Car Talk: The Marketing Gift of (Automotive) Gab, from 9 Customer Think.
According to Nielsen, word-of-mouth is the most trusted source of decision-influencing and decision-making information for consumers around the world. Having often addressed the power of informal communication, it’s always gratifying to have confirmation by respected research and consulting organizations.
Consumer motivation research (“On Brands and Word of Mouth”, Journal of Marketing Research, August, 2013), conducted by several professors at U.S. and Israeli business schools, represents large data sets covering online word-of-mouth, offline word-of-mouth, brand equity, and customer brand research. Over 600 of the most talked-about U.S. brands, covering 16 product categories, were analyzed during the period from 2007 to 2010. Here is one of the most significant findings (as reported by Ed Keller, of KellerFay, in a recent blog):
– Brand categories talked about online differ widely from those talked about offlline. Media, autos, sports and technology dominates online word-of-mouth, because there is ‘social currency’ in discussing what is new, interesting, and worth sharing with others. Other categories – beverages, food and dining, travel, financial services, beauty products, health products and services – are much more likely to be communicated in offline conversations.
