Why WOM is more important than ever

We all know consumer's are becoming more aware of the effects of advertising but as marketers how do we react to this? I believe the traditional communication of Word-Of-Mouth is more important than ever before. However, there is a clear need to integrate and utilise the offering of online tools. 

Facebook is a great example of harnising this through its sponsored stories application that they have been using for a couple of years now. A recent report on Mashable has shown that 70% of consumers trust brand recommendations from friends and family whereas only 10% trust advertising. This highlights the importance to engage with your customers and concentrate on current consumer satisfaction, especially relevant in industries where brand loyalty is weak such as the confectionery market. A knock-on effect of focusing on this will mean that consumers' perceptions of your brand are more likely to be positive and with the right incentive they will share these with their friends.

The next important step would be to involve the brand on more platforms such as social media networks in order to harness the sentiment being said about your brand. Having a voice online means that you can monitor, contribute and encourage more being said about your brand. On a final note, this allows your brand to create a strategy around UGC that can offer a more authentic voice, which as it says above is more important than ever.

How do you think a brand could utilise WOM and OWOM better? Let me know at @nickwilliamgale on Twitter