Word-of-mouth marketing works better in some situations than in others. We should bear in mind that word-of-mouth marketing (WOM) is not an isolated island in a world where we look at marketing from a 360-degree perspective.
Just like social media marketing, WOM has its place in the entire marketing strategy and sometimes it doesn’t even apply at all.
In the past few months, much has been written about the role of social networking sites in creating brand awareness. Businesses, all over the world, have been made to believe that social networks may go a long way in creating demand for their products and services.
I believe that too. At least, if businesses have the right strategy and a clear focus on what the role of social media is in their overall brand and marketing strategy.
However, the statistics recently found by a survey conducted by the Opinion Research Corp. for ARAnet have a different story to tell. Disclaimer: I did not find the statistics on the web sites of one of these companies but on this blog.
According to the post, of 14 different sources of information a customer may consider while making a purchase decision, social networks ranked much lower than personal networks (60%), TV broadcasts (40%) and search engines (39%).
If you are thinking that social networks may play a pivotal role as a preferred source of recommendation for products and services with young adults aged 25-34, think again. At least, according to these data.