Boosting your word-of-mouth marketing online

Everything that’s worth hearing about can be heard through the grapevine. Word-of-mouth marketing is the grandest megaphone you can ever use to market your business. More and more consumers are choosing to do business with companies recommended by their peers, friends and communities. In fact, 92 percent of consumers trust referrals from family or friends more than any other type of referral, according to a Nielsen survey. So if your company isn’t gaining buzz on the Internet, it’s time to put yourself out there and get people talking!

Build it and they will come

Good word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing doesn’t happen by accident. Building up your social platforms is a must so you can give people a soapbox to review your products or services. According to insights from Vision Critical, 43 percent of social media users reported purchasing an item after sharing or liking it on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Consider creating a social campaign that rewards customers for reviewing your business and sharing their referral with their network. Your social profiles and other online properties like your website also serve to build credibility for potential customers who have heard about you through the grapevine and want to learn more.

Any industry can attract referrals

According to a survey on online recommendations by Search Engine Land, different industries receive different levels of online recommendations. Restaurants, hotels and doctors experience the highest level of online sharing, while tradesmen, roofers and wedding shops experience considerably less. Whatever category your business falls into, you need to find the best place for you. For example, tradesmen and others looking to monetize their skills or promote their services should create profiles on GetAssist. Your evangelists are out there; you just have to find where they spend their time online.

Create shareable content

WOM marketing can also be accomplished in a more indirect way. Have you ever looked into a business because of an article you found on Facebook or a blog post you found through Pinterest? Creating shareable content (non-promotional) that relates to your business and helps others is a great long-game way to get your brand in front of more eyes. Generate brand awareness by creating and promoting content online today!

There’s still time

You may feel slightly behind the times if you’re just beginning to think about how you can increase WOM marketing, but don’t stress; even among the most innovative companies, only 40 percent rated themselves as ‘above average’ or ‘advanced’ in this area in the 2014 State of Word of Mouth Marketing survey. The evolution of WOM marketing is still underway, and you can embrace it! Sign up for GetAssist’s blog alerts to get more business and marketing tips straight to your inbox! And stay tuned for our next ‘Heard it Through the Grapevine’ post!

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