We’ve all had to make decisions when buying thing, opting for a mobile phone company, accepting one job over another (how lucky are you!) but what is it that makes you solidify your decision in the end? You may have to respond and make your choice quickly or you may have a luxury of a few days or a week; regardless, what is the biggest influencing factor when making that purchasing decision for example?
Just a quick examination tells us that there are few channels that influence those decisions. You have your traditional paper, magazine, radio and television advertising and then you have online marketing that includes social media marketing.
What else is there. How about a review from a source you can trust – a review site, maybe if you trust that review site. How about ‘real people’ reviews, can you trust them, well.. maybe. How about a particular person, someone you had done some business with and it worked out well – now you’re talking!
People are much more likely to believe someone they have successfully associated with than your traditional advert on TV or in the magazine. We all say ‘that is just marketing, it’s BS’ or along those lines 🙂
So and finally, in addition to your trusted colleagues, business partners or other vendors you are most likely to believe your FRIENDS and FAMILY.
If you were on the way to the shop to buy a Dell computer and a friend who you know is tech savvy just says, don’t buy Dell, buy Sony you are much more likely to change your mind despite the wonderful ad you saw on TV the night before.
Word of mouth is the key and the same way we used to and still verbally consult our friends and family, we now go online and use social media. Whatever happens to be the next social delivery vehicle, be it social media like Facebook now, we will always trust other ordinary people, especially the ones we can trust.
This is why despite all the advances, in essence we are still ‘listening’ to other real people just like we have for the past 100 years, it is just the the medium is changing and at the moment that medium is social media – read: Twitter and Facebook.
