What is Word-of-Mouth?
Word is what people know about you that you’ll want them to share with others.
Mouth is about the people you have relationships with who are willing to share your “Word” with others.
Word-of-Mouth as a concept is what happens when people who know you well put their reputation on the line and tell others about you and your business.
Word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) is when the interest of consumers for a company's product is reflected in their daily dialogs. Actually, it's free advertising triggered by customer experiences and usually something that goes beyond what they expected.
WOMM can be encouraged through different publicity activities set up by companies. Word -of-mouth marketing may include blogging, buzz, viral, emotional and social media marketing.
How to generate Word-of-Mouth?
You may use Word-of-Mouth for your business by investing in building relationships with the people that matter most.
You may have millions of followers on social media but you have to establish a connection with them to generate any tangible benefits. If your audience is not interested in you, they're not likely to help you grow.
Your goal is to attract real fans and supporters. The more passionate your fans are about you, the more likely they'll share you. The passing of information through word of mouth is powerful in influencing others.
4 steps to maximize WOM potential
Make yourself interesting
Share what makes you look attractive and interesting - this will entice sharing. The audience feels more confident in the information they're sharing when they're contributing something that's worth talking about.
2. Create a trigger
Think about tying yourself into other things that your consumers do or use. If consumers remember you, they'll continue to talk about you.
3. Propose value
When you establish yourself with a few people, they'll share the experience with friends. Sharing valuable information will make you valuable as well. Great, unique customer experiences, along with having a great product, can help increase your value, and thus, your WOM potential.
4. Provoke emotions
Provoking emotions goes closely with creating value. Consumers typically share something that promotes high arousal, and people are more likely to share experiences in which they had some sort of emotion towards.