A movement into eWOM

eWOM

Ehrenberg (1974) highlights the importance of word-of-mouth and the satisfied users influence making itself felt. As the importance of Social Media marketing continues to rise, so does the importance to exploit eWom (electronic word of mouth) and move away from more traditional methods of advertising.

 eWOM is any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual or former customers about a product or company (Cheung, 2008). eWOM may have higher empathy, credibility and relevance to customers over a more traditional marketer created source of information according to Bickart and Schindler (2001) (Greun et al, 2006).

eWOM provides the customer with a huge reach in which they can influence brand image or brand perception. Companies can attempt to start eWOM and viral marketing operations, however once they begin, they become hard to control as little to no tools are available for content flow management (Jansen et al, 2009)

ASOS

Companies such as online fashion store ASOS have been able to successfully focus their marketing towards eWOM with great results. Through online adverts and consumer generated advertising using bloggers and online influencers, ASOS has been able to connect with its consumer, at times involving the consumer and as a result gained high levels of interaction.

 Russell Colley (1961) developed DAGMAR, which stood for Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results (Colley, 1961).  This hierarchy model uses the theory that advertising should be used to target a defined audience and give them information that will stimulate action. Advertising will succeed or fail on how well it communicates to the right people at the right time and at the right cost (Fill, 2013).  It is easy to see why companies such as ASOS are moving towards a more specialised form of Marketing. Using eWOM marketing, ASOS can attain information on their demographics  and use this to advertise specifically to its target market, reducing risk and ensuring the message is relevant to that specific audience.

eWOM and social networks 

A fairly new form of eWOM marketing is micro-blogging through social media platforms such as Twitter. These platforms provide the user with an opportunity to describe things of interest or express an attitude or opinion and share these with others. It directly effects eWOM communication as the thoughts people share can have an effect on the brand on a scale that has never been seen before. Companies can use these micro-blogging platforms to their advantage as they offer immediate sentiment and provide insight in affective reactions toward product at critical junctions of the decision making and purchasing process (Jansen et al, 2009)

Summary

eWOM has a huge impact on product and brand perception. Whether it occurs naturally, from a person sharing his or her thoughts with their audience, or a business launching a campaign to encourage online conversation, eWOM brings many benefits as well as drawbacks to a company. eWOM can be beneficial for feedback, forecasting and sales predictions, product development and information on demographics. However there are of course risks in a loss of control in which negative comments on the brand can have a bad effect on a brands perception. It is important that a company, if they do chose to encourage and influence online conversation, build a strategy that the consumer can relate to and will provide benefits to them for sharing.

References

Colley, R (1961) Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results. Association of National Advertisers: New York

Cheung. C. Lee, M and Rabjohn, N.. (2008). The impact of electronic word-of-mouth The adoption of online opinions in online customer communities. Impact of electronic word-of-mouth. 18 (3), 230.

Ehrenberg, A. (1974). Repetitive Advertising and the Consumer.. Journal of Advertising Research.. 14 (25), 3.

Greun, T. Osmonbekox, T and Czaplewski, A.. (2006). eWOM: The impact of customer-to-customer online know-how exchange on customer value and loyalty. Journal of Business Research. 11 (59), 449-456.

Jansen, B., Zhang, M., Sobel, K. and Chowdury, A.. (2009). Twitter Power: Tweets as Electronic Word of Mouth. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. 11 (6), 1.