Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Marketing

The medium of language, from what is once was is longer the same. It has numerous variations in itself that each of them can be categorized. Radio, television, books and music are all based out of language. Another important adaptation of language is word-of-mouth marketing. The uniqueness of word-of-mouth marketing is that it does not always need an external push. 

              From someone saying, “Trim food is actually good today” to the other saying “Media Studies is a fun class,” word-of mouth marketing is in our lives every day. We encounter numerous advertisements from various sources and get influenced in different ways. According to Nielsen BuzzMetrics, word-of-mouth marketing is the most preferred source of information for consumers in today’s society. As mention in my previous blog, consumers like Web 2.0 as they can easily connect with similar minded customer and learn from their comments. Because of the personal nature of the communications between individuals, it is believed that product information communicated in this way has an added layer of credibility. The recommendations are generally perceived as incentive-free, unlike the obvious motivation of advertisers, who may over-promise in a bid to increase sales.

            This relatively new practice of word-of-mouth marketing attempts to inject positive "buzz" into conversations directly. To promote and manage word-of-mouth communications, marketers use publicity techniques as well as viral marketing methods to achieve desired behavioral response. To further promote their brand, some marketers pay people to go talk about their product to increase awareness in the market.  Although, marketers have always hoped to achieve positive word-of-mouth, there have been many ethical issues that have been raised.