A new Keller Fay study has just corroborated one of the most obvious insights in WOM: the majority of word of mouth still happens offline.
The study found that 93% of the general public use face-to-face communication as their primary mode of WOM, and that even 85% of social media-obsessed teens spread most of their opinions and recommendations offline.
Wow. Who’d have thought it? Um, pretty much anyone who’s a human being?
Now, we’ve posted about this a few times before: here and here and here, for example. Or check out our dedicated offline/online blog category, which has lots of examples of how to spread real world conversation. It’s a no-brainer to us: social media is a wonderful amplifier and accelerator of WOM, but most conversation stems from physical, emotional experiences away from the keyboard (or touchpad).
Another interesting outcome of the research is the top-twenty of most talked about brands. For teens these are (in order) Coca-Cola, Apple, Verizon, iPod, Ford, Pepsi, McDonald’s, AT&T, Sony, Nike, Dell, Chevrolet, Microsoft, Sprite, Toyota, Walmart, Sprint, Samsung, T-Mobile and Hollister. For the general public they are: Coca-Cola, Verizon, Walmart, AT&T, Pepsi, Ford, Apple, McDonald’s, Sony, Dell, Chevrolet, Toyota, Target, Sprint, HP, iPod, Nike, Microsoft, Honda and T-Mobile.
They’re startlingly similar lists. Keller Fay CEO Ed Keller believes this isn’t just a result of inherently great products or reputation, but stems from the frequency of visual cues about these brands in the real world, from promotions to point of sale to watching others using their products – something we like to call observational learning, and which I’ve written a whole article on in this month’s AdMap.
So what does this mean? It means that marketers need to stop erecting false barriers between the digital and the real, and start integrating multisensory, physical triggers and experiences into everything they do. Have a look at how we did it for The V&A, for Nokia and for Sainsburys.
Just think about it as you go about your exciting life this weekend. What visual cues do you see? How often do you talk about brands offline as opposed to on your online social presences? Does Twitter really compare to having an earnest slightly-drunk pub chat?
Let us know your insights on Monday!
Molly Flatt