Word of Mouth Marketing Still Relevant?

There was a post over on Pronet Advertising earlier in September that has stuck in my head for a little while now. The post was titled Social Media is the New Word-of-Mouth. Perhaps what caught my attention about the post was how narrow minded the post was about word of mouth advertising.

Fact of the matter is that social media is the new word-of-mouth and it’s about time we stepped out of the last century way of thinking about wom.

There is no doubt that social media is becoming an important part of word of mouth marketing, but it is not the only part. The fact is people are social, they like to stand around the staff lounge, talk over coffee and get together. As much as we like to think that chatting over the Internet is social or participating in social media is sharing, it is not the same a talking with a friend or coworker face to face. Social media is another way to help people get together to talk about you, your website or product.

A recent example from my business. When I get a new client I often ask how they heard about me. 90 to 95% of the time the person heard about me and my work from another client that has been happy with my work and passed my name on. That is word of mouth marketing, a trusted reference from a happy client. Thanks to all of my clients out there that have let others know about me.