The Power of Word of Mouth

At the WOMBAT 2 conference, or Word of Mouth Basic Training, John Bell of Ogilvy PR, discusses the idea and energy of “word of mouth” in public relations today. He emphasizes the need to strengthen word of mouth as well as determine ways to quantify its results through promoter scores and web metrics. Bell introduces the idea of co-creation, as well as provides insight into his inspiration of the genuine nature behind word of mouth.

Additionally, it seems that word of mouth today encompasses blogging. Posting ideas, observations, and comments on blogs represents a modern day word of mouth in the sense that a great deal of people trust what they read on blogs. Having said that, do blogs indeed signify a contemporary approach to word of mouth?

Blog postings, while mostly credible, should be taken with a grain of salt. They can be great information guides, facilitate networking and relationship building, and introduce new ideas, technology, and news. However, unfortunately you can’t always trust what you see on the Internet, so taking caution is necessary.