This is based on a translated summary of an interesting post by Sonia Ai. Nowadays, an increasing number of Chinese enterprises consider digital and interactive marketing as standard practice. Word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing is one of the most welcomed types. I have been wondering how best to answer the following questions about WOM:
1) Does word-of-mouth marketing equal lots of posts on BBSs/forums?
2) Word-of-mouth marketing or marketing word-of-mouth?
3) Centralization or decentralization?
1) Does word-of-mouth marketing equal lots of posts on BBSs/forums?
A friend of mine once asked whether I was interested in a project about BBS marketing. The requirement was to post messages on some BBSs with targets for a certain amount of replies and page visits. At first, I was a interested, but I was astonished with how little the job paid in relation to the amount of work that was required.
I also think that this kind of word-of-mouth marketing is totally different from what I think it should be. I believe that the Internet is a tool, while the marketing messages are the important essence. Quantity is not everything, quality is far more important. Every brand must have clear idea of the brand's image, what information they are trying to purvey, how to deliver that information to the target audience, and who in fact the target audience is.
2) Word-of-mouth marketing or marketing word-of-mouth?
One day, my colleague and I were shopping in an IT mall when he told me that the HP DV3000 laptop must be pretty good because of online comments about it. Having been involved in the online word-of-mouth marketing for that model, I was of course very happy to hear that.
As well as the satisfaction I felt of a job well done, I had other, slightly confusing feelings. I feel that this so-called marketing was a kind of trick, as many of the online comments about the HP DV3000 were made up by some people who had never experienced the HP DV3000 in real life.
That kind of WOM is now changing as savvy consumers are more likely to believe positive comments from friends, and respected netizens and bloggers.
Real word-of-mouth marketing is not the words of a faceless company, but consumers’ real experiences. Companies should therefore focus on improving those experiences and educate their consumers. By doing so they will have more success in their word-of-mouth marketing.
3) Centralization or decentralization?
It is said that Web 2.0 is all about decentralization and dispersion of information. I personally believe that only centralized information is of any real use or value. Good results in word-of-mouth marketing come from high quality core facts instead of low-quality shallow information obtained from dispersed locations.
Source: Sonia's Buzz (Chinese)
