Why social media and word of mouth aren't the same

Social media itself is not & # 039; t word of mouth – it & # 039; is one way word of mouth spreads. #wordofmouth Click to post

In our social media-dominated world, most people get the impression that word of mouth has moved from live chats to retweets and direct messages. They believe that social media is word of mouth. Incorrect.

Social media attracts a lot of attention and marketing budget . But offline chatting is an equal motivator and sometimes more impactful on perceptions and preferences.

It's not social media, and online word of mouth doesn't matter; they do. In fact, half of word of mouth happens online. However, research shows that Offline word of mouth is more persuasive . According to a study by Keller Fay Group , 50 percent of consumers say they are very likely to make a purchasing decision based on an actual conversation. Meanwhile, 43 percent of consumers feel the same way after an online discussion.

It is also important to understand that social media itself is not word of mouth; That's one way word of mouth spreads. Word of mouth is a story or a verbal introduction. Social media is a mechanism for conveying that story. Reviews too. Same with a phone call. The same goes for a conversation.

So, having a popular Instagram account is not the same as using thoughtful word of mouth. Likes and comments are quite different and less effective than word of mouth recommendations.

The Math on Why Word of mouth Problems

A single recommendation from an influencer goes viral at an annual rate of eight factorials, according to Ted Wright The author of Fizz . Any complicated math aside, a single proposal passed from person to person over the course of a year eventually totaled 40, 370 People. In other words, that recommendation from one person will impact 40, 369 other potential customers.

We have a LOT of word-of-mouth research in our new study, Chat Issues: Word of Mouth Report .

What business doesn't want to hone these conversations and quickly multiply the number of people passing in positive recommendations? Despite this potential, relatively few companies – less than 1% – have a realistic plan for word of mouth marketing.

Instead, most businesses are putting all their eggs in the social media basket. Social media budgets in the US are expected to grow from US$4.3 billion in 2012 to over $23 billion in 2019. Even with this astonishing way of spending, social media is still underperforming. more effective than traditional person-to-person exchanges when it comes to word of mouth.

Offline chats are incredibly powerful, although it's hard to keep track of discussions for your average marketing team. It's hard to tell if these comments happened. Jonah Berger The author of Easy to spread which explains word of mouth perfectly:

You can mold it, you can encourage it, you can drive it, but you can't buy it.

This may seem impossible to generate word of mouth, but there is a secret weapon for generating these organic conversations: chat triggers.

Give them something to talk about

Establishing impactful word of mouth begins by giving people something they can't help talking about. It can be as simple as a cookie on a hotel pillow, fun music, or an unusually extensive menu.

Establishing impactful word of mouth begins with giving people something they can't help talking about. #TalkTriggers Click to Tweet

Here enable chat are remarkable experiences your customers will rush to share with their friends and family members. Those people would then share that same story (or at least an approximate story about it) with their friends.

Good news? Your talk trigger can be anything. The only real criterion is that it should be prominent enough to be noticed. We talk about four requirements for chat triggers in my new book written in Daniel Lemin :

The chat trigger should be:

Remarkable

Relate to

Reasonable

Can be repeated

Chat Trigger Example

An amazing longevity chat trigger comes to us courtesy of the banking world. In this seemingly unremarkable industry, where every bank offers pretty much the same service as the next, brands have to really do something remarkable to get people talking.

Bank Umpqua . it. Since 1994, any customer can get one of these phones for instant connection with the company's CEO. Not a branch or even regional manager – a direct line to the company's leadership.

It's easy to imagine how this feature triggers conversations that positively affect the brand. Whenever a customer picks up a silver phone (whether they have something to say or are simply checking to see if the phone is actually working), president and CEO Cort O'Haver will respond to create truly rewarding experiences.

Going beyond the social network Buzz

Getting people to talk and get word-of-mouth recommendations involves more than luck – it requires a strategic plan. Andy Sernovitz , co-founder of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, encourages marketers to view social and offline as valuable but distinct tools. The social network is useful in that it is instantly shareable, but offline really shines because of its reliable repeatability.

There's nothing wrong with mixing yin with yang — offline and social in this case — but truly effective word-of-mouth marketing requires more than a few valuable tweets. Instead of throwing most of your marketing dollars into the social media abyss, invest some of your precious resources into creating truly remarkable experiences. Your customers will be enthralled and their real network will be happy to go viral.

For more information about Talk Trigger, visit the official website packed with free resources.

And, our team at Convince & Convert helps exciting brands create their own word of mouth strategy .