The Medium and the Message: The Surprising Role the Internet Plays in Word-of-Mouth - Ed Keller - MediaBizBloggers

It is almost always surprises people when I show our research that finds 90 of word of mouth conversations about products services and brands takes place offline while less than 10 of conversations happen online through blogs chat rooms and social media such as Facebook and Twitter How could that be many ask given the meteoric rise of social media sitesA new study from Yahoo and Keller Fay Group released last week sheds new light on the role the internet plays in driving word of mouthConsistent with past research from my firm this new report continues to support the 9010 offlineonline finding we have seen and reported below It also finds in the course of an entire day when taking into account the multiple word of mouth conversations the average person has each day the internet is more prominentamp821222 of all US consumers have a brandrelated conversation at least once online in an average day versus 45 on the phone and 93 face to faceFrom Special June 2010 Report for YahooSource Keller Fay Group39s TalkTrackamp174 August 2009 amp8211 January 2010Still the Internet39s thirdplace showing may sound surprising in this day and age particularly in a study sponsored by one of the biggest names in online mediaBut it39s not the whole storyEven for conversations that happen face to face or over the phone the internet plays a big role in providing content to help drive or support those conversations People use the internet as an information resource before during or after a conversation providing concrete information and credibility in support of opinion and advice Think about how often you yourself have had a conversation about a brand or company and one of you said quotWait let39s check that outquot and used a mobile device or computer notebook to get the answer onlineThe new Yahoo report shows that the internet now plays a nearly equal role to television in supplying content to conversations Including all types of websites and web resources in fully 15 of all WOM conversations about brands somebody in the conversation quotes information they found onlineamp8212almost equal to the 16 who quote content from TV No other medium is ranked higher than TV and the internet in providing conversational contentThe proportion of conversations containing online content is also rising fastamp8212up 25 in the last year driven particularly by teens and young adults who discuss internet content in 22 of their conversations about brandsFrom Special June 2010 Report for YahooSource Keller Fay Group39s TalkTrackamp174 July 2008 amp8211 January 2010So the internet is crucial to word of mouthamp8212it just works differently than many marketers assume It isn39t the medium for conversations so much as it fuels the messageThe growing interplay between online media and offline conversations holds important implications for marketersMarketers should be designing web contentamp8212including their brand websitesamp8212to provide quick quotbitesizedquot answers to the most frequently asked questions about their products and services on the assumptions that many quotsearchersquot will be looking for answers in quotmidconversationquot They should also be designing display ads with a goal of stimulating a conversation between friends or family that may be using the internet together or in close proximity And brands should be pushing out to their most loyal advocates content that is easy to forward to prospective customers and encourages them to do soThere is a huge word of mouth opportunity on the internetamp8212but it39s bigger than social networking sites and works hand in hand with the oldest form of WOM Face to face conversationsEd Keller CEO of the Keller Fay Group has been called quotone of the most recognized names in word of mouthquot The publication of Keller39s book The Influentials has been called the quotseminal moment in the development of word of mouthquot Ed can be contacted at ekellerkellerfaycomRead all Edamp8217s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Ed Keller MediaBizBloggersCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBlogger

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The Medium and the Message: The Surprising Role the Internet Plays in Word-of-Mouth - Ed Keller - MediaBizBloggers

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