SOCIAL MEDIA AND WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING

Each day, millions of individuals venture online to exchange personal information and opinions. Such electronic word-of-mouth communication (eWOM) has been shown to influence consumer actions across a variety of industries. A significant portion of eWOM occurs on social media platforms. Whether it’s a status update on Facebook, a Yelp two star review, or a picture of a laundry room makeover on Pinterest, consumers today are turning to various social media platforms to share their opinions, lend their support, voice their disdain and to seek out the opinion of others. Indeed, social word of mouth (sWOM) has incredible reach – 1,000 customers can generate upwards of 500,000 conversations about a brand; its influence is great - 81% of consumers admit to being influenced by their friends’ social media posts; and its capacity to affect purchase behavior impressive - 50% of purchases are said to be influenced by sWOM. The purpose of this book is to examine the influence of social word of mouth (sWOM) and provide guidance on how to operationalize its growing power. We begin by exploring the similarities and differences between traditional and electronic word of mouth marketing and then extend this to social media. The changing “social” face and behavior of consumers and businesses is discussed. In relationship to social businesses – we also provide an overview of legal and regulatory issues and emphasize the importance of establishing a social media policy and training program. A sWOM framework is presented addressing not only the different types and content of consumer and marketer initiated sWOM messages but it also highlights the increasingly popular co-creation/collaborative word of mouth exchanges that are occurring. Lastly, the features of popular social platforms will be explored in their ability to help facilitate sWOM communication.