Blog: The power of online recommendations and eWOM

An important part of social media is the power of online recommendations and eWOM. And from our own experience, we’ve probably all read an online review before making a purchase. However, being able to harness the power of social media recommendations is another matter. In fact, one of the articles attached suggests that advocacy can produce up to an 80% reach for a marketing campaign. Yet only about 15% of the brand mentions, analysed in the article, were advocating for a brand. One solution might be in the second article attached, where retailers are paying customers to advocate for their brand. Looking over the theories such as knowledge sharing, self enhancement and social capital, my question to you is this. Is self enhancement or altruistic motives enough to generate good eWOM? Or do our expected outcomes include economic incentives? And if retailers pay our friends to advocate on their behalf, how does that make us feel? Is it eWOM or is it advertising or is it treachery?