Word of Mouth Marketing SmartBrief

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December 3, 2012

Word of Mouth and social media marketing news

Everybody's Talking About ...

WOMM beats ads for travel companies, study shows
Generation Y travelers ignore advertisements and rely on word-of-mouth marketing, such as recommendations from friends and colleagues when planning holiday travel, according to a study of Hong Kong and mainland Chinese tourists. That suggests tourism companies' marketing budgets "might be more effectively spent on providing memorable experiences that will then result in word-of-mouth recommendations," says researcher Paul Barron. Today (Singapore) (12/1)

WOMM at Work

"Cash mobs" pledge to support small businesses
Small businesses are seeing an influx of foot traffic thanks to consumer-driven "cash mobs," in which people use social tools to arrange to gather en masse in a particular shopping district and pledge to spend $20 in a locally run store. "This is really exciting for us. The crowd is at least tenfold what we'd usually have at this time on a Saturday morning," said Connie Brooks, owner of Battenkill Books in Cambridge, N.Y., as a mob gathered in her store. The Post-Star (Glens Falls, N.Y.) (12/1)

Couchsurfing, AirBnB users build trust with social media
Quirky travel companies such as Couchsurfing and AirBnB are building fan bases thanks to their smart use of "social media and old-fashioned word-of-mouth," writes Barbara Ortutay. Users rely on Facebook connections and other social tools to build trust in one another, which also helps to burnish the companies' own brands. "The more you use the sites, the more friends and reviews you get from other users, which further serves to ensure trust," Ortutay explains. Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.)/The Associated Press (11/30)

Building Blocks of Buzz

10 ways to get your fans to leave reviews
Customer reviews are a powerful way to build buzz for your brand, writes Neil Schroeder. To encourage your customers to leave more feedback, explicitly ask for it and make it easy -- perhaps with a simple star-rating system or a comment card -- for your clients to sound off. "People like to share their opinions if you ask them," Schroeder writes. National Clothesline (12/2012)

Edgy content brings buzz but also carries risks
When Andy Sernovitz started his blog, he used a mild curse word in its title -- something he credits with helping the blog to get people's attention. Still, he gets complaints from readers who say they'd be more likely to share his content if the blog had a clean title. "You just can't make everyone happy. You end up with bland mush," Sernovitz writes. Andy Sernovitz blog (12/1)

BzzAgent lets brands harness an army of advocates
BzzAgent spreads word-of-mouth marketing by leveraging a network of millions of consumer "agents" who work for free to build buzz for brands and in exchange receive early access to new products and services. Though conceived of as an offline service, BzzAgent has embraced social media, "effectively supercharging BzzAgent's core business with a host of new word-of-mouth tools," write Hitendra Patel and Ronald Jonash. InnovationExcellence.com (11/30)

Words from WOMMA

The 3 phases of social TV
At the Social TV Symposium, NBCUniversal shared an interesting visual on the three phases of Social TV. The purpose of this article is to help explain the differences between the phases, and highlight how current shows are excelling in each phase. Keep Reading in WOMMA's All Things WOMM blog.

How NBC Used Digital PR to Drive Record Olympic Numbers
The Olympics is a massively popular and widely watched event. For the 2012 Olympic Games, 360i client NBC took viewership to the next level, making the event the most watched in history. Read more from WOMMA.

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