How Social Is Your Product?

I am will willing to bet that the physics of inertia isn’t a topic that comes up regularly in your product strategy discussions.  John Moore, recently covered this topic in regards to word of mouth marketing and I think it is directly applicable to product planning.

On the topic of inertia,  John writes that to build word of mouth momentum, you need to encourage your customers to talk or it won’t happen.  If you can leave your customer happy, the greater the odds that they will want to tell others about their experience.

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Rohit Bhargava at Austin Marketing Association

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Yesterday I was able to attend the Austin AMA lunch with Rohit Bhargava, author of *Personality Not Included (great review from Chris Brogan here) and the Influential Marketing Blog.

I have to say I was very impressed.  He followed all the rules and delivered the goods with a great presentation.  Here are a few sound bytes from his talk on “Why Personality Matters – The Untold Story of Marketing in the Social Media Era”:

Starting a blog is not the answer

You must be willing to give up control to unlock authentic stories

Learn to listen actively -  Why don’t you respond?  Where can you respond?  What is your industry saying?

Look for your accidental spokesperson – but be aware you may not have a choice (read the Coca-Cola Facebook story)

Save money on advertising by creating content that your customers want

If you have the opportunity to hear him speak I highly recomend it (I can’t believe I missed him at SXSW! The good news is he  already posted a summary of his talk here).