Wow .. sounds like Yahoo and Mediavest have found an interesting segment of people. People who are hyper engaged with a brand and 52% more likely than the average person to recommend.

Personally I find the 52% on the low side …. Our work (vocanic) shows that this group of people, key to a brands success, recommends at a rate of x3 or x4 that of an average user

Maybe I should drop these guys a line to let them know we have a way to identify these people online (Groundswell™) without the expensive documentary-style interviewing technique they used.

More information about the Yahoo/Mediavest study here

Andy Sernovitz’s blog addressed a question that is key to the word of mouth sphere – who is a word of mouth influencer? He breaks them down to four categories:

• Super-connectors:  Amazingly connected people who’s word is gospel.   
• The Elite:  Highly connected and talky bloggers and social network players who have huge audiences and networks of connections.
• Customers & Employees:  Regular folks who are close to your brand adovcates
• The Influentials: Certain types of people are more active and connected, but they are regular citizens. These are the 1-in-10 people that others listen to.
• Anyone: Big networks of buzz volunteers

Andy goes on to say that word of mouth is spread by all sorts of people, in all sorts of networks. He says to plan a good campaign, you need to identify:

1. Talkers: Find one or more groups of talkers who are likely to talk about you
2. Topics: Come up with a WOM-worthy topic for each group of talkers. 
3. Tools: Use a wide variety of techniques to help the talkers talk.

Pretty similar to what we we do for our clients:

1. Find influencers
2. Arm them with a remarkable story
3. Create a trigger for conversation

Word of mouth is spread by everyone..but would you take the advice of the average joe on the street or an influencer?

Ok, so with the radically different media habit of youth and teens, its easy to see why Word of Mouth is a key media for reaching them.

But what about those aged 42 and over. The boomers. Those who grew up before the “interweb thingy”

A recent survey asked about travel. Boomers and matures (ages 60+) rely on various sources of travel information – e.g., TV, travel agents, radio, outdoor ads, print and the internet.

But they rely most on word-of-mouth recommendations, according to a survey of 30,000 consumers age 42+ by Focalyst, a joint venture of AARP Services and Kantar (via MediaBuyerPlanner).

Word of Mouth was cited by 96% of boomers and 88% of matures (+60) as the most-used source for travel information. Typically recommendations from friends and family (ie strong ties)

Word of Mouth was also cited as the most valued by 57% of boomers and 44% of matures.

A quote from the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons)

"….The study also found that when it comes to airlines, hotels, motels and cruise lines, “boomers” and “matures” display very little brand loyalty with only 10 percent using the same company all the time. Interestingly, word-of-mouth marketing proved extremely effective as recommendations from friends and family were the number one most valued source of information among these groups when making travel plans. For a population of this size, marketers who are able to take advantage of the multiplier effect with satisfied customers will be very successful…"

My question to you: Where is the word of mouth element in the marketing plans for most hotel, car rental, airline etc etc brands?

Interesting stuff coming out OTX ( an online market research company) about how teens learn about new TV shows.

Key facts here:

Using TV to promote TV works – 51%

Closely followed by word of mouth routes:

Friends/Boy/Girl Friends – 33%  (Strong ties)

Other kids in school – 25% (weak ties)

Family Members – 23%

Media that performs badly to promote TV shows to teens are

Newspaper ads – 7%

Radio ads – 12%

Outdoor – 11%

So … next time you see an ad for a TV show on a billboard, newspaper or on radio – feel sorry for the guys who placed it!  (marketer, media buyer etc etc)

Full article here

VIRAL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS ARE MOSTLY INEFFECTIVE, reports JupiterResearch, which found that only 15% of viral campaigns in the past year achieved the goal of prompting consumers to promote the marketer’s message. (See here)

Think of it this way, when someone sends you a link, or a “viral” what are they recommending?

9/10 its the quality of the creative in the “viral”. By sending it to you they are saying I found this funny/weird/interesting – I think you would enjoy it too.

Does it say – I like the product, I think you will too?    No.

Can you strongly push a brand’s agenda in a viral? Typically no.

Just look at www.subservientchicken.com (one of the highest rated recent viral)  How big is the brand’s logo? Tiny right?  How strong is the product pitch in the viral? Even smaller.

So, to go viral a piece of advertising has to have little brand push, and to have such great creative that people will recommend viewing the creative to another.  (Which is why the creative based ad agencies LOVE to do virals )

And, no wonder that Viral tends not to deliver.

Contrast that with this …..

Two friends are talking at lunchtime, and one is saying “Hey, I tried the new Burger King Chicken Sandwich – it was awesome. Lets meet there for lunch so you can try it – your’r gonna love it! 

That’s word of mouth – and its easy to see how that DOES have a big impact on sales.

Concusion:

Don’t let your traditional agency confuse you.  Viral is NOT Word of Mouth.

When people forward a viral they are recommending the quality of the creative. Word of mouth is when people recommend your product to the friends.