Electronic Word of Mouth in CONTENT MARKETING

Electronic Word of Mouth e-WOM is a great application of content marketing these days.


Let’s say a Country or a nation has a bad reputation, maybe one of the locals shot 150 people unprovoked or it could have something smaller, a phoenix rose out of ash and still died of lung cancer and people of the country laughed too much at him. Whenever the name of that country comes up, some negativity is taped to it. e-WOM is something that can mend this wound.



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Electronic Word of Mouth will demolish all the preconceived notions about anything, once a few of the people with influence start talking about it on the internet.

• This is not a new concept but the effectiveness of e-WOM to lift tourism and businesses is at its highest.

• With tremendously easy access to large video files, thanks to faster internet speeds, everything has a room for transparency.

• As long as the web content related to anything is in significant amounts, all the conflicted opinions are sorted out eventually.

• It’s democratic in nature and unlike mainstream media, both the production and response to the content is pretty rapid and ratings are organic. All the manipulations are caught eventually in this form of word of mouth building.

e-WOM helps to develop trust in vendors, trust in product, highlight comparative value with competitors and it helps you understand about opportunity costs of buying anything or receiving any services. Nitty gritty details about products and services are not the main goal when the content is produced by the vendors but in case of online promotions, the creators are autonomous to a certain degree and they choose to reveal all the positives and negatives about anything.


An advertisement is commissioned by the vendors and they’ve complete creative control over the production of that advertisement. In that sense, any false promises made by them in the commercials are not a headache for the TV channels. On the other hand, if a youtuber, vlogger or web influencer makes some content about a product, they have to be unbiased as their own brand value and reputation is at stake if they are an accessory to the false advertisement. It ensures that all the creative control is not in the hands of the vendor and the viewer is left with a little more room to trust the content in this situation.




Product reviews online are ridden with content creater’s judgements, them being consumers of those products most of the time also helps to accentuate authenticity in the review process.




Let’s talk about the top industries, which benefit from positive e-WOM

FOOD INDUSTRY

It’s hard to understand others' point of view on an empty stomach so the customers in a restaurant, cafe or a burger joint are extremely likely to expect consistency in terms of service, taste, and environment from a food related business. 

 

 Photo from Unsplash 

Social Media is not just a trend now, it’s an integral part of our lives and currently, opinions about a product in the virtual world holds a capacity to alter buyers’ behaviour. With online reviews, customers now are thriving on information. Review readers now understand which sources to trust. General trends of the total reviews make it easy, it’s always skewed in one direction, either very positive or very negative. It’s common for restaurant eaters to be satisfied with the actual service provided by the business, if e-WOM had been a pleasing one. A

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS

This is one of the industries where the electronic word of mouth communicates exceptionally well. To sieve the truth from deception, an ocean of youtubers uploading vast amounts of review data is enough. It’s not just the well known products, now even regional and obscure electronics and tech related products have dozens of reviews on youtube, social media, streaming sites and personal websites of the reviewers. 

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Again, easy access to faster internet makes it possible for a customer to have the most detailed visual inspection of a product before buying. Due to the unscripted element of this web content, a customer is not only restricted to viewing a few pictures or carefully crafted videos of products. When a review unboxes a product for the first time in front of the camera, they’re as aware about it as the viewer, which makes the whole experience very authentic. It unravels the true scope of ease of use of any electronics product.



Few of the great things about these reviews are

• In depth product reviews after few months of usage by the creators.
• Sheer volume of content about reviewing electronics drive purchase decisions by millions of people around the globe.
  
• With reviewers becoming an essential part of the marketing strategies for large manufacturers, they get early access to certain products. In turn, buyers receive comprehensive exploration and analysis of the products.

HOTELS AND HOSPITALITY

With the rise of technology, every house can be a hotel with services like AirBnB, flipkey, Homeaway etc. Without technology and heavy streams of information being put on the internet related to any rental locations, all the time, nobody would trust such services. Tourists and reviewers spend the time and shoot their vlogs, some part of their travel documentaries, in these rental vacation spots.


In case of tourists uploading their moments of leisure and relaxation on their social media and blogs do create some good or bad word of mouth for the rest houses, hotels and vacation spots.


Too much creativity, which is pushed into the mainstream advertisements, just seems wanting. In the realm of web content, it’s more carefree and based on the true experience of the real users of the product or service.