Why word of mouth marketing is the most important social media.
Finding new ways to generate e-commerce sales is getting harder, the competition is fierce. And simply having a presence and a beautiful online store is no longer enough to make you stand out. But there is one powerful area that tends to be overlooked by businesses.
Here we will look at some interesting points:
Why should marketers care about WOMM?
The benefits of word of mouth marketing.
What are the three Es in more detail?
Ideas for building your word of mouth marketing strategy.
What is word of mouth marketing?
Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM), also known as word of mouth advertising, is the word of mouth version of social media.
Traditionally, word of mouth marketing has spread from person to person based on recommendations.
Modern word of mouth marketing describes both targeted efforts and natural instances where users share their satisfaction with a brand.
In today’s hyperconnected world, a single referral can have a far greater impact – leading to word of mouth (WOMM) or word of mouth marketing strategies to capitalize on the opportunity.
- Statistics show: 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family more than any other form of advertising.
- 20% to 50% of purchases are the result of word of mouth recommendation [AdAge]
- Only 10% of consumers trust brands.
- 70% of consumers read customer reviews online when considering a brand. [Lithium]
- 81% of consumers are influenced by their friends’ social media posts. [Lithium].
1. Why should marketers care about WOMM?
If consumers love word of mouth and marketers believe it works, then why don’t marketers focus more on it?
The problem is, in recent years, marketers have focused on “collecting” instead of “connecting”. In other words, brands are too involved in gathering social media fans and they forget to actually connect with them. Having 100 truly passionate fans who love your brand or product is exponentially more effective than having 10,000 “fans” who signed up just to win a free iPad from you.
As in life – if you have to buy your friends, are they really your friends?
And why should we stop at likes anyway? Why not shoot for LOVE.
Marketers focused on the 4Ps. You probably drilled them into your head while you were graduating in marketing. Well, marketers now need to focus on the three Es: engage, equip, empower. If you can master them, you can become the most loved and talked about product in your category which will ultimately lead to increased sales. We’ve seen a great WOMM campaign generate thousands of conversations, recommendations, and triple sales in just a year (yes, even for boring products).
2. The benefits of word of mouth marketing:
Increase Sales Without Spending Advertising: Many brands from The Hustle to Bangs Shoes and more are using word of mouth marketing instead of ad spend to increase sales and fan base.
Build a community, not a commodity: Word of mouth marketing is about building an engaged fan base rather than a buy and sell customer. More engaged customers buy more often and recommend friends more often, extend your return on strategy time, and generate high lifetime customer loyalty.
More funding, more freedom: Brands with high customer loyalty and therefore repeat purchases receive more angel funding and venture capital. Why? Because CAC to LTV, or customer acquisition cost in lifetime value, is considered one of the most important aspects of a healthy business model in the early days of a company’s life cycle.
In fact, there are three crucial factors that a quality WOM marketing strategy can affect:
Brand loyalty:
According to the National Law Review, it can cost five times more to acquire a new client than to keep an existing one. “A positive word-of-mouth advertising and marketing strategy keeps customers coming back. And referring other customers. Who come back too. And referring more customers.”
Confidence in the brand.
HubSpot shows that 75% of people don’t believe ads, yet 90% trust suggestions from family and friends and 70% trust consumer reviews. In other words: “People trust their friends, family (and even strangers) more”
Create a buzz.
It’s great to have perfect ad budgets and sales funnels. But the only way to create a real buzz about your brand is to have unbiased people yelling at you in the media and on social media. And a good word of mouth marketing strategy dramatically increases the likelihood of that happening.
1. Can you explain the three E’s in more detail?
To hire :
give your fans the gift of you. Engage with them. Listen to what they tell you. Be part of the conversation about your brand. Be present in the lives of your fans. Honestly, it’s the positive human interactions that most people get excited about; consumers often encounter such poor customer service that, in contrast, great service is a minor miracle for most.
Equip:
Give them reasons to talk. It can be amazing products, great service, insider knowledge, social uplifting, amazing stories, amazing facts, or even funny disclosures. It’s on you. It really depends on your understanding of your consumers and what they like about you and providing them with everything they need.
Enable:
Give consumers different ways to talk and share. Let them know that they are important to you and that sharing their opinions is important to you. Help them find ways to share within their circles and find ways to move their conversations. can be developed by:
encourage dialogue
organize contests
organize events (online and offline)
Loyalty programs
The best word of mouth marketing brands convince consumers that by purchasing their product, they are making a personal statement and joining special ranks.
Ideas for building your word of mouth marketing strategy
Sometimes creating an epic experience for customers is enough to make some of you scream and refer others. You have to move away from hoping that people will tell their friends about you. And towards specific strategies that actively encourage people to refer.
Let’s take a look at some ideas to help you build your WOMM strategy.
at. Set up word of mouth triggers.
A word of mouth trigger is your “x factor”. What makes your business stand out from any other in your industry or space. It means giving your customers something memorable. An experience, a thought or a feeling that they cannot find anywhere else. And they’re almost obligated (in a good way) to tell others about you.
b. Use visual triggers.
Disney does an incredible job with its theme parks. They create a stunning visual experience that people just want to take photos and share with other people. But it can be a bit more complicated to create when it comes to ecommerce. You can make a website that is so amazing and unique that people just have to share it. But navigation, ease of use, and conversions should always be your first point of call.
c. Do or create something unique.
Creating something totally different and out of the box is another way to get people to spread the word about your business. But that doesn’t mean you have to totally reinvent the wheel. You may be marketing your business in a totally different way than anyone else in your space. Or you take an old product and sell it in a completely new way.
d. Emotional provocation.
Tapping into people’s emotions can be very powerful in generating shares and getting people talking about your business. This can be done by taking something that you believe in and tightly bonding your business brand to it on your social commerce networks, your website, and wherever you can.
BigCommerce retailer Ben & Jerry’s also does this very well by sticking to a cause they believe very much in – environmentalism:
e. Encourage user-generated content.
The content generated by your users, customers and subscribers can be much more powerful, engaging and shareable than updates and company photos from the factory.
In reality:
According to an Adweek infographic, 85% of users find visual UGC more influential than branded photos or videos. Which means engaging your subscriber base in a two-way conversation can encourage them to start yelling about your business on social media – by effectively approving and referring you to their friends and followers. Providing discounts for items that meet certain criteria is one way to encourage this. Or running an ongoing social media contest on your own hashtag is another.
BigCommerce retailer Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams does it very well.
And even take it a step further by creating community sections for each store on their website – filled with social proofs of people who love their ice cream:
f. Push hard on ratings and reviews.
Not everyone will refer dozens of friends and family. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t like their experience. And that certainly doesn’t mean that you can’t use their reviews to convince others to buy.
CONCLUSION:
Word of Mouth Marketing: The Power is Yours!
Word of mouth marketing is a powerful tool, but for some businesses it can be unwieldy. To get customers excited about your brand, you need exceptional service, a unique identity, a solid reputation, and a thriving community.
Keep in mind that a good WOMM strategy is credible, social, repeatable, measurable, and respectful. Dishonesty is NEVER acceptable. Most importantly, put your customers first and deliver above what you promise. Surprising customers with your impression will be assured that they will market your business across the country.
