Brains on Fire: Igniting Powerful, Sustainable Word of Mouth Movements

Chapter 5. Movements Empower People with Knowledge

"It's time to open the kimono."

It's a set of words that Brains on Fire founder Mike Goot used frequently, and it brings a vivid image to your mind, doesn't it? It's meant to. All it means is that you need to let your fans see what's underneath all the formality. Go ahead and reveal what's under the makeup, done-up hair, and fancy, shiny clothing.

Are you scared that they'll find out that you're not perfect? We have a feeling they already know that. Listen, admitting your mistakes makes you human. And people love to know that companies are human—or at least made up of humans. Nobody's perfect, and when you pretend to be, people resent you for it and go to extreme measures to point out that you are, in fact, flawed, not to mention it also makes you look ignorant.

So when you mess up, consider an apology. Apologies are powerful. And sometimes they make those who already love you love you even more, not to mention help some others who weren't sure about you get off that fence and join the fans.

But we digress ...

Your fans want to know everything about you and your industry, the good stuff and especially the bad stuff. We all know that knowledge is power, and people love to let other people know that they have a secret to share: the inside scoop, the bumps and bruises. Your customers want you to expose yourself, put it all out there for the world to see. Sure, this scares the hell out of most companies, because they don't want to divulge ...