The Power Of Word Of Mouth: A Viable Online Marketing Strategy

Much has been discussed and written about the effectiveness of word-of-mouth marketing (or buzz marketing, as it used to be known, and a term which is still occasionally used today) and how these principles now extend to the social media realm and best practices in viral marketing. 

As my friend Emanuel Rosen initially outlined in his seminal work, The Anatomy of Buzz, word-of-mouth marketing successfully leverages the power and credibility of influencers, and recruits these prominent individuals and companies to become brand ambassadors for your business and its offerings. If you're not familiar with Rosen, who is referred to as "The Godfather of Social Networks," I highly encourage you to read his book, which is now in its third edition and has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide in 12 languages. It's well worth the time to read, and much of the material in his new version (The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited) specifically deals with social media and viral marketing strategies. Also make sure to follow Rosen on Twitter (@EmanuelRosen) or the latest on buzz marketing techniques.

In the social media domain, influencers carry far more weight, and exhibit much more reach, simply by retweeting specific content, additional sharing and postings on other networks, and having their followers hanging on their every word. But the key is to connect with them in the first place. If you're successful in that regard, you can forge a direct connection to your customer base through the influencer conduit. While Facebook has it share, Twitter is full of influencers, and this impact is more noticable on Twitter...perhaps more than any other network...because of its open nature. Therefore, by tweeting promotions and product review requests to influencers on Twitter, you’ll be able to tap into a powerful word-of-mouth marketing source that is just not available anywhere else.

Just how important is word-of-mouth marketing via social media? Peruse the intriguing facts and figures below, courtesy of search engine optimization company CapSEO:

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