“Word of Mouth” is defined as the passing of information from one person to another. “Word of Mouth Marketing” is the act of building better communication methods between consumers, or between consumers and corporations. With the advent and wide adoption of social media on the internet, communication between people, interest groups, organizations and corporations have become easier and more powerful. Examples of Word of Mouth Marketing include:
- Buzz marketing (the use of high profile entertainment or news to generate conversations)
- Viral marketing (entertaining and informative messages designed to be passed along electronically)
- Community marketing (user groups, fan clubs, discussion forums)
- Grass roots marketing (organizing and motivating volunteers)
- Brand blogging (sharing information on a blog that the community may be interested in)
Examples of word of mouth marketing campaigns would include:
- Creating communities
- Developing web sites or web applications where people can share opinions
- Using advertising and publicity to create buzz
- Researching and tracking online conversations
Word of Mouth Marketing is a very powerful channel for marketing a brand or a cause. In 2005, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) was formed and has about 400 members today. The two main social media channels for Word of Mouth marketing are Facebook and Twitter.
There are a number of conversational monitoring tools and services. Examples of self-service tools include Radian6 and ScoutLabs. And examples of full-service vendors are JD Power Web Intelligence (Umbria), Nielsen BuzzMetrics and MotiveQuest. There are also a number of WOM partners and vendors, especially in the digital marketing space. Examples of these include Federated Media, Glam, Bazaarvoice, BlogHer, and The Social Medica Business Council.
