The Anatomy of Buzz/Rosen 168-172

THE ELEMENTS OF A GOOD STORY

171 They were getting inside information about something that was incredibly relevant to them and their friends. Creating buzz is similar in some ways to good storytelling. You build suspense by withholding information and releasing it gradually.

Tantalize with Scarcity and Mystery

172 It has to do with not only spreading the word but withholding information and releasing it gradually over time.

…there’s a limit to how much you can play this game, because customers can tire of it.

But as a rule, when we don’t have access to information, we want it—badly.

Build Anticipation

The Anatomy of Buzz/Rosen 165-168

166 The Four Rules of a Successful Seeding Campaign.
1) Look Beyond the Usual Suspects.
2) Put the Product In Their Hands—people need the experience of the whole product to get involved…there is a big difference between making a product available for free on the Web and actually going out to hand that product to individual people.
3) Reduce the Price Barrier
4) Listen for Silence.

167 Seeding is more that just a technique; it’s a state of mind.

In the music world, seeding is done through tours.

You go from network to network and hook the first few people, who then proceed to spread the word.

You go after both—mega-media and grassroots networks.

168 Sneak preview then generates even more buzz for future products.

The Anatomy of Buzz/Rosen 160-165

161 Seeding is an incredible tool even if it’s not executed on a grand scale.

Fortune 500 company, your cost will be minimal, but the information about the product is likely to spread at a very slow rate. On the other hand, if you give the product away for free to everyone at the company, the speed will be maximized, but so will your cost.

…touring, sampling, and demo programs…work about 100 percent better than traditional marketing like print ads or TV ads.

The biggest potential pitfall in seeding is redundancy.

164 To what extent are people talking about my brand in a particular network?

Anecdotal data is very important in identifying dead networks.

165 …dead networks can be brought to life with some help.

Using your own sales figures, you can identify the dead networks and seed them.

Seeding accelerated the buzz.

But you can expand your audience and your products sales far more rapidly by seeding inactive networks that by focusing all your efforts on existing active ones.

The Anatomy of Buzz/Rosen 155-160

156 The ideal seed customer shouldn’t be shy. …you need seed customers to do one thing talk.

Seeding works only in categories that people talk about: cars, books, computers, fashion, and so on—what we call conversation products. The idea of seeding is to get selected people from different networks more involved with these products so that they talk about them with others. Sometimes this is achieved by giving away products for free, but it can also be achieved by letting potential customers use your product for a period of time or by having them participate in some events associated with your brand.

160 Not all comments that spread in the network about Windows 95 were positive ones.

The Anatomy of Buzz/Rosen 155-160

156 The ideal seed customer shouldn’t be shy. …you need seed customers to do one thing talk.

Seeding works only in categories that people talk about: cars, books, computers, fashion, and so on—what we call conversation products. The idea of seeding is to get selected people from different networks more involved with these products so that they talk about them with others. Sometimes this is achieved by giving away products for free, but it can also be achieved by letting potential customers use your product for a period of time or by having them participate in some events associated with your brand.

160 Not all comments that spread in the network about Windows 95 were positive ones.

The Anatomy of Buzz/Rosen 155-160

156 The ideal seed customer shouldn’t be shy. …you need seed customers to do one thing talk.

Seeding works only in categories that people talk about: cars, books, computers, fashion, and so on—what we call conversation products. The idea of seeding is to get selected people from different networks more involved with these products so that they talk about them with others. Sometimes this is achieved by giving away products for free, but it can also be achieved by letting potential customers use your product for a period of time or by having them participate in some events associated with your brand.

160 Not all comments that spread in the network about Windows 95 were positive ones.

The Anatomy of Buzz/Rosen 151-155

153 Information spreads easily within a cluster, but not as smoothly—and sometimes not at all—between different clusters.

To accelerate the rate at which the word about a product spreads, smart companies seed their products at strategic points in many different clusters with seed units.

You can use sampling programs, touring programs, or demo programs, but the principle is always the same: You give people in multiple clusters direct experience with the product. By doing so you plant a seed to stimulate discussion simultaneously in multiple networks. By seeding networks you are accelerating the regular adoption process.

155 Both of these levels are very important (media & grassroots) but it’s the grassroots level that has been generally underutilized.

A good seeding campaign goes beyond mailing sample products to a small group of press contacts and the industry elite.

The Anatomy of Buzz/Rosen 150-151

In the short term, targeting mega-hubs may seem to produce more results that focusing on regular hubs. It’s much easier to quantify the effects of mega-hubs by tallying up hits in the media. And indeed, the backing of an Oprah Winfrey, a Rosie O’Donnell, or a Walt Mossberg could send sales of your product through the roof. But the untapped, neglected regular hubs ultimately may have as much or even more power. Since regular hubs engage in frequent two-way exchanges with their contacts, members of the network are potentially more likely to hear and remember what these hubs say. This is the true source of strength that you can tap into by using word-of-mouth marketing and the invisible networks.

151 Once the opinion leaders adopt, you’re much more likely to reach critical mass, and then the process becomes self-sustaining.

The Anatomy of Buzz/Rosen 148-150

149 Clearly, a successful marking campaign should target both regular hubs and mega-hubs.
Only a few mega-hubs.
Mega-hubs can be extremely influential, and their support can radically change the life of a product.

150 Regular hubs cumulatively can be as important a mega-hubs.
It’s all because thousand of network hubs recommended it in reading groups, on the Web, and over the counter.
The problem is that grass roots campaigns are much more tedious.
Well, I think a much more productive effort would be to talk directly to users.

The Anatomy of Buzz/Rosen 143-148

147 They are much more likely to be influenced by a message that comes from their network hubs.

Don’t be concerned about boring expert hubs.

Never assume that network hubs already know about your latest product review.

Keep them up to date as the product passes certain benchmarks or wins awards.

148 I don’t call someone unless I’m absolutely certain that the product is ready and the idea is good. The same respectful attitude should be used with regular network hubs.

Regular hubs are not always comfortable with this and may turned off by too much attention.

Network hubs may be using your product, but this has only limited value if the world doesn’t know about it.

The Anatomy of Buzz/Rosen 141-143

143 Follow-up research has shown that people with central positions in their social networks are those who score high on the strength of personality scale.

The first step in working with network hubs is to keep track of them. Building a system to record information about hubs is mostly a matter of everyone at your organization aware of them.

Timing in reaching out to them is important. In each network there are a given number of network hubs and mega-hubs, and with a new product or service it is critical to capture their hearts and minds before your competitors.

It may be worth seeding network hubs in a particular segment before you target that particular segment.
Network hubs are not a loyal as you might hope, and if something better comes along, they can jump ship

The Anatomy of Buzz/Rosen 137-141

138 Once these network hubs were identified, they were engaged in product sampling.

These opinion leaders aren’t journalist or people with impressive titles—they’re just ordinary folks who require a reputation on their own merits.

139 Keep your eyes open for connectors as well—people who have the potential to transmit information across clusters.

Another way to spot network hubs is to look for socially active individuals

…these activities are writing a letter to the editor, making a speech, and serving on a committee.

140 Some of the informal concepts discussed above can be utilized in formal surveys.

You ask all members of a given network to name the people from whom they seek information about a specific topic.

141 You ask people to tell you who the network hubs are.

The Anatomy of Buzz/Rosen 134-137

135 4 Methods to identify influential people.
1. Letting network hubs identify themselves.
2. Identifying categories of network hubs.
4. Spotting network hubs through surveys.

135 Always look for individuals who display the ACTIVE characteristics: Ahead in adoption, Connected, Travelers, Information-hungry, Vocal, and Exposed to the media.

136 Network hubs feed on information.

…often all you have to invest to develop a good relationship with a potential network hub is some time and attention.

137 The most commonly used method to find network hubs is to identify a category of promising people—a group that might potentially include such network hubs.

The use of trade magazines, conferences, and trade show is a sure way to reach opinion leaders.

The way to look for a category is to think of people who, by virtue of their position, have a higher than average number of ties with people in the network you’re trying to reach.

To find the grassroots network hub, you need to go out into the field.

The Anatomy of Buzz/Rosen 128-134

129 For buzz to spread, you need two things: a contagious product—one that has some inherent value that makes people talk—and someone behind the scenes who accelerates natural contagion. Word of mouth must be accelerated.

130 Hiring practices can also be used to accelerate contagion in certain social networks.

…behind almost every good buzz there is someone who understands that success comes not only from having a contagious product but also from speeding the good word about that product to the far reaches of various networks, getting the attention of potential customers before competitors do.

134 …the best way to change people’s behavior in this case was to work with local opinion leaders. The first step was to identify the network hubs.

You can broadcast or you can connect.. Broadcasting involves massive mailings or buying media time and packaging your message so that it can be transmitted simultaneously to all nodes in the network. Connecting involves starting a dialogue with certain individuals in the network that you are trying to influence.

The Anatomy of Buzz/Rosen 114-128

121 A marketer who accelerates natural contagion will try to locate the center of the group. The message is more likely to reach its destination with minimum distortion and get there much faster.

It is critical for a company at this stage to have at least one person who is obsessed with spreading the word. It sounds almost too obvious, but many new products fail because there is no obsessed person in place at the right time.

124 …leapfrogging can help a product break into new social circles.

126 Companies that accelerate the process of natural contagion to speed up buzz go beyond formulas and beyond taking the obvious steps. They often bypass the obvious choice of formal networks.

Successful companies leapfrog into informal networks as well.

Companies that speed up buzz go beyond the most expected communication channels as well.

127 …accelerate buzz also work to create the conditions that make shortcuts more likely to happen. One way is to create environments where customers can meet people who are not customers from remote networks.

128 mistake…if you get good at buzz you don’t need marketing.

The Anatomy of Buzz/Rosen 109-114

111 Compatibility therefore became a top priority. Incompatibility blocks buzz from spreading.

112 Diffusion of Innovations—makes the point that the compatibility of an innovation, as perceived by members of a social system, is positively related to its rate of adoption.

113 Products that are easy to use spread faster because customers are hungry for simplicity.

When you stimulate buzz, you raise expectations. If you raise expectations too much without being able to deliver, you will create disappointment. The key to creating good buzz is balance, and the rule of buzz and balance is very simple: Always exceed expectations. Falling below customers expectations will create negative buzz.

114 Another way to exceed expectations is to price the product below what customers anticipate.