Commentary

Wanamaker+: I Know That Two-Thirds Of My WOM Isn't Working...

With apologies to John Wanamaker, or whoever actually said the apocryphal line – “I know that half my advertising doesn’t work, I just don’t know which half” – Microsoft Advertising’s Kelly Jones updated it for social, referencing Wanamaker and referencing Microsoft research indicating that contemporary marketers believe that “65% of word-of-mouth is missing its target.”

“If you’re generating all of this word-of-mouth and it’s not getting to the right people you are wasting” your social media budgets and energies, she said, adding that the trick is to refine a brand’s social media messaging to make sure it is more targeted.

She cited additional research showing that the No. 1 word-of-mouth influencer on social media are ratings and reviews by friends and experts.

According to Microsoft Advertising’s research, lots of touchpoints – even high-powered media like TV advertising – may influence a consumer’s “decision-making journey” and that an individual consumer’s decision process could take upwards of a year to convert, even for a simple product like “skincare.”

But then one day, they see a comment or a tweet from a friend about that product, and the next day the consumer goes out and buys the product.

Clearly, Jones left a bit of attribution out of that process, but she noted that the apparent cause and effect of that behavior demonstrates “how amazing” the power of social media can be.

 

Next story loading loading..

Discover Our Publications