Brand Connectors Drive WOM

I sat in on a conference call hosted by the Marketing Leadership Council, called Unleashing the Power of Word-of-Mouth Brand Advocacy, by Steve Knox from P&G Tremor. [I found a copy of a similar presentation on slideshare.net] 

One thing that stood out for me is that P&G Tremor has identified an interesting segment of early adopters called “Connectors.”   They make up about 10-15% of the population.  Key differentiation is that they are trend “spreaders,” rather than trend setters.  Trend setters do things because nobody else is doing them, and they stop when the trend becomes widespread.  Trend spreaders share ideas because they get their social status by introducing new ideas to their friends.  "We" vs. "me."

They also brought up something that I’ve never heard put quite so succinctly, the idea that Word of Mouth requires a message that Disrupts the Equilibrium, but that ties to the Brand Foundational Truth. 

They ask the following questions:
• What is uniquely talk-able about your brand?
• What is the consumer/customer insight that is driving your brand?
• What is the disruption that creates consumer conversations?
• Have you make your brand easy to talk about?
• What triggers are you providing to allow “talk” about your brand to occur naturally?