SECOND BLOG: THE LAST PART OF ANDY'S BOOK

Hello Again!

I apologize for the back to back nature of my posts, book didn't get here until yesterday :( That being said, I want to dive into the topics presented in the last part of Andy's book. I will say, after finishing the text, I am already so inspired to do what I really wanted to do after college. I almost feel that from just reading the text and listening to what Andy has to say about WOM, I have learned so much about how I would market my business if I did decide to take on the challenge. I know it is only the second week of the course, and I can't wait to learn more about how I can be successful in this area. That being said, let's talk about the book.

The reading for today really helped me to understand how a company can be a facilitator in helping the message travel. Asking people to spread the word is important because sometimes people have great things to say but may just need a little encouragement to speak up. One concept I thought was great was "multiplying the sharing." A company can make a person want to tell someone else, because by telling someone else the other person and the talker both benefit!

This part of the book also talked about the power of blogs. It was interesting to read this section, knowing that I would be participating in this form of social media just a few hours later :) The four things that Andy pointed out about blogs were that they make messages portable, they create new topics, they provide a place for the conversation to happen, and they build credibility. Building credibility happens through blogs because we tend to listen to other people, people like us, who have actually used the product. New topics can also develop through blogs because the conversation/posts build on one another.

This brings me to probably my favorite part about Andy's book. The statement is so obvious, yet it really helped me understand how WOM works. WOM IS DIALOGUE! And as such, it must be treated how we treat dialogue. If the company answers back, it keeps the WOM going. Therefore, I realize now that this is why having a buzz-worthy product/idea is important-it keeps people wanting to talk about it, it keeps the dialogue going. The more you can keep people talking about your company, the faster you will grow.

Thanks for reading!

Rache