Word-of-mouth marketing: 2023 trends
Word-of-mouth marketing is a strategy that can bring your business to the highest of heights. At the same time, it can be its demise. When one hears of such marketing, it’s common to think of sales only. However, the goal of word-of-mouth advertising is not only to improve sales but also to build a brand’s following. To help you potentially do both, Digital Dot, a leading New York digital marketing agency, has compiled a list of three recent trends that should help your customers spread nothing but good things about your business.
How does one define word-of-mouth marketing?
Word-of-mouth marketing has existed for almost as long as people have lived. It existed long before the word ”marketing” came to be. The premise of trust is the reason why it works so well. But what exactly is it, and how does it function? Well, it is generally a strategy that relies on positive feedback from existing clients to spread the word about a company’s products or services. It’s simple; the better the word about your business, the more likely new people will come to you.
Various advertising strategies may improve the chances of positive feedback circulating. Some of them fall under social media marketing solutions in the modern world. Others may focus on elements one might find on a company website, such as a blog. Of course, not every strategy you employ will significantly aid your word-of-mouth marketing efforts since trends change almost daily. For that reason, you must pay close attention to what approaches are currently relevant. Should you want to stay on top of your word-of-mouth advertising game, that is.
The hottest 2023 trends in word-of-mouth marketing
Allow us to guide you through the latest trends in advertising, ones that your business will surely benefit from post-implementation!
#1 Social media presence
It’s great that you’re using social media to promote your business, but how present are you? Thanks to social media, a brand’s customers and followers can interact with it in a way that was never before possible. That’s why, if the goal is to circulate positive thoughts, you must improve your social media presence and practice engaging with the audience.
That begs the question, is there a right way to interact with your following? Not really. It’s only important that you, well, interact. For instance, whenever an individual asks something in the comments section of your posts, please provide them with an answer. Go the extra mile to solve their inquiry by sending them a direct message. You’d also be surprised by the power of a ”thank you” message or a follow-up reply. Furthermore, responding to posts in which your business has been tagged is a terrific way to increase brand awareness. Express your gratitude to the customer for displaying your goods. Or compliment them on how wonderful everything looks. Overall, the greater the effort you put into establishing rapport, the greater the chance of your word-of-mouth marketing going your way.
On top of engaging with your audience in the literal sense of that word, you must also use social media platforms to post content daily to promote word-of-mouth advertising. However, as managing content across multiple platforms can sometimes be too much, we recommend creating a social media calendar. That way, you can track what you have posted, when, and where.
#2 Taking advantage of costumer-generated content
For businesses, customer-generated content (CGC), also known as consumer-generated content and user-generated content, is as valuable as gold. And it is precisely what it sounds like — content generated by your customers, for sure, but also your followers. No payment is involved in organic CGC. In general, those who are devoted to your brand will create material for no other reason than to express their devotion. Now, you may be wondering how to use customer-generated content. However, before doing so, you must remember you’ll need permission. You’ll also need to give proper credit before repositing someone else’s work. Failure to do that will, instead of building a community, likely cause you to lose your following.
Nothing beats organic CGC. Nevertheless, if you already have brand ambassadors, you can incorporate incentivized customer-generated content into the ambassadorship to improve your word-of-mouth advertising. With this method, you may have more control over the direction of content creation.
Furthermore, you can also use customer-generated content to capitalize on the fear of missing out (FOMO). After seeing what it looks like to be a part of your community, those who aren’t yet members will strongly desire to join the crowd. And if you’ve already attracted people who share the same values as your company does, even better! You’re bound soon to see a rise in brand loyalty and engagement!
#3 Ambassadorship
And that brings us to the final and briefly touched upon trend — ambassadorship. With the right brand advocates whose job is to present you in the best possible light, your business can gain the recognition it deserves. That being said, doesn’t it make sense to put them to work on expanding your customer base by having them participate in activation campaigns and rewarding them for suggesting new members to your ambassadorship program? After all, being a part of your community, they already know everything about your business and should be able to attract a new following. Furthermore, it’s precisely community-led growth among the best marketing strategies of 2023 and, thus, one of the best word-of-mouth marketing trends.