Social media may be new, but the principles of word-of-mouth marketing certainly are not. We’ve translated fundamentals from almost 50 years ago for today’s financial services marketers.

Blogging at the Harvard Business Review, David Aaker pulled a number of key findings from a 1966 study conducted by Ernest Dichter into the art of word-of-mouth persuasion. Dichter identified four things that motivate people to spread the word about a brand. Despite being nearly half a century old, these motivations still ring true, and are instructive to financial services marketers hoping their clients will spread the word – whether on Facebook or at a good old-fashioned cocktail party.

Motivation #1: Product Involvement

In 33% of cases, product-involvement is the reason people spread the word. This means the experience is so pleasurable, it simply must be shared. In the world of investing, pleasure can come from positive performance results, but it can also come from a high level of service with lots of personal contact and attention to detail.

Motivation #2: Self-involvement

About 24% of the time, people tell a friend about a product or service for their own benefit. Aaker says sharing knowledge or opinions is a way to gain attention, show connoisseurship, feel like a pioneer, have inside information, seek confirmation of a person’s own judgment or assert superiority. We’ve all met people who like to brag about their investments. Are you making it easy for them to send you referrals?

Motivation #3: Other-involvement

For 20% of people, helping others is the motivator. The speaker wants to express neighborliness, caring and friendship, and may recommend a product or service to someone else, even if they themselves aren’t particularly interested. For financial services marketers, some of these people may be centers of influence who aren’t direct clients, but have the ability to steer clients your way.

Motivation #4: Message-involvement

Dichter found that 20% of people are motivated to share a brand when it has a message that is particularly entertaining or informative. This can be difficult in financial services, where messages can quickly become bogged down in complexity. Can you explain your offering with just a few simple and powerful phrases?

Our view

To really tap into social networks, we believe you need to create a great client experience, give clients insight that makes them feel special, make it easy for them to share that insight, and wrap up everything in focused, repeatable messages that entertain and inform.