Digital Word-of-Mouth - Thesis Example

The social ads could even appear with a friend's photo marked 'sponsored'. External sites such as eBay and Fandago use coding, called a Beacon, which detect a friend's activities. The biographical information of the user is used to channel the appropriate ads to the user's site. For instance, advertisers can limit their target customers to a certain age level, gender, or leisure/interest. Companies can create pages and add Beacons for free. But companies which advertise in Facebook do not have access to individuals' profiles the way their friends do.

This is a big plus point of Facebook. So all in all Facebook's Beacon program appears to be a good step and is most likely going to benefit Facebook over the coming times because a large number of researches and studies indicate that because of the personal nature of the communications between individuals product information communicated in this way has an added layer of credibility and Facebook, considering its immense popularity which is ever increasing day by day; is definitely a best platform available to companies wishing to benefit from Digital Word of Mouth marketing strategies.

Social media gives word-of-mouth nearly limitless reach. If Word of Mouth was limited to face-to-face communication, it would have limited reach. However, online communities and social media extend the reach of WOM. According to Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Facebook's advertising initiatives raise a crucial question that when users go on one website, do they reasonably expect their information to be transferred to another site This is no single answer to this.

Effectiveness of Digital Word of Mouth as an advertising tool:Perhaps what is most important to be considered is the role of word of mouth advertising in persuading consumers. According to a post by Adrants regarding the validity of P&G's Vocalpoint which provides marketing services based on Digital Word of Mouth marketing:"While test market pilots proved Procter & Gamble's word of mouth arm, Vocalpoint, is a success and increases sales, the Word of Mouth Marketing Associatio