What is Wom?

It falls under the category of buzz marketing, which means the set of promotional activities that allow people to talk about the product/service and increase conversations.

The main difference between simple  word-of-mouth and a real marketing of  word-of-mouth (or WOMM) is about spontaneous buzz in the first case, and in the second case, it's about directed buzz that is encouraged by the company or by the brand in question.

Models of WOM

There are three models of WOM applied to marketing that enable word-of-mouth:

• Organic inter-consumer influence model: this refers to a word-of-mouth among consumers in a very spontaneous and unplanned way by the company. It is the typical word-of-mouth from friends and acquaintances who have already tried a product or service and, even passively, how they manage to advertise it with simple reviews to others;
• Linear marketer influence model: this refers to  influential consumers, the classic influencers who are capable of significantly influencing the opinions and attitudes of others. Their opinions are more often taken into consideration by other users or consumers;
• Network coproduction model: involves a company's direct engagement in building and directing word-of-mouth. This can happen in various ways: by selecting the most influential consumers over others and sending them free samples so that they can try them out and then describe their functionality and benefits to other users.

The strategies and models of wom marketing fall within a collaborative marketing approach where its end customers manage to advertise the company with a simple review, a simple recommendation.

WOM Strategies

There are various techniques and strategies to encourage word of mouth.

Which ones should be carefully followed?

Let's look at them together:

There are 8 noteworthy ones capable of yielding tangible results.

• Encourage User-Generated Content: this refers to the web content created by customers themselves about the brand and its products. It increases trust and provides marketers with useful material to work with;
• Share reviews and testimonials from other users: they reassure the customer regarding the aesthetics, materials, quality, and performance of the product;
• Publish your items' ratings on social networks: for evaluating your own products;
• Offer incentives;
• Provide discounts and small gifts: in exchange for reviews;
• Get in touch with influencers;
• Offer a unique and shareable experience: if you give your customers something they can't find anywhere else, they will surely want to share their experience with friends and family.

As part of its marketing strategy, one of the first benefits is that the product can be visible at zero cost, as people who spontaneously talk about their experience are actually increasing the reach and exposure to brand messages.