Get People Talking
Remember in Jr. High, the worst that could happen was to know that people were talking about you. Even if what you heard might be good, you couldn’t be sure. It was creepy.
Life is different now. Talk is how people share the news about interesting, fascinating, dangerous, marvelous, outrageous, remarkable, unique, and outstanding events, people, businesses — anything that isn’t BORING OR INVISIBLE.
If folks AREN’T TALKING about you and me, we virtually DON’T EXIST.
Don’t exist as in we are invisible. How does a business thrive if no one knows it’s there?
Some folks seem to have a knack for getting folks to talk about them. I’d name, but that would be redundant. The fact that they’re good at it means you already know who they are.
So what do they do that gets them talked about? Andy Sernovitz says they do four things. In his book, Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, Andy names four rules to follow if you want t6 be talked about.
- Be interesting. No one talks about boring. Give people a reason — an unexpected detail, a moment of something, a visual surprise, a unique feeling. People tell othere people about interesting things.
- Make people happy. Inspire your readers. Get them jazzed or move them to action. Energize them with positivity. Tim Sanders wrote a whole book in the Likeability Factor. Put it to work for you. We love to talk about people we like.
- Earn respect and trust. Know your truth and live your values. Keep your promises and make people proud to say they know you. Who doesn’t like to talk about their friends and family?
- Make it easy. Have a simple message and help folks share it. Put your message everywhere people look. Keep it in motion. Say it yourself whenever you talk.
Makes total sense doesn’t it? Four ways to spread the word gets people talking about you, me and our ideas.
Thanks Andy. Tomrrow, we’ll check out what folks talk about.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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