Abstract

Each day, millions of consumers venture online to search and exchange product information, seek out, and share opinions. Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication has been shown to influence consumer actions across a variety of industries (King, Racherla, and Bush 2014). A significant portion of eWOM occurs on social media platforms. Whether it is a status update of an upcoming vacation on Facebook, a picture of a laundry room makeover on Pinterest, or a YouTube video discussing the features on the new iPhone, consumers are turning to a variety of social platforms to make everyday purchasing decisions easier for themselves and others. Indeed, social word of mouth (sWOM)—a subset of eWOM—has incredible reach with the potential to influence over 2 billion active social media consumers.

The purpose of this book is to examine the influence of sWOM and provide guidance on how to operationalize its growing power. Our goal in writing this book was to bring together industry best practices and academic research to help you construct social media content that speaks with your brand voice, stimulates engagement, inspires consumers to share (#share), and that complies with industry and federal guidelines. Each chapter highlights a key area of sWOM that will further your understanding of the topic and provides actionable information to assist you in mobilizing positive sWOM for your company.

Keywords

Brand Advocates, Brand Ambassadors, Brand Endorsers, Consumer Reviews, eWOM, Facebook, Google+, Influencers, Instagram, Pinterest, Social Influence, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Policy, Social Media Regulations, sWOM, Twitter, Viral Marketing, WOMM, Word of mouth marketing, YouTube