Does Word-of-Mouth Advertising Still Work?

Social media may sound like something that would interest your children, but in reality it can be used as a powerful marketing tool for local businesses. Facebook continues to grow by leaps and bounds, adding users from every age group, from preteens all the way up to senior citizens. It’s likely that most of your existing customers and potential customers have Facebook accounts and check them regularly.

So why is social media important to you? How is social media going to help you with sales?

Social media is the new ‘word of mouth’ way of advertising. MANY businesses like to think that their products or services are so good that the only advertising they need is word-of-mouth. In other words, your customers will advertise to their friends for you so you won’t have to pay for advertising yourself. It’s a great model, and has actually worked wonders for many businesses.

But what happens when people interact face-to-face less often? Word-of-mouth becomes less effective. To maintain this means of advertising, your business has to exist in the space where word-of-mouth continues to be effective – social media. More and more, customers are using Facebook or Pinterest or Twitter to let their friends (and the world, really) know about the products or services they just received.

The good news for business owners is that the new word-of-mouth is still FREE. You don’t have to pay for a Facebook page for your business or a Twitter account, or even an online tool that lets you manage multiple social media accounts in one place.

Here’s a great example…

Jenny has a Facebook account that she visits regularly, as do most of her 260 Facebook friends. She visits your coffee shop, and as she’s waiting in line, notices a flyer on the counter asking customers to check-in on Facebook as a courtesy. Since she was already browsing around on her cell phone, she opens her Facebook app and checks in on Facebook. Her 260 Facebook friends now see on their social media feed an advertisement of sorts (and even an endorsement) from Jenny letting them know that she was at your establishment.

Then as she leaves with her coffee and muffin, she notices a window decal thanking her for her visit and gently reminding her to review your shop on Facebook, or Yelp, or Google+, etc. You get the picture. Imagine if just 10 people per day like Jenny did this. That’s 2600 word-of-mouth endorsements PER DAY.

But why stop there. Get your employees to regularly encourage visitors to check in on Facebook or Yelp. Let your customers know that it helps your business. It doesn’t cost your customer anything, except for a few seconds of their day. Can you imagine the advertising tidal wave that could result if you were to have half or more of your customers checking in at your store? How many people would see your store’s name in their social media feeds? Thousands per day, tens of thousands per day, more even? That’s the power of social media – and IT’S FREE!

If you need help setting up your social media accounts correctly and optimized so that you are able to benefit the most, then give us a call at (806) 329-3272 or browse over to our social media account setup page for more information.