Looking to stand out from the crowd? As brands continue to embrace all of the social mediums and the populations continue to grow at an unbelievable pace, it is increasingly more difficult to rise above the noise. The competition continues to grow as users add more friends, brands, influencers and even strangers to their news feed. The big question everyone is asking is, how do you truly stand out? How do you create influence? I love the quote from Michael Hyatt: “Influence and influenza come from the same root word. Real leaders are contagious.” Leaders can be defined as people and/or brands. Isn’t that what we really want? Isn’t influence making your message, product, service or community irresistible?

I often talk about creating an irresistible environment – and I would submit that irresistible environments/services/products generate influence and word of mouth. It shifts your social brand architecture from a place that people read and maybe engage, to an environment they proactively visit, are drawn to, and then in turn share it both online and offline. It can turn a broader section of your social community into influencers.

And we all have heard and aspire to create a story/message that generates word of mouth. We know well the key drivers of word of mouth:

• A good story
• Providing a visible way for people to show their involvement
• Consistently providing something new or unique to talk about
• Allowing supporters across your social brand architecture to be creative
• Providing value – value is not always monetary-it can be access to products or even people, inner circle status, first access to services or products…
• Inviting people to participate
• And something so simple yet often forgotten, reminding people to share

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The question is, how do you build this irresistible environment? What is the secret to making your social sphere irresistible and a place where people check everyday, and then share with their social graph? How do you build a good story and the other drivers? In my opinion there are four key pillars:

1. Become a student – researching and understanding your target market, the demographics, market size, platform preference, opportunities and influencers are important. However, marketers should go a step further by learning the language/slang or key phrases. Understanding not just the what, but the how. What language/filter will immediately drive engagement? For instance, marketing a new mobile phone to an adult would require highlighting different features and perhaps using different phrases than when marketing to a teenager. The teenager will be more interested in texting, apps and other features. And the adult will be more interested in reliability and usability. But the how; how do present your story in a way that it excites and is something the community will share and even generate conversations about? A student is constantly researching, evolving and implementing what they are learning. This will keep your communities engaged and growing.
2. Microscope to telescope– often when we build our story, we tend to view it through our ‘microscope.’  We need to step back a little bit and view our products, services and language through the telescope of the broader audience, outside the four walls of our offices. Stepping back will give us perspective. Perspective to build our cadence that inspires sharing and engagement. Even an artist, as he is creating his masterpiece, will often take a step back to view his work in different light and various angles to gain perspective.
3. Set realistic expectations – as you begin to change your view it may take a little time for you to shift the course. More times than not, change happens incrementally on our side as well as the market side. And usually anything that starts fast will end at the same pace.
4. Measurement – determining the right data to measure is important. But beyond measuring, use this data as a way to adjust and carefully respond. Build a listening post to measure and respond to the conversations happening in your social sphere.

In using these pillars you will surely make sure your social graph is irresistible. And who can resist an environment that is designed with them in mind?

Robyn is passionate about helping brands learn how to use social media to create irresistible environments. She is experienced in assisting brands to create unique social experiences that are relevant and engaging resulting in the ultimate, word of mouth. She is has more that 15 years experience delving deeply into the intricacies of branding, community and marketing strategy. She is a proven leader in the visioneering of creative strategies that deliver real results and position brands as a leader in their industries. She has worked in high-level positions for global brands on both the client and agency side from Siemens Energy and Automation to most recently at Ogilvy Public Relations.