Social Media doesn’t have to be hard. Do something remarkable and people will talk about you. So give them something to talk about.

Deliver a truly remarkable product or experience

A remarkable experience can be by design (Disneyland) or authentic (Machu Picchu). It can be visited by millions (Eiffel Tower) or appeal to a niche (Base Jumping).

Creating a true remarkable product or experience is tough. It requires passion and a vision. But when you achieve it, you have a winner. People will brag, take fotos and share stories and a word-of-mouth phenomena is born.

Unexpected customer service

This means truly exceeding expectations, preferably in an authentic way by people who really want the customer have the best possible experience.

But in order to get people talking, it takes something unexpected.

I’ve heard from some hotel operators they try and find their guests interests by Googling their names, going through their Twitter stream in order to deliver something unexpectedly remarkable (like the cornbread story).

Add a gimmick

This is easier, but can be very effective. Add something that gets people talking. Like Rodney always says “just tweak your product a little”.

Tourism Fargo put the famous Wood Chipper from the movie in their visitor centre. Tourism Vulcan is slowly transforming their town into a Star Trek themepark. The Peabody Hotel in Memphis has a Duck Match every day. Salvador Molly’s in Portland puts your picture on their wall if you finish they “great balls of fire”

There’s a fine line between a gimmick and a true remarkable experience. Seeing the real wood chipper in Fargo is HUGE for fans of the Cowen brothers, and people will make a trip to Fargo just to see it.

A marketing stunt

A campaign can be remarkable. Queensland “Best Job in the World” was the mother off all viral tourism campaigns. At Think! we organized an event for the Dallas cvb during the Superbowl that took online word-of-mouth out on the streets and got two towns in a frenzy.

The bottom line

Giving people something to talk and generate word-of-mouth recommendation or conversations works in social media. Don’t confuse this with something viral. Producing viral content is tough and there’s no recipe for success. But by focussing on your customer and making your product and/or service remarkable will be good