A few days ago, Julie (our Word of Mouth Manager) came into work eager to share a story and a picture she had taken over the weekend. Not surprisingly, it was about advertising (because we really do live and breathe it here). She was out in Annapolis over the weekend and saw an ad for a pre-natal massage… in a BAR bathroom. Its placement was so compelling that she just had to take a picture.

Talk about horrible ad placement! This could be advertising the best pre-natal massage in the entire world, but its placement is a total non-sequitur. Its impact was enough to make Julie come in and tell us all about it, even sharing the picture. And here we are, writing about it on our blog. Now that is word of mouth (and not the good kind)! Because most people have camera phones, this sort of negative word of mouth can spread quickly, and can harm a brand that much faster.

Advertising goes above and beyond the message and the creative. Placement is key, too. If not in the right place at the right time, your audience can simply bypass the intended message and walk away with something else entirely: a negative image of your product or service.

In a year of joblessness and disheartening economic conditions, Julianna Wittig was among many individuals who were laid-off and forced to begin the job search.

In her search for a new job, Julianna, who is now The Cyphers Agency’s newest Account Executive,  headed straight to her computer. In her online search, however, Julianna didn’t rely on typical job search sites such as Monster and Indeed.  Using social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, Julianna took a proactive approach to finding a job. She kept her profile updated and her eyes open for any opportunities she found on those sites.

While Julianna was searching, Darren Easton, Vice President and Creative Director for The Cyphers Agency  was using social networks to find a candidate to fill an Account Executive position. For the position, Darren wanted to find a social-media-savvy individual, who could handle several accounts in the agency’s Push-n-Pull division.

Julianna saw the posting on LinkedIn and began researching The Cyphers Agency–checking into the culture, environment, clients and other employees. Darren was researching too. He asked others online if they knew of Julianna and if they thought she would be a good fit for the Account Executive position.

Thanks to word of mouth and social networks, Darren told Julianna in the interview that he “already knew everything he needed to know about her.” It was clear that Julianna knew how to effectively market herself online, therefore, Darren knew she would certainly be capable of marketing clients online.

Social media has impacted so much of our daily lives. It changes the way we do businesses, network, communicate and even find jobs. The days of faxing resumes and mailing resumes on crisp resume paper are done.

Job seekers can use social networks to search for jobs, interact with potential employers and create online profiles that display their skills. Employers can social media to post jobs, find qualified candidates and ask others about these candidates.

We’re glad social media enabled us to connect to Julianna. Welcome, Julianna, we’re happy to have you here at The Cyphers Agency!

In our last post, we highlighted a study that revealed a correlation between social media and financial success. Some of these companies deemed as social media “mavens” in the report included huge companies such as Starbucks and Nike. With a global presence, enormous budget and millions of brand ambassadors, it’s not too shocking that these companies are successful at social media.

That doesn’t mean that small businesses don’t have the potential or resources to be social media wonders themselves. Small businesses typically earn their customers through traditional word of mouth. Twitter, which allows users to exchange quick 140 character messages, is a perfect model of  digital word of mouth. And small business owners across the U.S. are beginning to recognize  its WOM power.

Curtis Kimball, who opened a crème brûlée cart in San Francisco, knows how powerful Twitter can be for word-of-mouth marketing. With more than 6,000 followers, Kimball can Tweet where his cart is,  and customers can easily locate him and purchase crème brûlée. According to this New York Times article, the crème brûlée became so popular that Kimball had to quit his day job to manage the demand.

Restaurants are among small businesses that are taking advantage of the digital word-of-mouth opportunities that Twitter provides. There are tons of ways that a restaurant can use Twitter, from Tweeting specials, posting pictures and even getting feedback from customers. Myers and Chang, a restaurant in Boston, talks to its customers on Twitter, as you’ll see below.

Feedback is valuable, and it is among the many ways that businesses can use social media to work for them.Think of it this way, if one person with 200 followers posts to Twitter that they had a good experience dealing with your company or brand, it’s likely that 100 people were exposed to that message. So, one Tweet is equivalent to 100 (or way more) word-of-mouth recommendations.

The worst thing to do is to sit back and let the global companies get all the attention. Jump in now, even if you are a small business. Remember, we’ve done this a time or two, so we’re here to help!