Brands obtain additional free exposure when motivated customers begin to act as word-of mouth advocates, says a recent report from eMarketer.com.

Ok, so if you are already a believer in the various merits of relationship marketing and CRM then this isn't going to be 'news' exactly but it is further evidence that the revolution is gathering pace and this business philosophy becoming mainstream advice.

According to the report, the most common word-of-mouth activity reported by respondents was helping a friend or family member with a purchase decision, but more than two-fifths also said they had shared advice offline about information they learned on the Web. Significantly fewer Internet users posted their own ratings and reviews online, and only about one-half as many shared links to articles or reviews about products.

Participation in most of the social media and word-of-mouth activities was highest among younger adults, almost one-half of whom gave in-person advice based on online information. Respondents aged 18 to 24 were also more likely than older Web users to post ratings and reviews, share links, and have a blog.

PostRelease also broke down respondents according to whether or not they participate in online forums, which about one-fifth of those polled did. Forum participants were significantly more likely to take part in all the activities queried. Notably:

• 65% of forum contributors give advice offline based on information found online, compared with 35% of noncontributors.
  66% of forum contributors post online ratings and reviews, compared with 16.8% of noncontributors.
  43.6% of forum contributors share links to articles and reviews, versus 12% of noncontributors.
  20.6% of forum contributors publish a blog, compared with 2.1% of noncontributors.

Users of forums, who are already actively engaged in online social activity, make for “enthusiastic consumers and influential brand advocates,” according to a statement by Justin Choi, president and founder of PostRelease.

My view is that this isn't really a new effect - people have always shared their thoughts and preferences with friends and family and, if those people trusted the advocates' advices, then they allowed the advice to shape their own decision making. What's different is that the social web has allowed more people to act as both advocates and as willing listeners, so the effect simply grows and has become more important than any other mechanism for influencing behaviour.

Original article...