay close attention to the details.

Share your values

A study published in the Harvard Business Review, which surveyed over 7,000 consumers, found that of those who had a strong relationship with the brand, 64% had said the number-one reason was shared values.

Since fans on social media tend to be more loyal to a company that shares their beliefs, share updates not only around your products or services but also posts that exemplify the core values of your organization.

Toyota supports non-profits with their “Cars for Good” campaign. People voted, and the top 100 non-profits were all awarded with a Toyota car or truck.

If your company has a strong view on a particular topic or issue, share it with your community. This does not have to be limited to issues within your niche. When your fans and customers relate to your core values, they’re more likely to stay loyal to your company and cause.

An impressive example

Many online stores have a history of what you have purchased and even your visits. They may know where you live, if you prefer expensive or low-priced items, and so forth. By using that information to deliver targeted content and promotions, they are personalizing your experience and making it a more positive one.

As an example of a retailer that effectively uses personalization to create a better customer experience, Amazon.com knows enough about you from previous contacts, purchase history, and other sources to structure special offers and buy recommendations well suited to your tastes. Amazon uses collaborative filtering to determine what music or books to recommend.

More to think about: My Top SEO Strategies for Content Marketing Success

The rental-car industry is no stranger to frustrated customers — and to differentiate itself from the pack and provide more personalized service, Hertz centrally stores all customer and payment data for the members of its #1 Gold Club program so that the clients don’t have to fill out repetitive forms every time they rent cars.

In this way, Hertz encourages frequent travelers to base their rental car decisions not only on price but also on the ability to save valuable time. Companies like Amazon, Hertz, and others that understand the value of loyalty strive to identify customer needs and present a customer experience that leaves them delighted, not just satisfied.

The bottom line

It is amazing how many ways there are to personalize customer engagement, aren’t there? They are everywhere all around us. What is keeping you from putting them to work for your business?

Need some help in capturing more customers from your social media marketing or advertising? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with your clients?

Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.

Call Mike at 607-725-8240.

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that struggle gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.

When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.

Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

Are you devoting enough energy innovating your social media strategy?

Do you have a lesson about making your advertising better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?

Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed how reasonable we will be.

More reading on social media marketing and advertising from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:

What Marketers Need to Know about Personalization Strategies

19 Top Marketing Initiatives We Should Be Discussing

Press Coverage … 9 Actionable Ways to Get Good Coverage

Like this short blog? Follow Digital Spark Marketing on LinkedIn or add us to your circles for 3-4 short, interesting blogs, stories per week.

Direct Marketing Examples: Use Examples to Improve Marketing Ideas

Social isn’t just a new way of marketing, it is a new way of doing business. It is really about direct marketing examples, isn’t it?

The key to encouraging more customer advocacy on social media is to make your fans feel like they matter. That they are special. Whether you have 1,000 or 10,000 fans, each one should feel special.

A simple way to take a personal approach on a daily basis is to sign off on posts and comments with your name.

Another method is to literally personalize your product or service for targeted customers.

Innovative brands are leading the way in defining the next generation of customer experience with e-commerce personalization.

They are delivering more accurate, relevant, and personalized touchpoints both in store and online.

These companies are incorporating retail fundamentals like optimizing customer interactions over mobile devices. They are building brand loyalty by giving each customer a voice. They are also creating unique customer experiences as part of a customized journey to increase engagement.

Direct marketing examples … consumers favor personalization

In a study from the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, researchers were able to increase the average tips that waiters received by over 23%, without significantly changing their service. Interesting, yes?

This was accomplished by having waiter’s follow-up with a second set of mints after they brought customers their check.

Waiters that brought mints but didn’t follow-up received an average of 7% less in their tips.

And from a different perspective, it pays to remember customers’ names and other important information. It turns out that people are more attentive and interested when they hear their names. When working on building relationships, use names when appropriate.

Few sounds are as pleasant as hearing our own names. And likewise, nothing makes us feel less loved quite like a post-purchase email from ‘DO NOT REPLY’.

To help you navigate your way out of generic marketing messages, we’ve mapped out 10 simple tips. These will get you started on your journey to deep personalization:

Set examples

When you personalize your fans’ experience, it boosts their trust and loyalty. It also gives them a chance to take full ownership of and share the experience with their network.

A perfect example is where Hertz gave customers the chance to send personalized get well notes on soup cams to ailing friends. A great way to set and encourage good deeds.

Types of direct marketing … surprise customers

Add to your customers’ experience on social media by finding ways to create surprise and intrigue.

One option is to surprise fans with a random act of kindness. For example, reward your community with a discount code when you reach 20,000 fans.

Also, send fans who go above and beyond in adding value to your company, product or service a handwritten note and gift.

When a young fan submitted a dragon drawing to Samsung to impress the brand, the company replied back with a great drawing of a kangaroo on a unicycle. It also took things one step further.

Samsung sent the fan a Samsung phone, which included a case customized with the dragon drawing. Now that’s what you call a surprise!

You can always find unique ways to surprise customers. For example companies can send fans a surprise on special occasions. These occasions include after their first purchase, the one-year anniversary of their first purchase, their birthday or on seasonal holidays.

Surprises are a great way to build word-of-mouth marketing. They also encourage brand advocacy, because fans who get a treat are likely to share the experience with their network.

Direct marketing strategies … follow up with fans

Many companies offer great customer support on social media. They respond to comments in a timely manner and ensure all customer questions have been answered.

However, this is only half of the equation. To build long-term relationships with your fans, follow up. As an example, ask your fans how they’re doing since your last contact.

Follow up with fans who commented on a recent blog post, posted on your wall or sent you a message. Also, send follow-up messages to those who previously inquired about your product or service.

Following up lets your customers know you’re still interested and value their time. It also demonstrates that your company is reliable and genuinely cares about their happiness.

direct marketing examples — Direct marketing examples.

Put fun into everything

It’s hard to list all of the fun stuff going on at Thomas Foolery, but here are a few gems. If you order in an angry voice during “Angry Hour,” they’ll take a dollar off your order.

They put stop watches in the restrooms. If you perform 30 seconds of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” they’ll give you a Ring Pop. You can also make your own cocktail with a kit that includes mini-bottles, specialty soda, and candy.

Each one of these is a photo op, a word of mouth opportunity, and a reason to tell someone about Thomas Foolery. And none of them are that expensive or difficult to pull off.

Tell the stories everyone else is missing

Thousands of people a day come and go at any given deli or corner shop in New York. And for most customers, even if they shop there every day, it’s about getting in and getting out as fast as possible.

What most people don’t think about is that behind the counter is someone with a really interesting story. So Deli sought to tell those stories in short, illustrated interviews with owners of delicatessens across New York. They also print small, customized books and stickers for each one.

Interesting ideas and stories are all around you. Instead of fighting for attention with content that’s already covered to death, go for the stories no one else is telling.

Cultivate trust

Trust takes a long time to acquire, but only a matter of seconds to lose. The easiest way to maintain the trust of your community is to keep your promises.

If you tell fans you’ll respond to their messages by 2pm, then make sure you respond no later than 2pm. If your promotion ends on December 10, keep the promotion going until that date.

If you do make a mistake or end up with a social media crisis, the first thing you should do is own up. Admit to mistakes and take action to resolve the situation.

This transparency lets your fans and customers know what happened and what you’re doing to fix it. As a result, customers’ trust in your company should remain intact.

You work so hard to acquire the trust of your fans and customers on social media. Do whatever you can to keep it.

Make it more interactive

A quick glance is typically the most interaction recruiters and hiring managers give resumes. And with more applications submitted digitally, they’ll probably never even touch it.

But one designer got his portfolio into potential employers’ hands by making it the “World’s Tiniest Portfolio.”

His postage-stamp-sized portfolio included minimalist graphic designs to represent his best work with a short description and a magnifying glass included.

It forced companies to hold it in their hands and take time with each page. They also had to pay close attention to the details.

Consumer personalization examples … share your values

A study published by the Harvard Business Review surveyed over 7,000 consumers. They found that of those who had a strong relationship with the brand, 64% had said the number-one reason was shared values.

Fans on social media tend to be more loyal to a company that shares their beliefs. They share updates not only around your products or services, but also posts that exemplify your core values..

Toyota supports non-profits with their “Cars for Good” campaign. People voted and the top 100 non-profits were all awarded with a Toyota car or truck.

If your company has a strong view on a particular topic or issue, share it with your community. This does not have to be limited to issues within your niche.

When your fans and customers relate to your core values, they’re more likely to stay loyal to your company and cause.

The bottom line

It is amazing how many ways there are to personalize customer engagement, aren’t there? They are everywhere all around us.

What is keeping you from putting them to work for your business?

Need some help in capturing more customers from your social media marketing or advertising? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with your customers?

Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.

Call Mike at 607-725-8240.

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.

When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.

Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

Are you devoting enough energy innovating your social media strategyg?

Do you have a lesson about making your advertising better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?

Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed how reasonable we will be.

10 Essential Components of a Top Notch Website Design

Adapting to Major Changes in the Social Media Climate

An Update to Starbucks Creative Ideas and Innovation

How Steve Jobs Would Change Your Social Media Engagement

Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.

8 Secrets to Learn from the Ritz-Carlton Marketing Strategy

The customer never buys what you think you sell. Great quote from Peter Drucker. Have you ever stayed at a Ritz Carlton hotel? Attracted by the Ritz-Carlton marketing strategy?

Ritz-Carlton marketing strategy.

Do you agree with Peter Drucker in thinking that the Ritz-Carlton doesn’t know what its difference-maker is? More importantly did you decide to stay with this hotel chain because of its difference maker? Not sure? Maybe you will be more certain after you read this article.

Marketing strategy and the Ritz Carlton?

When choosing to learn from other companies’ marketing strategies, it is always helpful to choose one of the unique approaches to marketing.

It’s been nearly half a century since Philip Kotler first published his Principles of Marketing, which has defined the practice of millions of professionals worldwide ever since. It’s no stretch to say that before Kotler, there were no true marketing professionals.

What made Kotler different than what came before is that he took insights from other fields, such as economics, social science, and analytics, and applied them to the marketing arena. Although that may seem basic now, it was groundbreaking then.

Today technology is transforming marketing once again. Although up to this point, most of the impact has been tactical, over the next decade or so there will be a major strategic transformation. This, of course, will be a much harder task because we will not only have to change what we do but how we think.

Marketing, at its best, is about the future. Unfortunately, we spend most of our time stuck in the past. We research what already happened and extrapolate forward to produce a plan. It’s not that we’re lazy, we simply know a whole lot more about the past than the present or the future.

We already know that marketing is becoming more social, local, and mobile, just as we know that big data and new interfaces such as touch, voice, and gesture are becoming increasingly more important. What comes next?

Meet Ritz-Carlton. They have been successfully executing their marketing plan since the early days of their existence. Their strategies have played a significant role in their growth.

An introduction to Ritz-Carlton is perhaps unnecessary. But we’ll give a little refresher just in case. The Ritz is a big brand name for luxury hotels and resorts all over the world.

With 77 locations in major cities and 25 resorts in countries worldwide, they are featured on Zagat Top Survey Lists for dining, hotel, and services. They represent the top brand in the Marriott International list of brands.

What are their secrets to marketing strategy success? It’s pretty simple. It is it’s exceptional customer service and unparalleled hotel experiences. Their goal is to create customers for life.

Here’s how they strive to achieve this lofty goal, with some great examples.

Brand identity at marketing core

The heart of the Ritz-Carlton marketing strategy is their brand. The brand is built into and reflected by its tag line. It is ‘memories by the Ritz-Carlton’. The brand image is the number one factor that drives business.

Since brand image is so important, it’s crucial for you to cut through the clutter and differentiate your brand. Make a difference as an organization that is truly relevant to consumer needs.

If you want to improve the public image of your brand, then what better way is there to do so than by defining it yourself? The Ritz-Carlton does this by telling stories about the hotel through its online content strategy.

Their Stories that Stay with You page elaborates on ways in which their employees and the greater hotel have gone out of their way to ensure a great stay for guests.

The Ritz-Carlton is excellent at not only framing their stories, but in behaving in such a way. That is by providing great customer service at every level. That is where their that great stories happen.

Ritz-Carlton marketing strategy … understand the value of every employee

If you’ve ever held a job where you didn’t feel appreciated, you understand how frustrating it can be. Well, the Ritz-Carlton avoids this pitfall by valuing every employee.

By empowering the employee, the hotel creates a staff that is passionate about the hotel, its services, and its success. Furthermore, happier employees mean happier guests.

In fact, the Ritz-Carlton has empowered employees so much that they have the ability to spend up to $2,000 to ensure guests have an enjoyable stay without seeking permission from management. Wow, now that is impressive, isn’t it?

Take action to build on reciprocity.

Build on reciprocity

In Robert Cialdini’s famous book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, he notes that:

The impressive aspect of reciprocation with its accompanying sense of obligation is its pervasiveness in human culture.

It is so widespread that, after intensive study, Alvin Gouldner (1960), along with other sociologists, reported that all human societies subscribe to the rule.

The point is straight forward: Reciprocity is likely something that has evolved in the human brain in order to keep a majority of transactions “fair”.

We often feel obligated to return favors, even if they are unasked for.

This is the ultimate reason why great customer service has such a fantastic value to the marketing objectives.

Ritz Carlton marketing strategy … surprise customers

The research points to this being a universal truth in social interaction and reciprocity.

Small surprises that feel like they were “just for you” can spawn some incredibly strong goodwill from the receiver.

Go the extra mile

Here is a great example of how this hotel staff goes the extra mile for its customers.

A family with three young children arrived at the hotel for a business/leisure weekend. On the last night of their stay, they dined in the hotel’s signature restaurant.

Upon closing of the restaurant, the server attendant found a small stuffed animal tucked underneath a seat cushion. The server immediately recognized that the stuffed animal belonged to one of the young children who had dined at the restaurant earlier that evening.

It was too late to return the stuffed animal then, so they planned a fun way to present the toy the next day. They grabbed the community camera behind the front desk and positioned the stuffed animal to look like it was dining in the restaurant, playing the piano and cooking in the kitchen.

At each location, they captured the moment on camera, and then made a storyline to go with each photo. They then printed all the photos and created a book of “animal adventures” for the young guest.

The picture book and stuffed animal made its way to the guest’s door at 9 a.m. the next morning. The young boy was jumping out of his skin with excitement when he saw his lost companion.

His mother responded, “The Ritz-Carlton always goes that extra mile. This is exactly why my family will only travel to your hotels.”

Many customer needs to consider.

Fulfill unexpressed customer needs

Ritz-Carlton employees are trained to anticipate the unexpressed wishes of their guests. Frequently the receptionist called early departing quests to ask, ‘We see that you are scheduled to leave very early tomorrow. Can we leave a pot of fresh, hot coffee outside your door?’”

This sort of planning helps employees remember key touch-points with customers. This will in turn aids their ability to provide exceptional service more consistently.

It is a surefire plan to increase a company’s overall customer satisfaction rate.

Be prepared

One lesson that you might not expect to find, however, is how proactive Ritz-Carlton employees are in planning for mistakes and accidents. Since complaining customers are unavoidable in totality, Ritz-Carlton always focuses on being prepare and ‘planning ahead’.

One of my favorite examples is their practice of “resetting a customer’s internal clock” when the service is taking too long in delivering food orders.

Here is an example. A customer and his wife were staying at the Ritz-Carlton and having dinner at the hotel restaurant. Just when they were about to ask about their order, the waiter appeared and gave them a tomato and mozzarella appetizer.

Notice how this tactic works: With a relatively small gift, the staff can reset the internal clock with a customer by establishing a new time reference point.

While it’s not as the entrée early delivery, it’s certainly better than a waiter returning to a table multiple times to say ‘I’m sorry’.

Perform the unexpected

Here is a great example of doing the totally unexpected. In this case well beyond what was anticipated.

Keep looking: Visual Content … 13 Remarkable Marketing Examples to Study

Because of their son’s food allergies, a family vacationing at the Ritz-Carlton, in Bali, was always careful to bring their own supply of specialized eggs and milk.

In this particular instance, however, the food was ruined en route. The Ritz-Carlton manager couldn’t find any of the special items in town, but his executive chef recalled that a store in Singapore sold them.

The chef contacted his mother-in-law, who lived there, and had her purchase the items, then fly to Bali (about 2.5 hours) to deliver them.

The bottom line

Marketing always has been and always will be about telling stories… stories that influence behavior and convince people to act.

Make sure your content tells a story and that your story is compelling and relevant–especially your headlines.

“The value of an idea lies in the using of it .”

Do you have an idea that will change the world? Well, it’s not worth anything unless you can turn that idea into a reality. So take the plunge and see just how far that idea can take you. Or, you can sit around trading advice over the internet.

The choice is yours.

Does your business have a winning value proposition?

Wow, talk about unexpected service. Have you ever received an unexpected service from a business that you would share? Do you have any comments or questions to add below?

So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you. But believe in the effectiveness of word of mouth marketing created by remarkable customer service. And put it to good use.

It’s up to you to keep improving your creative marketing strategies. Lessons are all around you. In this case, your competitor may be providing the ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.

When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.

Try. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

Are you devoting enough energy improving your marketing, branding, and advertising?

Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.

Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.

Marketing campaigns? The best marketing techniques in our minds are word of mouth marketing campaigns, hands down. The key to its success is the ways to get people to talk about you and start the buzz.

The first thing you need to know about word-of-mouth marketing is this: generating consumers to talk about your business isn’t as random as you think. There’s a science to creating a marketing buzz, and it’s something you can learn to do.

Related: 12 Lessons from Ben and Jerry’s Marketing Strategies

So what’s the difference between word-of-mouth marketing and traditional marketing?

The difference is that word-of-mouth marketing is to get people talking about your brand – not just to make people aware that your brand exists.

Word-of-mouth marketing takes consumers by surprise, makes an indelible impression, and pops up where and when people least expect it. It often has a large targeted audience and often can be accomplished at a reduced cost.

By being a little more clever and unpredictable, you challenge consumers who appreciate a little fun in their products.

Word-of-mouth marketing was made for small business owners. It requires creativity, flexibility, and a willingness to take a little risk. We use Guerrilla programs usually when a client says to us, we don’t have much budget but we’d really like to get some media attention.

A small business should ask themselves, what’s their essence–what’s the core message that can be distilled into a 5-second exchange or in a clever installation?

To get a better idea, let’s talk more about generating marketing buzz.

Most people think it’s something that happens by chance, but that is certainly not the case in most instances. Let us begin by discussing some material from the book Buzz marketing by author Mark Hughes.

In his book, he talks about how buzz can be generated by following a few basic principles. Businesses that follow these principles are much more successful at getting people talking about their brand than businesses that only use traditional marketing tactics. So a good place to begin, yes?

So how can you apply these basic principles and generate brilliant word of mouth for your business? Here are some ideas to consider:

Principle of buzz marketing

A good starting place is learning the fundamental principle of buzz marketing. It is pretty simple. It states if you want to generate buzz, you need to give people something special that they will remember and want to tell their friends about. Sounds simple, but just the opposite is the norm.

To do so, you need to learn the types of topics that get people talking. Yes, people talk about a lot of things, but there are particular conversation starters that get people talking more often than other topics.

So how do you apply this principle, and what are some examples of businesses that have used them effectively? Let’s discuss those topics.

Taboo topics

In order to apply this principle to internet marketing, you want to do things that are edgy and controversial. You don’t want to cross the line and create enemies, but blog posts and other controversial content will get people talking more than content that’s safe and boring.

Create curiosity

So what is the lesson you say? Before this car wash put its selling point on its sign, it probably got a lot of questions like “Where are the guide rails?” Are you listening for these opportunities to explain what small details make you better?

Awesome customer service gets the attention

Mention.com analyzed 1 billion brand mentions in a recent study. What they found is somewhat surprising: 76% of brand mentions on the web and social media are neither positive nor negative.

What does this mean? On social media, neutral mentions blend into the background. When 76% of brand mentions are basically ignored, the positive and negative mentions stand out.

So how can you turn a neutral into a positive? One way is to provide excellent customer service. Use your website and other platforms to let customers know they can find you on social media when they have customer service needs.

Use the unusual

When it comes to unusual or unique topics, your objective is to create content that is unique to stand out from the crowd. Using sameness won’t stand out, and you won’t get people talking about your product or service. Doing something different will often get noticed and get people talking.

Make your content entertaining

Here’s the unfortunate truth: No one spends time on social networks for advertising. However, 82% of consumers do enjoy content from a brand as long as it provides personal value—usually in the form of humor.

In fact, Pew Research shows that 35% of men and 43% of women are on Facebook to see entertaining or funny posts. If you’re not afraid to get creative, you have a huge opportunity right in front of you.

Go for the remarkable

Another way to stand out and get people talking is to do something remarkable. Like Seth Godin’s Purple Cow. Average and ordinary don’t get people talking but remarkably do.

The goal here is do something extremely well with very high quality. If everyone else is creating average content, you need to create something above the average. If a hotel gives decent service, no one tells their friends about it, but if a hotel goes beyond what is expected, people will talk.

The obvious online business that comes to mind here is one brand that we write a lot … about Zappos.

Their insane “365-day” returns policy and stellar customer service are still unmatched in their space. Zappos goes above and beyond status-quo expectations which makes their brand something easy to talk about.

The beauty of this Zappos’ technique is: its marketing is built into company culture values that make it work so effectively.

Give customers value

Unique products and services

Being different in your products and services is one of the best ways to get talked about. This is especially true if your differences match up with your target customer’s wants and needs. Do you know what your target customers put a high priority on?

Surprise customers

Want to know one of the most effective examples that some businesses use to build their marketing and create reciprocity with their customers? Use the element of positive surprise.

People like getting things for free and like them, even more, when they are viewed as ‘favors’. But even more, they love receiving these favors as surprises.

Employ emotion

Effective word-of-mouth conversations are sparked when consumers are highly aroused. People choose emotionally and then justify logically.

If your brand can:

Then it stands a far better chance of being talked about by more people.

The higher degree of emotion creates more differentiation and makes it easier for your brand to project uniqueness and its word-of-mouth messages.

Emotion is the secret language of the brain … works on emotion if you want to improve your persuasion or influence.

Be best at convenience and saving time

It is really simple … customers put a high priority on being simple and convenient. Do what you can to help them with this.

Give customers reasons

You can have all of the fantastic features you want, but if your customers don’t know why they’re fantastic, those features mean nothing. You have to give them the “why.” You have to say “because…”

To most people, the difference between hammer-milled and roller-milled grains means nothing. But Maker’s Mark helped their potential customers make better decisions by telling them why they make their bourbon the way they do.

Focus on what customers do with the product

A beer glass is beer glass is a beer glass. Even if it’s a fancy beer glass. So how do you get people to talk about something like a beer glass? You focus on what people talk about over the beer glass instead of the product.

In defining guerrilla or viral marketing, many creative descriptions have been put forward.

At its core, this form of marketing is simply the “spread of an idea” that helps market your business or cause. It’s putting material out there that by its very nature attracts attention and is talked about.

The best method to look at the practice of guerrilla marketing is to examine the research of some highly intelligent folks who have dedicated years to deciphering the elements of its content.

Sephora is a great brand example of building customer personalization.

Sephora can match the shade to products in the store, seamlessly enabling a more personalized customer experience. Folks, matching shade to products is not simple—there are 110 skin tones in Sephora’s universe.

Without personalization, customer experience is clunky. Customers trying to match products to skin tone must use trial-and-error until they find a match.

When a customer becomes part of the Beauty Insider program, a profile is created that can be accessed through mobile and desktop devices—and through the iPad located at counters throughout its stores.

This connectivity enables Sephora to link, for example, a customer’s skin tone with products for sale within the store. So Brad can find the perfect match for his 3R08 Pantone.

This interactive personalization campaign, by the way, is a boon for both consumers and salespeople, who can recommend suitable products with deeper relevance.

Other personalization success stories include Swisscom, the largest telecom company in Switzerland. The enterprise has been personalizing subscribers’ Web experiences across all its assets.

Swisscom relies heavily on analytics to drive personalization campaigns. And it has not been disappointed with results. It has achieved a 40 percent lift from restructuring Web resources toward a more personalized experience for its subscribers and prospects.

Using targeting

You can target nearby customers with special offers. Traffic data enables you to measure the number of clients coming through your door during different time periods, allowing you to properly allocate resources and distribute fliers and coupons throughout the day.

This kind of personalization inspires more engagement and brand loyalty and provides the ability for any business to make national campaigns hyperlocal.

The key to encouraging more customer loyalty on social media is to make your fans feel like they matter. Whether you have 1,000 or 10,000 fans, each one should feel special.

A simple way to take a personal approach on a daily basis is to sign off on posts and comments with your name. Another method is to literally personalize your product or service for fans.

Coca-Cola fans can personalize and share a virtual bottle of Coke and Heinz ran a promotion that gave their fans and customers the opportunity to add a friend’s name to a soup can and send it to him or her.

While there’s nothing wrong with rewarding regular engagement from fans, the key to appreciating your social media community as a whole is to reward fans based on the quality of the interaction, not the quantity.

Remember, a fan who comments once, but leaves very detailed feedback (for example, a testimonial, suggestions or visual post), is just as valuable as someone who comments 40 times on posts.

Involve and reward your entire social media community with offers, such as unique discounts, contests, and bonuses or sneak previews.

GoEnnounce gave away exclusive “Welcome to College” gifts to the first 50 high school seniors who posted a photo with their college acceptance letters.

Surprise Customers

Add to your customers’ experience on social media by finding ways to create surprise and intrigue.

One option is to surprise fans with a random act of kindness. For example, reward your community with a discount code when you reach 20,000 fans.

Also, send fans who go above and beyond in adding value to your company, product or service a handwritten note and gift.

Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find him on Twitte r, and LinkedIn.