WOMM Still Matters in The Digital World
Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) is not a new idea. However, it's more important than ever that brands use their immense potential and influence. Whether you are a small business owner, a large business or even just an individual, word of mouth marketing can make a real difference. As you work to grow your business in an increasingly highly digitized, social media-obsessed world, it’s more relevant than ever.
Learn how to properly promote word of mouth, and harness the power of social media, advertising, social networking, and other digital tools to amplify it. Whether your company can afford to rely solely on word of mouth is another question altogether. You might be able to reduce your advertising budget because your customers are naturally happy to share your story.
What Is Word of Mouth Marketing?
Many marketing experts consider oral marketing to be one of the most important marketing strategies. It’s been used for the marketing and sales industry for quite some time, but is it still useful in today's social media world?
Even in the digital age, it is still one of the most effective, especially with social media. If you can get people to talk positively about you, your brand can reach more people than ever before. The great experience they’ve had with you can be shared with a trusted friend, family member or even a close friend.
How Word of Mouth Marketing Transformed in The Digital World
Marketing, including word of mouth (WOMM), has undergone a number of changes caused by the advent of the online age, such as the advent of social media, social networks, and other digital tools. Colloquially known by the marketing people as “WOM,” it has developed further over time with increasing digitalization.
Today’s individuals dominate social media through huge followings and push opinions through influencers, labels and notes. Because at the heart of word-of-mouth marketing is the interaction they directly have with the product, people nowadays can easily share their experience with it and then tell others through social networks. It’s definitely a new level because people promote brands without having to do anything.
That's why marketing through user-generated content has been so successful for so long, even before the advent of mobile phones, tablets, and smartphones. Social media has essentially led to word of mouth reaching unprecedented proportions.
Traditional Word of Mouth? Or Word of Mouth through Digital Marketing?
Word of mouth is an important part of any service-based business, and it is critical that you include it in your marketing strategy. Not only is it a great channel to use to make your service or product number one, but it also limits your reach. Sometimes the best word-of-mouth strategy is to connect directly with your customers, whether through social media, email or in person.
With the evolution of the internet and the rising social media usage rate in the last decade, instead of asking friends or family members, people nowadays are relying on reviews, blogs, tweets in social media, before they purchase a product.
In the future, a digital mouth or mouth marketing presence will be where the value lies in online marketing, but it can also affect a brand that is not carefully monitored and managed. While delivering great products and good customer service is important in word of mouth marketing, you also need to have positive conversations about the brand online.
Does Word of Mouth Marketing still work today?
Definitely! However, to achieve truly successful word-of-mouth marketing, you need a coherent digital marketing strategy that combines SEO, advertising, social media and PR, which, if implemented correctly, will increase mouth strength and frequency. Recommendation programs can easily provide the foundation for businesses to reap the real benefits of word of mouth in the digital age.
If you manage your online reputation solidly, it will behave positively. That's why it's critical for small businesses to ensure that their business promotes the positive aspects of their brand, not just the negative ones. Learn how to use consumer-generated media in your marketing to strengthen your word-of-mouth marketing.
