Word-of-mouth has been around for centuries. See why it’s important to be using it now, and how to enhance it with the technology you have at your fingertips. Johannesburg, South Africa. 92% of people trust recommendations from people they know, according to research conducted by The Nielsen Company last year. This means that over 90% of people are making use of the oldest method of advertising: word-of-mouth. Clearly, this age-old technique of telling people about your business still works today. But how do you actually use word-of-mouth to bring in more clients for your small business? Is there really a way to make sure 100% sure that your clients will advertise your business for you after using your product or service? We would like to argue that you can use word-of-mouth to get more clients – you don’t just have to wait around for a client to give your number to a friend in need. The way you do this is by modernising word-of-mouth – taking the ancient concept and combining it with today’s technology in a way that will get your clients recommending you to all their friends. In a phrase? Virtual word-of-mouth. But how do you do this? How do you modernise word-of-mouth using the technology you have around you? We would suggest the following: Get a website. Probably the best way for clients to see your service and tell their friends about you via word-of-mouth is to have a website that they can send their friends to by sharing the link to your site. (Remember, though, that it’s important to do something with the traffic that comes to your home page! Make sure your home page is friendly, inviting and easy for your clients to understand.) Use social media. Make it easy for your clients to tell their friends about you by creating your own Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages, as well as any other social media site that your clients use. Encourage your clients to like your Facebook page or follow you on Twitter, and keep them interested with posts that …
Home service providers your friends trust
Home service providers your friends trust: new website launched today Ledula.com helps users find plumbers/electricians/landscapers their friends would recommend 13/03/2013 Johannesburg, South Africa – New website, Ledula.com, has officially launched today, helping users to find trustworthy service providers to work on their home and garden. Although the website has been live since April 2012, the newly-renovated site has been released today, offering an improved design and several new features. Users can now find the plumbers, interior designers and gardeners that their friends have used before – in an easy-to-use online sphere. “Why home service providers your friends trust?” asks Cape Town-based Ledula Sales Partner, Gavin Welsh. “It’s simple – you know you can trust the recommendations you get from your friends, because they’ll give you an honest opinion.” A report published by The Nielsen Company in April 2012 concludes that 92% of global online consumers trust recommendations from people they know. So Ledula argues that your friends are the best way to find builders, painters or handymen you can trust. How exactly does Ledula put this concept into practice? The site connects with Facebook to show users the list of all the home service providers their friends have used and rated, so they are able to choose a provider who is recommended by someone they trust. Users can also see the star-rating that their friends have given a provider, as well the comment they gave on their service. Of course, users are also able to load their own providers onto the site, and are even able to share their details with a friend who needs them – via email, SMS or Facebook. Ledula is currently the only existing site that uses friends’ recommendations to help users find home service providers. It differs from alternatives like typical listing sites and the phonebook (both on and offline) which list the details of providers but usually fail to tell users what their service …