• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, December 18, 2017

According to a recent report in AdWeek, written by Brenna Schaefer, Senior Director, Product Marketing, GlobalWide Media, in today’s ever-changing marketing landscape, consumers rely on trusted family and friends to help them make purchase decisions. In fact, word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing drives $6 trillion in annual consumer spending and accounts for an estimated 13% of consumer sales, according to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association.

Nearly three-quarters of consumers trust the opinions of their social networks (including friends, family, and influencers) to help them make the right decision about a product or service. Here are three ways to get people talking about your brand in 2018, offers the report.

1. Include Mom in the conversation, but also family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues and other everyday influencers, says the report. The vast majority of consumers seek recommendations when making a purchase of any kind, but the impact everyday influencers have on the promotion of brands and products often goes overlooked.

• Consumers have a deeper connection with authentic influencers, those who possess a similar social status and understand their needs. Including everyday influencers in your targeting efforts and brand promotion allows them to help you do the heavy lifting when it comes to ensuring key targets follow through with the purchase.

2. Layer on the social data. The Word of Mouth Marketing Association reports that, there are approximately 2.4 billion brand-related conversations in the U.S. every day.

• Use social graphing data that illustrates shared connections and monitors how today’s word-of-mouth messages are most commonly spread. The more data available to analyze, the more precise and intentional you can be with your marketing dollars. Combined, the value of demographic, behavioral, past purchase, geo, IP and social data is much, much greater than the individual elements.

3. Build brand advocacy. According to the Wharton School of Business, customers acquired from WOM have a 16-25% higher lifetime value than those you acquire from other sources, and have a higher likelihood of becoming brand advocates.

• Today’s technologies make it easier than ever to build brand advocacy. Sprout Social reports that about 70% of hashtags on Instagram are branded. Social media offers a tremendous opportunity to connect with consumers and encourage them to share their positive brand experiences.
• When it comes to social media marketing, too many companies focus on quantity over quality. Many marketers focus their efforts on collecting followers and likes and forget to actually connect with their audience across social media.

For additional information from AdWeek, please visit here.