Electronic Word of Mouth 1 - Introduction

This series of posts is based upon a review paper titled “Conceptualizing the electronic word-of-mouth process: What we know and need to know about eWOM creation, exposure, and evaluation” by Rosario et al. (2019).

Word of Mouth (WOM) marketing is one of the most effective ways of marketing your product. What you know about the traditional WOM does not always apply to its more modern version. So, why, how, and what do I do?

First, let’s start with a definition of Electronic Word of Mouth. Henning-Thurau et al. define it as “statement made by potential, actual, or former customers about a product or company, which is made available to a multitude of people and institutions via the Internet[.]” The key here is the wider availability of the statement. It is no longer a group of friends discussing something privately. Neither is it only about words; conversations. Now we also talk about videos, and pictures.

Since we are talking about sharing information with the world, emails are not eWOM. Neither are critics’ reviews, ads or all user generated content - e.g. people expressing their moods don’t count.

So how do I know why users post their feelings about my product or service? How do I encourage them to post more positive reviews? How do I discourage them from posting negative reviews? Why do users seek out information about products and services at all?

The answers to these questions will be posted on my blog in the following weeks. Be sure to follow me to make sure you don’t miss any entry._ to not miss any post.

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This was the first post in the series. <br>

1. Introduction <br>
2. Creation <br>
3. Exposure <br>
4. Evaluation <br>