Here’s a clip from the movie, with another “crazy” pitch for Volvos.

Honestly, maybe none of us want to hear the raw and unvarnished truth about products.  The mission of advertising is to create slogans and ads that make us want to buy products, and the truth can quickly become a casualty in marketing campaigns.  Inevitably, the best marketing for a company is word of mouth.

So how does that silly Dudley Moore movie actually help make the case for social media?  First, here’s some rather telling data about how people make buying decisions:

•   84% of consumers trust recommendations from friends

•   70% trust online recommendations from complete strangers

•   Only 5% of consumers trust advertising*

Let’s examine these figures a little more closely.  84% of us trust recommendations from friends. Makes sense, right?  Many of us found our doctors that way.  There’s a reason one landscaping company often maintains the yards of several houses in the same neighborhood.  Or that all the kids in a neighborhood play on the same soccer team.  It’s human nature to trust recommendations from friends.

What if it’s something your friends can’t recommend?  A company that sends you attractive specials in a flyer isn’t going to give you the name of a disgruntled customer as a reference.  This is where that 70% number comes into play. If none of your friends have used this company, the next best source is online websites where people provide unbiased reviews such as Kudzu or Angie’s List.  These reviewers often either love or hate a company.  If you’re lukewarm, you’re less likely to go online and leave a review.

The final number says only 5% of consumers trust advertising.  This figure is rather indicting of traditional marketing.  But as the movie “Crazy People” demonstrated, can you imagine Don Draper creating an ad that told you “the food tastes oily and artificial”?  That’s right, you can’t.  Because companies don’t badmouth themselves in their ads.  In fact, Jeff Hilimire, Chief Digital Officer of Engauge likes to use a phrase: You are the least credible person to be talking about your company.

If you’re the least credible, then who is the most?  Your customers!  Social media is all about companies giving customers the opportunity to engage in conversations with each other and the company.  Imagine you see an ad for an orthodontist in the newspaper.  Maybe you’d check them out on Facebook, and wouldn’t it be persuasive if you saw loyal patients commenting, showing off their favorite braces color combinations or demonstrating their beautiful new smiles, singing the praises of this orthodontist?  Social media is an invaluable tool in the marketing tool box.

Now back to my original question… “are you crazy if you don’t use social media?”  You could be missing a huge opportunity to provide a forum that allows potential customers to trust you… BEFORE they ever use your product or services.   If companies aren’t “crazy” enough to tell the truth, let the customers do it for them.  After all, 70% of people will trust the words of the customers.

You do the math.  Social media may not be for everybody, but if you employ as your sole marketing technique a tool that only 5% of consumers trust, then you be the judge of whether you’re crazy.

*Alterian White Paper – “Your Brand At Risk”

Related articles

• Engauge Expands Digital Innovation Group with Key Hire (prweb.com)
• Social Media Engagement from Honesty to Trust (personalbrandingblog.com)