????Chubbies公司“為男人生產頂呱呱的短褲”。它的愛好者自稱“短褲幫”（Chubster Nation），主要是一群18到25歲、受過大學教育、愛好運動的男青年。

????根據Chubbies公司的世界觀，“長褲是工作的時候穿的，”而短褲——尤其是他們生產的短褲，則是運動、娛樂、泡吧或是爬喜馬拉雅山的時候穿的。他們把這種思想稱為“短褲革命”。不過這場革命可不會上電視，而是會通過Facebook、Twitter和Instagram等社交網站傳播開去。

????自從2011年末Chubbies短褲上市以來，這家公司就只在社交媒體上進行推廣。但現在這種漂亮、復古的短褲不僅暢銷美國，而且還賣到了全球40多個國家。Chubbies公司四名創始人之一的湯姆?蒙哥馬利說：“我們沒有花多少錢，但是增長速度卻非常驚艷。”

????那么這場口碑營銷的成功秘訣是什么？

????市場調研公司福雷斯特公司（Forrester）分析師扎卡里?瑞斯?戴維斯指出：“當你想買新東西的時候，你在網絡上認識和尊敬的人會成為你最重要的發現來源?！?/p>

????口碑營銷并不是什么新生事物。早在二戰期間，為了節約糧食支援前線，美國就形成了一種鼓勵人們多吃動物內臟，把最好的肉留給前線軍人的風氣。心理學家庫爾特?勒溫發現，當時留守后方的婦女們通過互相之間的談話，其中很多人改變了不吃動物內臟的習慣。

????另一個經典的例子是特百惠（Tupperware）。它也不喜歡打正式廣告，而是通過舉行派對的方式進行口碑營銷。這家公司經常會把一些親朋好友組織起來，在非正式的家庭聚會上宣傳自己的產品，最終發展成了一個家喻戶曉的品牌。

????據瑞斯?戴維斯表示，口碑營銷的新趨勢是，不少公司正在打造有組織的口碑營銷活動，使人們更容易把產品推薦給網上和網下的熟人，而且還會與他們進行探討。

????以Chubbies為例：Chubbies的顧客經常會在網上分享自己穿短褲的照片，而且也常常在別人的照片下方評論留言。這樣一來，顧客就成了非常有效的活廣告。蒙哥馬利說：“如果沒有Facebook，要在這么短的時間內擴展到這么大的規模幾乎是不可能的，至少效果會差很多?！彼€說，社交媒體對于一家服裝公司的主要好處之一，就是提供了一個可視化的角度來接觸消費者。

????要想建立一個支持者的群體，首先要能夠和他們說上話。2010年，四名沃頓商學院（Wharton Business School）的MBA畢業生成立了Warby Parker眼鏡公司，想把眼鏡直接賣給消費者，所以直接向消費者進行營銷也是很合理的。這家公司的創始人之一兼聯合CEO尼爾?布魯門薩爾認為：“我們并不把社交當成廣告，而是當成一種與顧客互動的方式?！彼麄冋f到做到。Warby Parker的顧客也非常喜歡在網上展示自己戴眼鏡或墨鏡的照片。另外，這家在全美各地送眼鏡的眼鏡之旅活動，以及向發展中國家捐贈50萬架眼鏡的活動，也都成了人們茶余飯后的談資。

????Chubbies makes "radical shorts for men." Its enthusiasts are denizens of Chubster Nation, a realm of 18-25, sports-playing, college-educated "guys."

????According to the Chubbies worldview: "Pants are for work," while shorts -- their shorts -- are for having fun, or jumping off rocks, or playing beer pong, or climbing Everest. They dub this ethos the "shorts revolution." And this particular revolution will not be televised, but it will be Facebooked, Tweeted, and Instagrammed.

????Since Chubbies launched in late 2011, it has only marketed itself via social media. Yet these bright, retro shorts now ship all over the U.S. and over 40 other countries. "We haven't spent much, but the growth has been awesome," says Tom Montgomery, one of Chubbies' four founders.

????So what's the secret to successful word-of-mouth marketing?

????"People you know and respect online are the most important sources of discovery, when you're looking for new things to buy," says Forrester Analyst, Zachary Reiss-Davis.

????But word-of-mouth marketing isn't new. During World War II, there was a drive in the U.S. to encourage more people to eat animal organs, saving the best cuts for the military. Psychologist Kurt Lewin discovered that women -- the gatekeepers of the family diet -- began to reconsider their opinion of sweetmeat through conversations they had with each other.

????Then there are other classic cases like Tupperware, which shunned formal ads for word-of-mouth campaigns in the form of Tupperware parties. By gathering friends, family, and colleagues to advocate for their goods at informal home events, Tupperware grew into a household name.

????What is new, according to Reiss-Davis, is that companies are building structured word-of-mouth campaigns that make it easy for people to recommend and discuss products with people they know both offline and via the social web.

????Take Chubbies: Its customers frequently share photos and comment on each other's short-wearing escapades, turning customers into highly effective billboards. "Being able to scale in such a short time would have most likely been impossible, or very different, without Facebook," says Montgomery, adding that the opportunity for a clothing company to reach people in a visual way, is one of social media's key strengths.

????To build a community of advocates, you have to be able to talk to them. When four Wharton MBA graduates started eyeglass ecommerce operation Warby Parker in 2010, they wanted to sell their eyewear directly to customers. So it made sense to market to them directly too. "We don't view social as advertising, but as a way of engaging with customers," says co-founder and joint CEO Neil Blumenthal. And they mean it. Like Chubbies, Warby Parker customers post photos of themselves wearing their shades and specs en masse. Everything from the company's "Class Trip" -- a whimsical voyage delivering glasses across the U.S. -- to their campaign to give half a million pairs of eyeglasses to people in the developing world, gives people something to talk about.