Word-of-Mouth Advocacy

ABSTRACT Marketers are increasingly focused on social marketing, encouraging consumers to share content as well as recommendations, seeking more emphasis on consumer “expressions” and not just “impressions.” But how should expressions be achieved and measured? The authors argue for a holistic approach, one which recognizes that consumer expressions occur most often face-to-face and are not primarily the purview of online social media. Given research that demonstrates a powerful relationship between word-of-mouth and paid advertising, the authors suggest the need for a new advertising model, one in which a key goal of the ad is to foster conversation; the conversation then persuades the prospect, which leads to purchase.