Collaborate or die…
Here’s a no brainer: which are you more likely to trust, the recommendation of your friend based on a genuine experience, or an unsolicited ad?
Let’s face it, word-of-mouth is persuasive because it feels real. Still, it’s one thing knowing this and another turning it into a viable marketing strategy. In many ways it’s never been easier for word-of-mouth to spread like wildfire. Today, over 300 million people around the world use social media to talk to their friends and every day 2.1 billion of those conversations will feature brand mentions, references to things they’ve bought or want to buy. Now imagine that the average teen has over 700 followers on social media. Every one of their posts targets an intimate and receptive community of family and friends in a matter of seconds, and these are just the direct connections. If the post features popular hashtags–which can increase interactions by 79%–and drives “likes” and “shares”, the post will spread throughout the teen’s wider circle. At the tap of a screen, one word-of-mouth recommendation can spread around the world. It didn’t take AdWords, retargeting, social media marketing or celebrity endorsement to make it happen, but you can bet marketers would pay good money to get the kind of conversion rates it will generate.
The fact is, marketing is getting harder, much harder, because networked consumers have their own voices to call BS on false claims — product reviews can quickly make or break a campaign.
There is a trend for younger generations to put their trust in online reviewers, most referring to them for everything — from restaurants, to apps, to places to go, shop and where to go on vacation.
Studies also show that people place greater trust in their close circles, with 43% saying their family influences their purchasing decisions the most, followed by friends (35%), friends of friends (23%).
Couple this with increasing “banner blindness”, ever more use of ad blockers and a general sense of frustration with social media platforms using personal data for commercial purposes — and you can see why marketers are seeing the ROI on their ad spend take a nosedive.
Marketing departments currently funnel $5-$10 billion each year into sourcing recommendations from professional influencers that have surpassed a certain follower count. Accounts that have more than a million followers can command $50,000 plus for a single post. Unfortunately for brands, however, consumers are also wise to this, and as a result, engagement and conversion is dwindling.
The logical next step would be for brands to open up their influencer marketing to the billions of regular users and fans making authentic recommendations online every day. These are the people who should be recognised and rewarded for the power of conversion they have among friends.
In the movement towards a more connected and personalised advertising technique, where the consumer is not just a passive player but the main player, we see a system that is ultimately more fair, more transparent and rewards the right people.
Up until now there has been a gap in the market for brands to reward, measure and scale word-of-mouth marketing. That is why we are launching the WOM Token, to help brands tap into peer-to-peer recommendations, while empowering people to earn money through user-generated content.
Starting with the YEAY App we are launching the WOM Token, from there it will be introduced to the larger community, creating a whole new playing field that allows a mutually beneficial collaboration between brands and their customers
Learn more about WOM on our website.
