Feb
24
Social Media Word-of-Mouth
February 24, 2010 | 3 Comments
I saw an interesting example of how friends can influence a decision and word-of-mouth in action on Facebook the other day. A family member put out a request to help them make a decision on what mobile/cell phone to buy. They had done research and narrowed it down to 2 options and couldn’t decide.
What was interesting to me was the choice that was made. I will explain a bit later why I think the choice was made, but first let me give you a run down on what happened.
The message went out with ” Please HELP! I am buying a new phone and can’t decide which one to buy. It is between Brand X and Brand Y. They said Brand X has more features and Brand Y has a bit of extra browsing time in the package. Now Brand X and Y are well known brands but Brand Y is a cooler, more status brand with the general public.
So all the advice poured in. Many people were saying they had Brand Y and it is awesome, or I they were really happy with it or it was the best Brand and so on. A few people had another popular brand which I will call Brand Z, but wasn’t one of the two chosen.
I decided to play devils advocate and told them that Brand X had won awards over Brand Y and supplied links and I would go for that one as it is a better phone. The heat turned up for Brand Y. At the end of a few hours there was over 20 recommendations and the family member had also received direct messages. Also think of the number of friends-of-a-friend saw these comments and people it indirectly influenced.
I don’t think I have to tell you what decision they made. They bought Brand Y, the phone with less features, but some browsing time thrown in and in my opinion not the best choice. Why would they do this? It is simple it made them look cooler to the majority of their friends and gave them some status. Now this was interesting to watch, it is not really surprising as people make these types of decisions all the time. Word of Mouth from valued sources is one of the greatest influences around.
Now accurately measuring word-of-mouth is not simple. The majority of techniques I have employed through the years has been by collecting source of business information (often this is not reliable) and through research to get an idea of the percentage of business attributed to word-of-mouth. These depend heavily on honest answers and accurate capturing of information and naturally asking the correct questions.
So what I have been pondering is whether word-of-mouth just a result of good branding and customer experience? Does social media play a role or is it merely a vehicle of expression? Would we employ a different strategy to offline? Would we use examples like this to convince people they should not neglect social media?
This is what I think. If you are not engaging in social media you can’t effectively communicate with those that are. Your advertising and other marketing efforts may reach them, but not in the same way.
It is not possible to jump in on private conversation without violating privacy, but there are many public conversations that can be joined. These must be relevant and worth while. For private conversers you can make the information easily available and create fan pages, groups or a community that they could join. You need to be listening to find these conversations. There is a big basket of tools, some free and some paid for to help find these conversations.
Social media word-of-mouth definitely has a wider (and faster) reach than in person (in most cases). I am not talking about viral marketing here, but pure advising and influencing by trusted sources without incentive. We could get into emotional incentives, but you know what I mean.
What is your take on social media word-of-mouth? Is it a driver for your business? I would love to hear others experiences and views on this.
PS: I have posted a brilliant slideshow I found, by Matt Granfield, on this topic in my favourite video page.
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Thanks for your comment Stan. I tend to be more like you, but I think all the techno jargon can be confusing to a non-technical person, and therefore, they have to rely on what sources they have available to them.
Yes, I do think social media has an impact on B2B companies if used correctly. Having a blog is a great way to provide advice and educate your clients and keep them updated with industry news and tips. Twitter can be used in a similar way, as well as a customer service tool. Linkedin is great to get involved in discussions and learn about different views and latest thinking around the world, as well as, build contacts. The same goes for Facebook and having a Facebook page.
The most important thing I always stress is to have a plan, know what you want to achieve, have objectives and KPI’s and measure these and take part in relevant SM channels.
Lee,
This is an interesting post. If I am choosing a phone, I would read expert reviews, then user reviews. I may ask friends too but their opinions would have the least impact on my choice provided they are not experts in mobile phones. This is because I am in a technology business and I know that little people can make realistic evaluation of a high-tech product. If majority of people were like me though, advertising would be much smaller industry than it is today. While social media has no impact on my business or my decisions so far, I am sure many people are influenced by it.
As a side thought: Do you think that social media has impact on B2B companies?
Stan
Hi Lee-Ann,
We noticed the word-of-mouth relationship to social media back in 2008 and created an entire conference around it (http://cevforbusiness.com/SocialMedia-Conf/98.aspx).
We are doing another one on March 25 around the same theme.
http://www.socialmediaconferencenw.com/