Advice to marketers: using Word-of-mouth media

Word of mouth is more effective than paid advertising. It may be a sad thing for many digital advertisers, but it is becoming more and more true. The impact of consumer Word-of-mouth on public awareness, knowledge, and customer branding is beginning at an alarming rate, and social media makes the phenomenon more straightforward.

Consumers talk to each other, and those who listen are eager to use the products they hear. Now in the United States, consumer talk will be 3.3 million times will involve the brand, in the 2.4 million brand-related dialogues will also mention the brand. 54% of consumers ' buying decisions will be based on Word-of-mouth, as 49% of these consumers believe that online word-of-mouth is "highly reliable", compared with 59% who believe that online word-of-mouth with face-to-face communication is "highly reliable".

This Word-of-mouth marketing model is often referred to as "free media," for obvious reasons: to allow consumers to voluntarily advertise, we must work hard in the early days to get consumers ' favor. As with many other efforts, it is worth it. According to a study by the Word-of-mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), 6% of all brand-related word-of-mouth conversations are "mostly positive". It also makes these conversations very lucrative, especially when considering buying products.

Unfortunately, it is one thing to understand the importance of Word-of-mouth marketing to a brand, and it is another matter to really do it. Brands are doing their best to invite their customers to advertise their positive branding experience to their friends (they believe that it is a good way of Word-of-mouth marketing to survey consumers and see if they can recommend to friends), but there is no guarantee that they will be the product of Word-of-mouth. We want to know which consumers share their stories with others and believe that the combination of our advertising, quality products and good customer service can be successful.

This week, ad networks and digital technology company Netshelter launched a product called the "inpowered story." The product aims to assure media buyers that their brands will be talked about. Compared to the cost of advertising per thousand, this alternative option is to ask advertisers to pay only after the customer has shared a sponsorship story. In other words, brand-makers are no longer buying the consumer's eyeballs, but rather buying shares that are theoretically more likely to generate conversions.

The advertising platform is based on sponsorship stories. These sponsorship ads appear in the editorial content of the Web pages and blogs that have netshelter specific technologies. These stories, written by netshelter authors and bloggers and based on advertising branding, can be shared not only through popular social media channels, but also by recommending "sharing strips" of related sponsorship stories, as well as providing consumers with the opportunity to interact with advertising brands. In the pilot study, Netshelter said that the inpowered story of active consumer average interactive rate can reach 0.59%, is the general reading and initial sharing of the effect of more than 6 times times.

In fact, the practice of buying online word-of-mouth has been around for some time, but it was done in a simple way. When brands buy social media ads and add comment fields to their online stores, what they are thinking about is buying online Word-of-mouth. Whether consumers or customers want to contact the brand of consumers, they believe that the Internet reputation. According to the Market research institute Nielsen's "Global Advertising Trust report," The Internet's catchy recommendations and comments, whether they come from a recognized consumer or a stranger on the internet, are among the most trustworthy sources of information in purchasing decisions. Online advertising, however, has also gained the trust of consumers, although consumer confidence in banner ads is still behind print and TV commercials in terms of delivering sponsorship information and arousing consumer trust. 33% per cent of respondents said they believed in online banner ads, while 36% per cent believed the ads they saw on social networking sites. Therefore, our goal should be to improve the effectiveness of advertising by adopting more easily shared advertising units, so that consumers can recommend them to friends even if they are banner ads.

No matter how much you know before, Word-of-mouth marketing is really a way you can take, the key is to find the right way.

(Original starting on May 10, 2012, compiled: Zeng Cui)