Electronic word of mouth or “eWom” is an extremely powerful way of spreading brand recognition to a vast audience. It has a far greater potential of engaging with relevant consumers than traditional, ‘spoken’ word of mouth. Online platforms allow for content and information to be passed from person to person at far greater speed, connected to endless amount of detail and all this, at the click of a button and swipe of a page.

How does this help attract users to company websites?

Interactively engaging with consumers through social media, mobile phone applications and entertaining advertising campaigns, draws consumers to the source of these eWom strategies.
In most cases this is a reference to the sources’ website embedded in a post/eWom and directly connects the reader to the URL through the click of a button.

Where traditional word of mouth may lack in accuracy based on opinion and/or forgetfulness, eWom carries a trail of factual history a consumer can research, there and then. Threads and discussion topics are often linked making information readily available.

Communication Scope

Figure 1. A typology of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) channels Litvin et al., 2008) demonstrates the communication scope and level of interactivity when it comes to electronic word of mouth.  Where Email interaction tends to be on a one to one basis, Blogs and virtual communities see a vaster exchange throughout the community, and reoccurring at that.

One to One eWOM

Have you ever received an email or a Facebook IM from a friend telling you about an amazing new product that’s come into their lives? Have you then gone on to google this product and ended up ‘feeling lucky’ and directly ended up on the manufacturer’s website? That’s eWom and the internet demonstrating how it helps push visitors to your company website.

Viral eWOM

There’s something about initiating a buzz that captures a new product, brand or company. The most engaging and impacting statements and posts have a potential of going viral. We all know what happens when something goes viral. In this case, a hyperlink is clicked and a website is visited.

Zarrella, D. (2014) ‘The Social Media Scientist’ stated the following:

“Viral marketing is a strategy by which a marketer creates a campaign focused around the goal of causing viewers of that promotion to spontaneously spread it by sending it to friends.”

It’s truly amazing that a viral marketing campaign can be so successful, that it changes the hosting platform (youtube for example) forever.

Geller, L. (2013) – Forbes Contributor simply outlines the power of eWOM by using the term ‘immediately’.

“Social media and texting have resulted in a cascade of electronic Word of Mouth that can reach vast audiences immediately.”

Initiating eWOM

According to Willcocks (2013) a social media campaign utilising ‘Twitter’ and ‘retweeting’ is a proven way of attaining website traffic. A company’s social media strategy should emphasis engaging and communicating with ‘friends’, rather than focusing on sales pitches. This demonstrates the social aspect of electronic word of mouth and how it is initiated.

Conclusion

Electronic word of mouth when successful and ‘viral’ enough, is clearly able to reach a phenomenal amount of people. The initiating party should make sure to ‘tag’ relevant links (URLS) and be sure to embed whatever message they wish the eWOM convey.

References

Willcocks, R. (2013). E-commerce marketing: where your website traffic will come from & how. Available: http://www.screenpages.com/about/articles/ecommerce-traffic. Last accessed 13th May 2015.

Jalilvand, M, Esfahani, S, Samiei, N . (2011). Electronic word-of-mouth: challenges and opportunities. Procedia Computer Science 3. 3 (1), 42-46.

Zarrella, D. (2014). What is Viral Marketing?. Available: http://danzarrella.com/what-is-viral-marketing.html. Last accessed 13th May 2015.

Geller, L. (2013). Why Word Of Mouth Works. Available: http://www.forbes.com/sites/loisgeller/2013/05/13/why-word-of-mouth-works/. Last accessed 14th May 2015.

You don’t know what Instagram is? Instagram is a social networking site, which allows its members to photo and video share across the social networking board. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr all support Instagram server stored Images, and that’s a big deal! Instagram was acquired by Facebook in 2012 for an estimated $1 billion in cash & stocks. We like Images

There’s something very special and satisfying about an appealing image. Granted, each person and their preference, responds differently to a picture and its content/composition. I do however believe that when seeing the perfect sunset image, the majority of us will notice a heart melting sensation. It relates, it makes us remember how beautiful the world can be, and thus; happy.

Have you ever heard the expression: ‘Eating with the eyes’? The Guardian featured an article in 2014, titled: ‘Eating with the eyes’. It suggests that our sense of taste leads the way when it comes to eating. – Spence, C. Oxford professor of experimental psychology (2014) had a quote featured in this article and it reads the following:

“People’s perception is typically dominated by what their eyes see”.

This supports my personal view on Instagram adding huge value to any business. We as consumers and customers identify with images, as much as we potentially can with a brand. Images satisfy us and we feel more engaged when individuals or companies decide to relay information in picture format. It’s personalising.

Instagram just like any other social networking site has had a huge impact on us all. Instagram currently boasts the fact that more than 30 billion photos have been shared on their platform. With more than 2 billion likes per day! With such exposure it certainly makes a compelling argument as to why your business should be utilising Instagram.

Here’s a time-line demonstrating Instagram’s impressive growth during a 12 month period dating 10.2010 – 09.2011, collected and edited by Viticci, F. (2011).

Figure 1 shows stats Instagram is boasting on their business landing page:

• October 6th, 2010: Instagram released on the App Store.
• December 7th, 2010: Instagram gets inline viewer on Twitter.com.
• December 21st, 2010: Instagram reaches 1 million registered users.
• January 27th, 2011: Instagram 1.1 is out with hashtag support and some optimizations.
• May 23rd, 2011: Instagram announces25 million users.
• August 3rd, 2011: 150 million photos have been uploaded to Instagram.
• September 20th, 2011: Instagram 2.0 released.
• September 26th, 2011: Instagram hits 10 million users.

Yes, that is indeed a growth of 10 million users in less than 12 month. A strong reason as to why businesses use Instagram.

Fig. 1 Instagram (2015)

As part of a joint case-study, Mercedes Benz and Instagram revealed that there was an increase of 54% to website visits due to Instagram and Facebook branding ads. There was also a 580% increase in website visits when Facebook and Instagram Ads were combined with Facebook direct response ads.

Jillard, E GM, Marketing Services Mercedes-Benz USA (2014) added the following response to the case-study:

“A Compact SUV for the Millennial Lifestyle using Instagram as part of our digital advertising mix means we can meet young buyers on their home turf. With branding advertising on both Instagram and Facebook, site visits jumped more than 50%. Combine that with our direct response Facebook campaign and the impact on lift was tenfold, driving users to our GLA model page to further interact with the product.”

Conclusion

Like any other social media platform, it is imperative to communicate and interact with your followers. Electronic word of mouth is bigger than ever and personalising with fellow Instagram users, slowly but surely bonds us through imagery.   No longer do we need to feel estranged from the brands that surround us. They make us feel like they understand, because they share the same vision. It’s a picture and it’s on Instagram.

References

Spence, C. (2014). Eating with the eyes. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/jan/28/food-multi-sensory. Last accessed 14th May 2015.

Viticci, F. (2011). Instagram Hits 10 Million Users in 355 Days – A Brief Retrospective. Available: http://www.macstories.net/stories/instagram-hits-10-million-users-in-355-days-a-brief-retrospective/.Last accessed 13th May 2015.

Instagram. (2015). Share your Brand’s Unique Point of View with Instagram. Available: https://business.instagram.com/. Last accessed 14th May 2015.

Instagram. (2014). A Compact SUV for the Millennial Lifestyle. Available: http://instagram-static.s3.amazonaws.com/MB_CaseStudy_FINAL1.pdf. Last accessed 14th May 2015.

The notion of ‘Viral’

The Oxford Dictionary (2015) defines viral as the nature of, caused by, or relating to a virus. Viruses are usually characterized by negative connotations however Wilson (2012) sees the potential:

“But you have to admire the virus. It has a way of living in secrecy until it is so numerous that it wins by sheer weight of numbers. It piggybacks on other hosts and uses their resources to increase its tribe. And in the right environment, it grows exponentially. A virus doesn’t even have to mate. It just replicates, again and again with geometrically increasing power, doubling with each iteration.”

How are viruses related to marketing?

Wilson (2012) explains Viral marketing as any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message’s exposure and influence. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands, to millions.Away from the internet, some more familiar definitions of viral marketing are  “word-of-mouth,” or  “creating a buzz”.

Viral marketing is currently the biggest marketing trend of the decade. We now see companies of all sizes, posting promotional videos on Youtube, creating flash-mobs, and employing the services of celebrities and comedians to capture the consumer’s interest (Ferguson, 2008). Viral marketing has since extended into the field of email marketing, which has created a new tool for marketer to reach consumers.

Viral Email Marketing

When the viral marketing and email marketing cross what do you get? … Viral email marketing.  In many ways, viral email marketing is closely similar with email marketing, except that viral emails are sent out with the intention to be forwarded to friends and other contacts.  Whilst viral email marketing is not the most conventional form of marketing,I agree with VT (2013) who says that it can be a profitable method of increasing your brand awareness if you devise a plan which focuses on the interest of your customers.

If you are considering using this form of marketing, this blog will tell you how. Taking some lessons from the President of EZ Publishing, Dan Forootan, Here are 4 things to remember for your viral email campaign: 

1. Quality not quantity 

The content of your email needs to make the customers feel touched. Whether it is helpful, entertaining or inspirational, the customers will forward your message depending on how it makes them feel. You will benefit trying to play on warm and fuzzy feeling as these are more relatable with the customers. Beware with sending emails that could slightly controversial, as although more customers will be inclined to share it, it could actually destroy your brand instead. It is probably best to capitalize on using humor to win your audience’s heart. So try to include funny videos in your targeted emails in order to increase the chance of it being passed on.

Another point to take on board is the quality of the presentation, think of the colors, font style, page layout. Try to keep it minimal, yet informative and ensure that you emphasize the information that you want the customers to see.

2. Offer people something free

I’m sure that we’re all familiar with the power of free! If an item was one cent, we’d be wary of it but the moment we see it’s free we go crazy for it. The champions of viral email marketing are Hotmail.com who were one of the firsts to make use of this type of email marketing,

The Classic Hotmail Example

(adapted from Wilson, (2012): The Six Simple Principles of Viral Marketing)

The strategy is simple:

Give away free email addresses and services

Attach a simple tag at the bottom of every free message sent out: “Get your private, free email at http://www.hotmail.com”

Then stand back while people email to their own network of friends and associates who see the message

Sign up for their own free email service; and then propel the message still wider to their own ever-increasing circles of friends and associates.

Like tiny waves spreading ever farther from a single pebble dropped into a pond, a carefully designed viral marketing strategy ripples outward extremely rapidly.

Sales, discounts and product giveaways can be very alluring, and if the information is well presented then customers will recognise it, save it and pass it along to their friends. Furthermore, coupled the social proof of their friends sending it, it is bound to be an advantage.

3. Know your target market 

You need to know what drives a person to make a purchase with you, as this will most likely be representative of their demographic group. This is to say that, your email be relatively ‘personalized’ for your customers that have the same interest. If you are a shoe company for example, it may not be in your best interest to advertise comfy loafers to 18-25 year olds, because it’s not likely that they will buy them. It’s possible that they will buy for an older family member, however they’re likely to have more people in their age range to share with. so emailing them this deal is waste of time and resources.

4. Consistently promote your service 

In every e-mail remember to promote your service, as this is a form of advertising it is essential that you continue to sell yourself. You should market your brand in every way, remember consumers needs information about deals to provide a context for their buying decisions. However, this does not that you need bombard your audience with daily emails, instead you should constrict the amount of emails you send per week a certain amount, perhaps 3 times a week.

So there you have it, if you were planning on using viral email marketing to market your product/service this blog has given you four tips which can help to make your campaign a success. As long as your plan is carefully thought out and followed through, there is no reason why you cannot become a master of viral email advertising.

References

Active Campaign. (2009). Viral Email Marketing Strategies. Available: http://www.activecampaign.com/blog/viral-email-marketing-strategies/. Last accessed 10th May 2015.

ChristiaNet. (2015). Viral Email Marketing. Available: http://www.christianet.com/internetmarketingservices/viralemailmarketing.htm. Last accessed 10th May 2015.

Ferguson, R. (2008). Word of mouth and viral marketing: Measuring the ROI. Journal of Consumer Marketing. 25(3),p1-p4.

Forootan, D. (2014). Email news and strategy. Available: http://www.streamsend.com/articles-viral-email-marketing.html. Last accessed 10th May 2015.

Wilson, R. (2012). The Six Simple Principles of Viral Marketing.Available: http://webmarketingtoday.com/articles/viral-principles/. Last accessed 10th May 2015.

VT (2013). Creating Successful Email Marketing Campaign. London: VT Publisher. p5.

I love shopping, and even what I buy on impulse or spare of the moment can be conveniently researched within seconds to help me make my mind up… I’m buying it!

Today’s blog is going to be looking at how online communities help consumers make choices when buying online, and which unofficial online community is changing the way we shop forever.

With the introduction of online shopping, we no longer have to go to a retail outlet in person to purchase the things we want or need. We no longer have to go with the sales pitch we are delivered or the trust we might have in a brand. When it comes to buying a new watch for example, we often feel the need to read product reviews. Who writes these reviews though, and why should we trust the opinion of the author? Well, they are in most cases the opinions of you and me. We make up these online communities, hosted by marketplaces such as Amazon and Ebay.

We trust reviews and star ratings more and more these days. No buyer is forced to write a review, it is however the community’s intrinsic sense of social reward that help builds the endless lists of product reviews. There’s something extremely honest about that and it certainly encourages me to purchase an item when it has a 5 star rating and positive reviews.

Below is an Amazon screen caption demonstrating watches and their star rating. Highlighted is the Sekonda WR 3882 and its 4.5 star rating. We can see that 338 of 507 consumers have chosen to rate this watch at 5 stars, that’s 66.66%. 2.95% rated this watch 1 star. This indicates a high level of satisfaction.

  Source: http://www.amazon.co.uk/

However, before I do purchase I’ll take a moment to read the last personalised opinion of a Sekonda WR 3882 owner:

Source: http://www.amazon.co.uk/

I’m satisfied with this product, at the price and accompanied by the ratings and reviews. I’m placing an order! Furthermore, I’m going to indicate that this review was helpful and, once I’ve received my watch in the post, I will wear it, build my opinion and review it myself. Hence, demonstrating my direct involvement in this particular e-commerce review community, hosted by Amazon. – It’s changed the way I shop forever!

Ebay’s community on the other hand focuses on rating the experience more so than the product itself. Trust building feedback outlining seller response time, shipping and product authenticity. This very much layering the foundation of a buyer/seller relationship within this particular online community. Their landing page dedicated to the ‘Ebay Community’ clearly inviting members to interact and cross communicate. Thus, encouraging the e-commerce market to expand and all by making people feel more comfortable and confident purchasing online.

Image Source: http://community.ebay.co.uk/

There are a number of review sites available to us when wanting to draw inspiration on deciding to purchase a product. Some of these websites boast tens of thousands of reviews, but who writes them all?

‘Reevoo’ (2015) pledges the following:

 “Who writes Reevoo reviews?

 Every single review on Reevoo is written by shoppers just like you, who actually own that product.

We don’t pay for reviews, we don’t let manufacturers or shops write or edit reviews, and we don’t let anybody write a review unless we can prove they own that product.”

To conclude, I think we all find comfort in reading other consumers experiences before purchasing a product. The fact that we are aware of this and that we appreciate an online community we all unofficially find ourselves attached to, leads me to believe that sooner rather than later we’ll all be contributing reviews.

References:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/
http://community.ebay.co.uk/

Reevoo. (2015). Who writes Reevoo reviews?. Available: http://www.reevoo.com/pages/review_collection. Last accessed 13th May 2015.

In light of all of the different social media channels which have taken over the in the world of interpersonal communication, many today believe that the relevance of email has been killed off by social media sites. The naysayers of email marketing say that since more and more companies are using different social platforms to reach us, such as: Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, who really needs to email anymore?

Email is not dead. Waldow & Falls (2012) argue that emailing cannot be dead, when research has shown that 94% of us send or read emails every day, and most of us manage at least two accounts. Furthermore, for millennials, this number is even higher at 96%. So what does this show? That emailing is still an activity which is heavily engrained in our daily lives and habits; in fact, it is most likely to be our number one online activity.

With that being said, does it mean that email is an appropriate marketing method for companies to reach its target users?  Firstly, it might be necessary to look at the pros and cons of each:

Advantages:

Brand Awareness

Helps customers to recognise your brand. If they do not respond or even open the email, the fact that they have seen it arrive in their inbox will help people to recall your brand when they’re ready to make purchase decision.

Build Relationships

Giving your audience the option to subscribe/ unsubscribe from emails, better informs you about who is genuinely interested in your product/services, which enables you to tailor campaigns around the topics they’re interested in.

Quick to produce and Deploy

Email marketing campaigns can be developed and dispatched within minutes. Therefore, you can quickly get an offer on the table or respond to a competitor.

Challenges:  

Getting attention

As many of us e experience inbox overflow, it may be difficult to get customers to open your email if they don’t recognize your brand.

Lacks Personal Touch

As email marketing campaigns are usually sent out in bulk, it will lack personal touch for each customer.

Compelling Action

A vast number of companies go for the entertainment or informative approach when it comes to email marketing, instead email campaigns need to develop a call to action, and clearly outline what customer should do next.

There are certainly advantages and disadvantages to using email campaigns as a marketing tool. Whilst it may not be worthwhile for some companies, it should be said that the percentage of people who use email services is definitely too large to ignore, which means that it certainly a viable option for marketing which can be highly effective when it is done right.  There are many examples of companies who have employed email marketing campaigns which are noteworthy, whilst others have got it completely wrong:

Those who got it right:

BANANA REPUBLIC

Source: Shopify.com (2014): 7 Ecommerce Email Campaigns You Should Steal Today.

Macdonald (2014) shows that Banana republic have incorporated the social norms in their email strategy. Firstly, they present the email as an invitation and second;y by using the word ‘secret’. They understand that everyone likes to feel special and offers their customers something exclusive. They add more value by promoting their free shipping and free returns. A lesson to learn here is that uniquely target customers can keep their loyalty and improve your sales.

DROPBOX

Source: Hubspot.com (2015): 12 of the Best Email Marketing Examples You’ve Ever Seen (And Why They’re Great). 

This dropbox email example from Kilovich (2015) aims to remind its users of its presence and expertise by using an illustration which will appeal to its audiences emotional side.  The use of the cute and simple will make its user feel appreciated which in turn captures their attention. Then they include some information about why they are helpful to us, which is an excellent example of using email marketing to retain users as well encourage more to return. 

BIRCHBOX

Source: Hubspot.com (2015): 12 of the Best Email Marketing Examples You’ve Ever Seen (And Why They’re Great). 

Another example from Kilovich (2015) is from the beauty product subscription company Birchbox, grab the audiences’ attention by suggesting that they had ‘forgotten’ to include a discount code in the customer’s package. In fact they are offering a discount code for another company -Rent the runway- which aligns with the interest profile of its customers.

The Hall of Shame: 

FACEBOOK

Source: LocalVox (2013): The Good, The Bad and The Downright Ugly.

This example from the LocalVox blog (2013) identifies Facebook as a culprit of bad email marketing. The email is too direct and has minimal emotion, which is contradictory to Facebook’s business model. Also, they make a grammatical error since the  the first sentence should have a question mark at the end.

BLOOMBERG BUSINESS WEEK

Source: LocalVox (2013): The Good, The Bad and The Downright Ugly.

Bloomberg make offers its customers a deal for 20 issues of bloomberg  business for $12.00, and encourages the call for action. However, they fail to give customers context to hep them decide if their decision is worthwhile, as for the customer they feel like they are misled. For example, customers may want to know: how much did it cost before? or What are other options?  Also, for people who are’t familiar with the brand, they may not know what it is about.

MACY’S

Source: E-consultancy (2014): Email marketing CTA design: five good vs. six bad examples.

The final example comes from Moth (2014). If you have a good look at this email ad from Macy’s you’ll see that it is quite confused. Firstly, there is a lot going on, there is too much information for the customer to process at once. Secondly, it advertises father’s day but a link the women’s section is first, which makes the email slightly irrelevant.

So now that we’ve looked at what good email marketing and bad marketing email look like, we know that email campaigns can certainly a great way for businesses to engage their customers, but also a good way to alienate them too. If you want to take on email marketing, it is essential that you follow in the footsteps of Banana Republic, Dropbox and Birch, otherwise email marketing may not be for you.

Some Points to take away:

• Remember to give customer context when you are offering them a deal. Mention previous prices and also show them a few more options
• Don’t overload the page with too much information, keep it minimal and relevant to the customer
• Make sure that the language style is consistent with your business model and watch for grammatical errors
• Make your audience feel special and appreciated

References

Greensplash. (2015). E-mail marketing: The pros and cons. Available: http://www.greensplashdesign.com/e-mail-marketing-the-pros-and-cons/. Last accessed 8th May 2015.

Kolowich, L. (2015). 12 of the Best Email Marketing Examples You’ve Ever Seen (And Why They’re Great). Available: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/email-marketing-examples-list. Last accessed 8th May 2015.

Local Vox. (2013). Email Marketing: The Good, The Bad and The Downright Ugly. Available: http://localvox.com/blog/email-marketing-the-good-the-bad-and-the-downright-ugly/. Last accessed 8th May 2015.

Macdonald, M. (2014). 7 Ecommerce Email Campaigns You Should Steal Today. Available: http://www.shopify.co.uk/blog/14107733-7-ecommerce-email-campaigns-you-should-steal-today. Last accessed 8th May 2015.

Moth, D. (2014). Email marketing CTA design: five good vs. six bad examples. Available: https://econsultancy.com/blog/64997-email-marketing-cta-design-five-good-vs-six-bad-examples/. Last accessed 8th May 2015.

Waldow, D. Falls, J. (2012). The Rebel’s Guide to Email Marketing: Grow Your List, Break the Rules, and Win. United States: Que Publishing. p5-25.