Seven Ways to Support Word-of-Mouth About Your Content

Lists of tips for memorable presentations or memorable articles often include suggestions to tell stories, be engaging, use humor, and so on. This is all good advice. To that extensive list, I would add one item: give your audience what they'll need when they're telling someone else about your work. That is, support word-of-mouth about your content.

Most Something magical happens when you create
your work with word-of-mouth in mindcreators who make conscious efforts to support word-of-mouth about what they create do so as an add-on, after the creative work is largely complete. But something magical happens when you create the work with word-of-mouth in mind. This post contains suggestions for doing exactly that. For example, the first suggestion below is to "Focus on what's most important," and avoid trying to do too much. It's advice that's a bit easier to follow when you remember that your auditors can repeat to others only what they can remember. With all this in mind, here are some concrete suggestions for supporting word-of-mouth.

Focus on what's most important

Trying to do too much makes all of it less memorable. A list of seven or eight items is about all anyone can handle. (No need to count mine; it's in the title)

Structure your recommendations as lists

Lists make it easier to use mnemonic techniques, which help you as you deliver presentations. And lists help your audience and readers as they try to recall your material, or relay it to colleagues and associates who ask, "What was that talk/article about?"

Exploit the List Length Effect

There is experimental evidence that as the number of items in a list increases, the probability of correctly recalling or recognizing an item decreases. [Kinnell & Dennis 2011] This is yet another reason to focus on what's most important.

Exploit the Word Length Effect

There is experimental evidence that as word length increases, the probability of correctly recalling the word decreases. In general, memory performance degrades as the word complexity increases. And as word familiarity declines, recall performance also does.

Be strategic about rhyming and alliteration

Rhyming and alliteration can be particularly effective if not forced. For example, Tuckman's sequence of stages of small group development is described as "forming, storming, norming, performing." [Tuckman 1965] Tuckman himself attributed the popularity of his model, in part, to this device, writing that the terms, "…probably account for [the 1965] paper's popularity," and, "…quotability may be the key to success." [Tuckman 1984]

Invent a novel Acronym

An acronym is formed from the first letters of the words of a phrase to make a pronounceable (though not necessarily real) word. Example: NASA for National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Invent a novel acrostic

An acrostic is a word composition consisting of an ordered list of (sometimes) sentences, or (more often) phrases. The first letter or phoneme of each element, sequentially, forms a memorable name, phrase, or sentence. Unlike acronyms, the ordered list is usually coherent, and the word formed from the ordered list is usually relevant to it. More at LitCharts.com

Last words

Brevity and simplicity are essential. If the mnemonic device you adopt is longer or more complicated than the material you're trying to make memorable, remembering the material is easier than remembering the device. Brevity makes you more quotable; simplicity makes you more understandable. So, when someone asks you what this article was about, what will you say?  Top  

Are your presentations — technical or otherwise — all they could be? Audiences at technical presentations, more than most, are at risk of death by dullness. Spare your audiences! Captivate them. Learn how to create and deliver technical presentations with elegance, power and impact. Read Terrific Technical Presentations, a stand-alone Web site filled with tips and techniques for creating powerful performances. Order Now!

Footnotes

Your comments are welcome

About Point Lookout

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

This article in its entirety was written by a human being. No machine intelligence was involved in any way.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Effective Communication at Work:

Virtual Communications: I

Participating in or managing a virtual team presents special communications challenges. Here are some guidelines for communicating with members of virtual teams.

When You Aren't Supposed to Say: I

Most of us have information that's "company confidential," or possibly even more sensitive than that. When we encounter individuals who try to extract that information, we're better able to protect it if we know their techniques.

Definitions of Insanity

When leaders try to motivate organizational change, they often resort to clever sloganeering. One of the most commonly used slogans is a definition of insanity. Unfortunately, that definition doesn't pass the sanity test.

Six Traps in Email or Text: II

Collaboration requires communication. For many, communicating often takes place in email and text message systems. But much of the effort expended in communication is dedicated to resolving confusions that we created for ourselves. Here are four examples.

Subgrouping and Conway's Law

When task-oriented work groups address complex tasks, they might form subgroups to address subtasks. The structure of the subgroups and the order in which they form depend on the structure of the group's task and the sequencing of the subtasks.

See also Effective Communication at Work and Effective Communication at Work for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming April 2: Mitigating the Trauma of Being Laid Off

Trauma is an emotional response to horrible events — accidents, crimes, disasters, physical abuse, emotional abuse, gross injustices — and layoffs. Layoff trauma is real. Employers know how to execute layoffs with compassion, but some act out of cruelty. Know how to defend yourself. Available here and by RSS on April 2.

And on April 9: Defining Workplace Bullying

When we set out to control the incidence of workplace bullying, problem number one is defining bullying behavior. We know much more about bullying in children than we do about adult bullying, and more about adult bullying than we know about workplace bullying. Available here and by RSS on April 9.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrentSgXnAlNVWlhxNIJner@ChacAtZoEYrrmofzZnjPoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

• Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
• Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
• Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
• Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
• Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
• Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info