Social Media: The New Word Of Mouth

I have written quite extensively about social media and its benefits, and how businesses continue to attract fans, more customers and more profits because of social media. Those of you who are marketing experts will know that the most powerful form of marketing is word-of-mouth. And since literally the beginning of marketing as a business, marketers have been using different types of media to market products and services that is closest to word-of-mouth. When you actually think about it, it is still happening today, and they are using different ways to actually make you trust them and then tell you their message, as if it is coming from a trusted friend.

Let's take television as an example, and as a form of businesses communicating their product as if you were told by a personal friend. Sprite, a product of the Coca-Cola company has used teenagers who skateboard. In the ad they were sitting in a skate-park under a hot sun, and suddenly someone reached into a cooler bag for a sprite and suddenly there was life, laughter, and they started doing these amazing tricks while drinking Sprite. And another Sprite ad, they had a rapper, Drake and while struggling to come up with verses and after drinking Sprite and the visuals showing the soft drink going through his body and exploding out of his body and with that an explosion of lyrics (rhymes).

 In both these adverts the story Sprite is potraying,  is an explosion of satisfaction, refreshing energy and joy and using communities like the hip hop community and the skating community to endorse their product coming from trusted sources and those who related bought Sprite. And the sales sky rocketed, not only from skaters and hip hop rappers wanna-be's, but from those who could relate being under a hot sun and being thirsty, and those who are stuck on an idea and take a break and suddenly get an epiphany. And there are a lot of examples where businesses were using the same kind of marketing because the returns are very good, Pepsi using Michael Jackson, McDonalds using Kobe, Hanes using Michael Jordan and the list is endless.

Social media has done exactly that, but instead of getting this message from one trusted source, you now are getting it from hundreds-of-thousands sometimes millions of trusted sources, via Twitter and Facebook. Marketers understood this platform and like a child waiting to open a present, they waited with great anticipation. Social media did not dissapoint, they started asking fans for feedback, Tweet this if you like it and they constantly were getting feedback from customers and fans. Social Media is literally used as digital bumper stickers. Research shows that 87% of people who buy products, also follow the company that supplies it and they either read someone tweet, or most likely follow that particular business page on Facebook or G+.

Is Social media really the new word-of-mouth? Well, it is as close to word-of-mouth as it can get, and marketers, good marketers use it optimally and the profits are almost unbelievable. The cost of advertising on a social media platform is a fraction compared to tv, radio and print media. A social media campaign is even 3 times easier to plan and execute and reaches a wider audience than tv, radio and print media put together, while the profits are obviously better. A great social media campaign does not come without creativity, innovation and hard work. To attract and retain your fan base requires work and insight and when you do capture them, make sure that you keep them glued to your business. When you have formulated a stimulating social media strategy, execute it boldly and prepare yourself for figures you've never seen in your career and keep doing it. And when you get a nod from millions of your fans, you would have had millions who are marketing your products and your businesses by the most powerful form of marketing, "word-of-mouth", without the superstars.  

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