Is social media the new word of mouth?
Tesni Kendell
Social media support for small businesses - I'm based in North Wales (UK) but all the support is provided remotely ?
They say that word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing and social media is the new version of the same concept. I actually disagree. Word of mouth is definitely powerful, but social media hasn't replaced it. To me, social media is an extension of word of mouth marketing. Let me explain.
A new world for word of mouth
Of course a business is going to say that their products are amazing and highlight the benefits of their services - they really wouldn't be marketing if they didn't! But how can we know to trust them? Word of mouth is powerful because if a friend recommends that business to us, we know we can trust them. Social media is a space where we can see what friends recommend without even having that conversation with them. Social media has the same power as word of mouth in a global and borderless way.
In that sense, I can see why people say that social media has replaced word of mouth - but I'd argue that it's just given it a boost!
Social media is more than digital
However (and I think this is what people forget!), social media is also a way for us small business owners to spark those in-person conversations among friends. Friends will often tell us about something they've learnt on LinkedIn, a funny video they saw on Instagram or something really inspiring that popped up on their TikTok FYP. Later, when the algorithm shows us that post, we'll remember the conversation and we'll actually pay attention to the post and maybe even check out the creator.
As a small business using social media as a marketing tool, we focus on the engagement that we can quantity, the likes, the comments, the shares, etc - but we forget about all the conversations that the "lurkers" are having.
Three important reminders
1 - Your engagement rate does not reflect the true impact your posts have on your audience.
2 - A call to action prompting people to reflect can be just as powerful as promoting them to comment.
3 - Social media is a space that allows you to not only benefit from word of mouth marketing from customers but also from random people that you are supporting, entertaining or educating.
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Tesni xx