WOM - Word of Mouth, is it still relevant?

WOM - Word of Mouth is an old-new approach for spreading the Word about your business out. This approach is relying heavily (almost solely) on friends. Your Facebook friends? Your Twitter friends? Your LinkedIn friends? well, all of them. You think you know them? think again.

Yet, in this environment populated by marketers, consumers are becoming more skeptical. A 2010 study by PR firm Edelman showed that the number of people who view their friends as credible sources of brand recommendations has dropped 20 percent since 2008. 

Only 25 percent of respondents said they believed their networks

One explanation behind this trend, Advertising Age suggests, is that consumers are increasingly concerned that customer evangelism might not be as genuine, after all. Today,people approach positive reviews and posts with skepticism because they expect the so-called “evangelists” might be paid freelancers.

the so-called “evangelists” might be paid freelancers (Bush, Michae, In Age of Friending, Consumers Trust Their Friends Less, Advertising Age, Feb. 2010)

Lots of noise background from marketers, sales persons, organizations etc., QleeQ is reducing that noise to nothing and distinguish the 

In its organic state—consumers recommending a brand based purely on their positive experiences with its product or services—word-of-mouth marketing shows a deep human instinct for sharing valuable information. But removed from its organic state, word-of-mouth marketing can exploit consumers.

Some companies hire people to recommend their brand without announcing their status as marketers. In 2002, for instance, Sony Ericsson placed fake touristsin New York City to ask passers-by to take their pictures with Sony’s T68i mobile phone and digital camera. The purpose of this initiative was to demonstrate the phone’s features in a more organic and less sales-oriented way. But the fake tourists never revealed their affiliation with Sony Ericsson.

for proper disclosure, The FTC recently revised its guidelines to include a clause obliging bloggers to disclose “the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service. ”Bloggers now have to announce their endorsements openly or pay a fine up to $11,000 per post for violating the new rule.

Marketing plan for using Social media  

1. Measure Social Media Followers

2. Survey your Marketing, PR and Marcom departments

3. Track Customers, Suppliers, Competitors, Brans and Services near you 

4. Hear your employers

mostly saved by QleeQ

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Yours,

Dan Schamir

QleeQ founder CEO

http://www.QleeQ.com