How Bam Bam’s BBQ unleashed the power of Word of Mouth Marketing with a Bronze Pig
Your customers are your greatest marketing team. Period. Believe it or not, consumers don’t trust you and your brand-generated content; in fact, according to Forbes Magazine, 92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all other forms of advertising. Word of Mouth has always been—and always will be—the most powerful form of marketing, and the brands that are able to master and leverage it are the ones that are most likely to succeed.
If you want to win, you need to unleash the power of your greatest and largest marketing team: your customers.
At Gigg, we help brands identify, connect with, and leverage their very best customers and turn them into willing brand advocates.
We recently worked with a local barbecue restaurant, Bam Bam’s BBQ, to help them grow their customer base and increase their revenue without spending a dime in traditional marketing. Here’s what we learned:
Get Creative—It’s Pays Dividends
Even though Bam Bam’s only has one location, people are constantly posting on social media about their experiences there; and there’s a certain bronze pig that keeps showing up in many of the posts.
What’s with the pig? It’s a call-to-action in a cleverly creative disguise. It’s almost impossible to resist the fat, happy pig’s invitation to cuddle on the bench and take a selfie with him.
When Bam Bam’s first added the bronze pig to their storefront, they invited customers via social media to help name the pig. Hundreds of people responded via DM. A month later, Bam Bam’s narrowed the submissions to the top ten names and asked their customers to vote. After everyone had weighed in, the bronze pig’s official name became Hamilton.
If you’re ever in Utah County, Utah, stop by Bam Bam’s BBQ and snap your own picture with Hamilton; and take some time to ask yourself, “what is the bronze pig for my business?” Get creative and have some fun with it.
Hashtags Are Your Friend
What good would it do for Bam Bam’s if countless customers were taking pictures with Hamilton and posting them on social media if Bam Bam’s was unable to find the posts and engage with the customers?
We created a call-to-action inside the store, and online, that encouraged customers to follow Bam Bam’s BBQ on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram; and then to tag @bambambbq in their posts.
In addition, we added a hashtag, #BamBamsBBQ, all over the store—on napkins, cups and all over the walls—to make it easy for customers to use.
This was so important in helping the restaurant to grow because, by leveraging and rewarding recommendations for their customers, Bam Bam’s was able to tap into the power of Word of Mouth Marketing.
Bam Bam’s could have spent endless time, money, and energy coming up with catchy one-liners and pithy marketing messaging, but instead, they enabled their customers to create it for them (for free!).
Remember, consumers don’t care what you have to say about your own brand; they don’t trust you. But when their friends, family or complete strangers recommend you, that’s when you become a trusted, reputable brand.
We can’t stress this point enough:
user-generated content (UGC) is marketing gold!
According to Business Wire, nearly 80 percent of people say UGC has a high impact on their purchasing decision, and Bam Bam’s gets tagged in user-generated posts and stories every single day—multiple times a day—by simply reminding people to use the hashtag #BamBamsBBQ.
Feature Their Content and They Will Post Again
Again, your customers are your greatest marketing channel, so treat them accordingly.
Once people started talking about Bam Bam’s online, we quickly put that content to work—with the help of Gigg’s proprietary Word-of-Mouth Engine—by aggregating it, moderating it, and displaying it on large screen TVs in the restaurant and on the Bam Bam’s website.
Then, using the Gigg software, Bam Bam’s reached out to the customers who were featured on the boards to thank them and provide them with a unique offer for their followers. The result? The featured customers posted again—to share their exclusive offer and express their delight for being recognized.
In addition, with Gigg’s social inbox, Bam Bam’s was able to repurpose the best UGC by posting it on their own social media accounts.
In Summary
Your customers are your greatest, and most effective, marketing team—what they say about you defines your brand. In order to unleash the power of your customers:
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Get creative and find your bronze pig
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Use #hashtags to find and leverage what your customers are already saying about you online
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Engage with, and feature, your best customers
Learn more how Gigg can help your brand kickstart, harness and unleash the power of Word of Mouth Marketing.
