Everybody’s An Expert

For some time now I have noticed that everybody seems to be an expert these days. Social media is filled with armchair critics who are happy to fill you in on their expertise regarding anything from politics to nail salons. In reading several articles on the impact of Word of Mouth I began to ask myself, how do marketers effectively manage these so called “experts”? Case in point, the current political season that is upon us. Daily I read commentary from various friends on how their candidate is the best choice because of multiple reasons which usually amounts to whatever mainstream or social media has pushed out to them. Despite the fact that as demonstrated in Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk “How Great Leaders Inspire Action”, their view is skewed because their information is tailored to their particular world view- their safe little bubbles. Yet, their information “bubble” is all about comfort and profitability for those designing it. Most Donald Trump supporters believe he is going to win despite polls because their social media feed is booming with other like-minded Trump supporters. Their feeds are filled with anti-Hillary news and commentaries as well as complimentary Trump anecdotes. The same applies to supporters of Hillary Clinton. Conservatives are more likely to watch Fox News while liberals turn to CNN for their information. All the while their neighbor posts of picture of their new premium for health insurance and this alone is proof Obamacare is a failure. Another friend passes along a photograph of Hillary Clinton with what appears to be some sort of device underneath her clothes and speculations from “her team is feeding her the questions during debates” to “she’s on a pain pump” abound. Then all of this information is collected and the armchair critics begin their discourse on why you should believe they hold all of the answers. What is scary to me is the impact these self-described experts hold in Word of Mouth circles. If you read a bad restaurant review are you really going to give the place a chance or not risk a disappointing meal? Perhaps had the Kansas City Voltaire restauranteur’s response to a particular snippy customers review on Yelp not gone viral, we would not know that her demands were unreasonable and her review highly unfair.

So how are marketers to handle these armchair critics? We know that the theories and methods surrounding WOM marketing have evolved over time from a marketer controlled environment to a multi-faceted, multi-directional model. Robert V. Kozinets, et al. "Networked Narratives: Understanding Word-of-Mouth Marketing in Online Communities." that appeared in the Journal of Marketing in 2010 describes consumers as “active co-producers of meaning and value”. But I argue that their meaning and value is not always a credible one. In today’s social media world anyone can become a self-proclaimed expert. According to DemandGen Report-2016 Content Preferences Survey, over 66% of consumers surveyed used blogs to influence their purchasing decisions and with the increase in blogs this percentage will only grow. Nowadays stay at home moms or a forty year old living in his parents basement can become a viral success and be viewed as an expert by his or her followers.

So back to my original question, how do marketers use the rampant explosion of so-called experts in their given field to communicate the message they need conveying and promote the true experts? And how do they weed out and promote the real experts among the want- to-be aficionados? First off, I think it is vital to decide which media outlets are the best formats for promoting your expert and facilitating the kind of Word of Mouth (WOM) marketing you want. A detailed look into your target demographics and how they correlate to various media outlets is a great starting place. For instance, research shows if you are looking to connect with women forty and younger, Pinterest or Instagram are great channels. The next step is establishing credibility. Why should followers believe your expert over another? What is the emotional connection to your message and messenger? Are you placing keywords your audience would be searching for in your written communications online? All of these are just a few of the factors marketers need to consider when looking to market their desired communication and expert.

By using the right channels WOM and expert positioning can be highly effective. Many national brands use bloggers and social media users with influence in order to promote marketing messages. One only needs a hashtag to create a virtual conversation about a certain event, public figure or idea. When the Jonbenet Ramsey story aired on CBS a couple of months ago, Twitter blew up with loads of tweets with armchair detectives giving their estimation of the case. All you had to do was look for the #jonbenetramsey, #jonbenet or #burkeramsey hashtags in order to follow the national dialogue on the case. Everyone was an expert. My kids and I even got in on the action. We debated back and forth the evidence presented during that broadcast as well as others shown on other channels around the same time. Each of us believed we had solved the twenty year mystery.

The Cleveland Indians used local bloggers in their social suite experiment in 2011 in order to change the local conversation about their team. It began with simply having a section of seats out in the stadium then evolved to a VIP box where local bloggers were treated like a cross between official media, given all-access pass to the team, and VIP fans. The experiment was a success and other teams and organizations followed subsequently. This is a great example of how organizational marketers were able to turn armchair critics into advocates for their cause. The right marketing vehicle, the right messaging and careful crafting of the communication strategy can turn this new form of marketing and communication into wins for professional marketers. By looking at the evolution of Word of Mouth marketing as well the evolution of the venues for WOM marketing, strategic communicators can tap into another realm of possibilities for promotion. Just remember, everybody’s an expert. Why not make them your expert.