How Blogs Create Word of Mouth

As was illustrated in our previous post, blogs are a highly effective form of word of mouth, meaning that they are very successful in facilitating the passing of information from one party to another. Word of mouth has become so important in recent years (especially with increasing technological capabilities) that the concept has become a primary focus of marketers. As a result, a new type of marketing called word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) has come to fruition.

Andy Sernovitz, cofounder and past CEO of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, defines word-of-mouth marketing as “giving people a reason to talk about your stuff, and making it easier for that conversation to take place.” One key way that companies can do this is through blogs. Many of the most successful companies have blogs that discuss their daily activities, highlighting new products and services that consumers want to hear more about. The key is to provide consumers with the opportunity to comment on the blog. By doing so, these companies both extend and accelerate the conversation. This helps to create "corporate transparency" (mentioned by one of our commentors last week), which is the idea that the general public is more inclined to trust companies who discuss their inner workings with them and that allow users to both praise and criticize their actions.



Until Next Time…..
In his book appropriately titled “Word of Mouth Marketing,” Andy explains that starting a corporate blog is a “long-term commitment, but not hard to do,” making it well worth the pay-off. Here are four ways Andy believes blogs create word of mouth for companies.

1) Blogs Make Messages Portable
2) Blogs Create New Topics
3) Blogs Provide a Place for the Conversation to Happen
4) Blogging Builds Credibility