Buzz, Viral or Word of Mouth Marketing: What’s the difference?
Dave Balter, the founder of BzzAgent, defines the differences in Buzz, Viral, and Word of Mouth Marketing. Here are excerpts with Dave’s great definitions:
What is Word of Mouth Marketing?
Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) is the most powerful medium on the planet. It’s the actual sharing of an opinion about a product or service between two or more consumers. It’s what happens when people become natural brand advocates. It’s the holy grail of marketers, CEOs and entrepreneurs, as it can make or break a product. The key to its success: it’s honest and natural.
What is Viral Marketing?
Viral Marketing is an attempt to deliver a marketing message that spreads quickly and exponentially among consumers. Today, this often comes in the form of an email message or video. Contrary to alarmists’ fear, viral isn’t evil. It isn’t dishonest or unnatural. At its best, it is word of mouth enabled, and at its worst, it’s just another interruptive marketing message.
What is Buzz Marketing?
Buzz Marketing is an event or activity that generates publicity, excitement, and information to the consumer. It’s usually something that combines a wacky, jaw-dropping event or experience with pure branding, like tattooing your forehead (or your ass, as a NYC health club recently did). If buzz is done right, people will write about it, so it essentially becomes a great PR vehicle.
Here’s a great infographic on why Word of Mouth works so well, including some incredible statistics:
- WOM influences 50% of all purchase decisions.
- WOM scales – 1,000 customers can generate up to 1/2 a million conversations about your brand.
- Customers trust their own stories, not your brands.
- Lack of customer trust leads to over half of all consumers not purchasing.
- Consumers are influenced by testimonials, social media shares, and public reviews.
- Most social media shares about a brand are positive.
- Superfans account for 10% of referrals.
- Social media makes WOMM incredibly easy and effective.
