The Anatomy of Buzz: How to Create Word of Mouth Marketing

The Anatomy of Buzz: How to Create Word of Mouth Marketing

The Anatomy of Buzz is divided into three parts.

How Buzz Spreads: The first section describes the huge social networks to which we all belong and what we know about how buzz spreads through them.

Success in the Networks: The second section identifies two factors that need to be there for buzz to spread. First, the product must be “contagious” in some way. For example, the game Trivial Pursuit was contagious because people who played it were compelled to demonstrate their knowledge to others. But contagion needs to be accelerated. That’s the second factor. The marketers of this game executed a massive grassroots campaign that let people in numerous social networks get “infected” by the game and tell others.

Stimulating Buzz: The third part of the book describes techniques that companies have used to encourage their customers to talk. How BMW created buzz about the Z3 Roadster through a “sneak preview” in a James Bond movie. How the founders of Powerbar spread the word about their energy food by working with “network hubs” such as coaches and leading athletes.

Customer Review: Excellent Book!
Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point” draws our attention to the idea of “word-of-mouth”; Seth Godin shows us what kinds of remarkable things can be achieved using viral marketing techniques; Emanuel Rosen’s “The Anatomy of Buzz” walks us through how to make word-of-mouth marketing work for our own businesses.

This is an excellent book! It lays out a pathway to follow and provides pragmatic guidelines and best practices, verbally illustrated using real-world examples. A business book is a success for me if I find I’ve made a few notes while reading the book (and acted on those notes). In reading “The Anatomy of Buzz” I generated dozens of notes and ideas – many of which have been implemented or are in process today.

This is an excellent book. I’ll say it again: This is an excellent book! I strongly recommend it to those who have “marketing”, business development”, “sales”, or “founder” in their job titles.