Content uploaded by Kalpathy Ramaiyer Subramanian
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Kalpathy Ramaiyer Subramanian on Sep 01, 2018
Content may be subject to copyright.
International Research Journal of Advanced Engineering and Science
ISSN (Online): 2455-9024
95
Dr. K. R. Subramanian, “Social media and the word of mouth publicity,” International Research Journal of Advanced Engineering and
Science, Volume 3, Issue 2, pp. 95-100, 2018.
Social Media and the Word of Mouth Publicity
Dr. K. R. Subramanian
Professor of Management & Senior, Consultant – Operations, Credait.com
Email address: krsubramanian64@gmail.com
Abstract— Publicity has been an important component of marketing
efforts for a long time. Traditionally many companies relied on word
of mouth publicity. With the arrival and proliferation of digital media
and the new generation of millennial, the equation is changing. The
speed of doing business has increased and customer is impatient to
wait. Advertisement and Sales promotion are still relevant but the
media has changed. A satisfied customer is the best ambassador for a
company or Product even in the digital era and will perhaps be the
same in the days to come. Traditionally, that even a few years ago, a
satisfied customer was your best bet for further promotion by word of
mouth and is still happening. But the word of mouth has changed to
messages and images through the mobiles and the digital media. The
point to be noticed is that the word of mouth is still the best, but in
the present era of instant gratification, the word of mouth is
accelerated through the mobile and other digital media devices. The
social media is the new generation ‘word of mouth’.
Keywords— Impact of social media in the digital world, word of
mouth is accelerated in an age of instant gratification the relative
roles are complimentary.
I. INTRODUCTION
Social media is influencing every aspect of our daily lives.
Advertisement and Sales Promotion have a great role to play
in Product and Company acceptance. The advent of
technology and the rise of social media have changed the way
that consumers receive marketing messages and perceive
advertisements. The entire process involved in buying a
product has been transformed, and traditional advertising is
beginning to lose its effect and importance. Paid media -
television and radio commercials, print advertisements,
hoardings - still influence the consumer to some extent, but
not as much as they used to. Word-of-mouth marketing is the
oldest form of advertising, the most simple and often the most
effective. Earlier there were billboards, radio commercials or
newspaper ads, people shared their opinions of products and
services through conversation. Today, with the online
communities that form on social networking sites, word-of-
mouth marketing has become word of the messages and more
important.
No longer does consumer promotion of a product have
to be limited to one-on-one conversation. Social media
sites, blogs, and online testimonials are platforms in which
people can speak their mind and reach thousands of people
at once. Digital word-of-mouth is social media marketing.
Companies have to understand the power that consumers
possess on social media networks and the influence they
can have over each other concerning the purchases and
opinions of goods and services. Consumers are much more
likely to trust the advice and opinions of their peers over
advertisements coming directly from the company through
various media. People talk about products they like because
they believe they are of good quality, and they feel a
compelling need to share their opinion with others. Before
making a purchase, especially if it is a new product or
something expensive, consumers like to do a certain
amount of research beforehand. This generally consists of
seeking the opinions of others and checking out what
people have to say online. Both of these forms of product
research are examples of word-of-mouth marketing; people
talking to other people about a business and the goods or
services that they sell.
Fig. 1. Word of mouth publicity.
Companies spend millions of dollars each year on
traditional advertisements, which still serve a purpose and
influence consumers. But digital word-of-mouth marketing
is becoming increasingly more relevant for the businesses
and their advertising teams. It is very effective, it's
authentic, and it can help bring customers to your doors in
numbers. In the information and digital age the word of
mouth has become the click of the mouse.
II. OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY
Although concepts like „brand‟ and „marketing‟ have only
recently been introduced into our way of thinking and
International Research Journal of Advanced Engineering and Science
ISSN (Online): 2455-9024
96
Dr. K. R. Subramanian, “Social media and the word of mouth publicity,” International Research Journal of Advanced Engineering and
Science, Volume 3, Issue 2, pp. 95-100, 2018.
language, people have been discussing products and brands
with others for many centuries and they still do. Word-of-
mouth occurs everywhere people get together: at the local pub,
at home, in the sports club and increasingly online and on
social media. And there are many reasons why people like to
talk about their experiences with products and brands. These
experiences, brand experiences and individual customer
experiences, as well as overall opinions regarding perceived
levels of overall customer experience, customer service,
satisfaction, etc. are shared and often have a very personal and
subjective nature. But they increasingly happen in a very
public space: the social Web. In the social media age word-
of-mouth can travel fast, very fast. The scale, speed and real-
time nature of the social Web and the increased possibilities
for people to share and express themselves play a crucial role
in this. With this in view the following specific Objectives
have been identified for this research paper:
1. A review of marketing environment and role of social
media.
2. Word of mouth and the social web connection.
3. How marketers make use of this connection
4. How the digital media has accelerated this process.
5. Suggestions and recommendations for future marketers.
The nature of the topic will suggest a suitable methodology
i.e. published literature in the print and web media. The author
on making a detailed search was able to find a good number of
papers ad publications and an increasing interest in the area.
So, a detailed literature survey was made. The required data
was analyzed to arrive at the conclusions
Various suggestions have been made along with the
Conclusion for further detailed analysis and study by
researchers who may find interest in this exciting area which
holds a lot of promise for future.
III. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
With so many ads crowding social media, word of mouth
is a prime factor in 20-50% of purchasing decisions. Social
media influencers are major players in the marketing world as
they have a long list of loyal followers who trust their
judgments about products and companies. There is a social
media influencer for everything; from beauty, to health &
fitness, even technology. The users subscribing to the content
in social media are actively investing their time and interest to
follow these influencers and their opinions. It‟s almost like
receiving advice from a trusted friend: you would rather listen
to them than a one off advertisement. Social media influencers
become a face to your brand or product, a recognizable person
with lots of influence. That face is friendly and offers his or
her followers advice when purchasing products, and this is
more real time than ordinary product advertisements. While
influencers in social media campaigns are growing in number
and cost, social media influencers are sought after more and
more by companies. With a target audience only a tweet away,
social media influencers are the new, creative way to spread
the word.
Word-of-mouth marketing is a connected effort that also
includes offline marketing. This is natural, given the fact that
people increasingly use various channels as well and they
share, information and even influence buying behavior.
Marketers find out every day that combining word-of-mouth
publicity and peer-to-peer programs and activities such as
customer reviews, social media related WOM activities,
referral marketing etc. leverage the global impact of their
marketing campaigns. The same goes for having an integrated
and holistic view on the customer centricity in corporate
marketing and interactions with customers and prospects.
People are definitely influenced by family members,
friends and other members that they know and trust. In this
social media age they even rely upon the advice of complete
strangers through their tweets in the media. This also applies
to any pre-purchase advice and brand information which is
obtained through such interactions. WOM is an offline matter;
though it is clear from the rising success and the increasing
attention from marketers has a lot to do with the emergence of
the digital media, and in particular social media. They are the
carriers of people‟s voices, brand and product messages and
opinions through viral marketing efforts. To get “carried”, all
you need are the right stories to be planted in the messages of
social media. Word-of-mouth marketing does not only involve
products, brands and companies, it involves experiences and
interactions, including with companies: experiences with
businesses and products which are talked about in chats.
Whether they are „justified‟ or not: there is very little you can
do to stop or get around this. Every individual contact with a
company, and therefore with every employee of that company,
influences brand perception and customer experience and thus
plays an important role in WOM marketing.
Fig. 2. Trust and influence – [Ref: Razor fish platforms].
Word-of-mouth leads to new customers, shorter sales
cycles, improved branding and much more customer
information on marketing of products and services. Implanting
a client-oriented business story across all messages and tweets
is the key to such marketing efforts. With the emergence of
social media, which gives the stories and opinions of people a
faster and larger reach, WOM has become a more complex
and involved medium for marketers. Communication appears
to be much more personalized and more uncontrollable than
ever before because of the unpredictable nature of customer
reactions. But at the same time the dynamic changes in
International Research Journal of Advanced Engineering and Science
ISSN (Online): 2455-9024
97
Dr. K. R. Subramanian, “Social media and the word of mouth publicity,” International Research Journal of Advanced Engineering and
Science, Volume 3, Issue 2, pp. 95-100, 2018.
communication between people to people (businesses are
composed of people) have opened many avenues for
marketers who tactically exploit new media to efficiently use
WOM with never before seen and exponentially effective
results. One of the components of a word -of-mouth marketing
plan is often identifying people with an influential voice and
opinion on a specific topic, including for example web users.
It is also important to know who is positive about your brand
and could be a potential brand advocate. Through analysis of
what happens on social media you can also see which users
your target marketing aim to capture through your campaign
and also who has the most influential voice. Through „Social
Media Listening‟ you can identify existing supporters of your
brand whose opinion people seem to trust. You can reach
these people as a brand promotion activity via social media. In
other words, although WOM happens everywhere, there is a
clear link between social media and word-of-mouth publicity.
People discuss products, brands and services with one
another through social media. A more fundamental question
will be why people do this. As an answer to this question will
quickly indicate that there are people who „participate in
WOM‟ far more than others and that you can even categorize
them as active for promotional messages. There are many
reasons but the main ones are certainly psychological. Social
acceptance and recognition - People like to feel like they
‘belong’ to a particular group and accepted for their voice.
They like to contribute in a media tweet and another step
further they crave for recognition and appreciation. One of the
most important psychological motivations why people share
their product and brand experiences with one another involves
making a positive contribution to the social circle(s) to which
they belong. This is an important reason for marketers who
want to make maximum use of WOM. People are not only
anxious of social acceptance, often they also want to
differentiate themselves within the “groups” they belong to for
their opinions. They do this by discussing their unique
experiences about the products that they have purchased and
the performance there of.
IV. SOME BENEFITS OF WORD-OF-MOUTH MARKETING
How word-of-mouth and social media are connected and
how the attention WOM has received from marketers, has now
been realized even more by the success of social network
platforms as explained in the earlier paragraphs. With the
emergence of the digital network economy, the focus on the
client and the explosion of the ways in which we can satisfy
our psychological WOM motivations (recognition, social
acceptance, sharing, distinguishing oneself, radiating
authority, doing something good for someone else, etc. ) also
play a role and has been exploited more.
1. WOM is customized to the digital network society.
Word-of-mouth marketing is an extremely powerful
marketing instrument. It has an exponential effect that is
strengthened by the online communication channels which can
be customized and the consequences of the network economy.
WOM leads to possibilities that are linked to the scale of the
networks. The rise of online media and communication means
has markedly increased the speed in which messages are
shared in social networks. At the same time the cost is often
found to be much lower than that of other forms of marketing
and the ROI better.
Fig. 3. Social influence and word of mouth publicity.
2. WOM presents a powerful answer to modern marketing
challenges.
The explosion of media and the changing pattern of
consumption thereof have made the marketing-communication
reality a lot more challenging. Consumers are exposed daily,
to an abundance of advertising messages while the impact of
conventional communication is simultaneously reducing. The
fragmentation of the communication is also one of the most
important feeling grounds for WOM and therefore generates a
significant response from real customers.
3. WOM is an answer in the customer centric marketing.
Word-of-mouth occurs between people who personally
decide what they want to share in the media, important to viral
marketing, and who believe in acquiring information, opinions
etc. in their buying process. The impact of a recommendation
from a reliable and reputed person, like a friend, is much
International Research Journal of Advanced Engineering and Science
ISSN (Online): 2455-9024
98
Dr. K. R. Subramanian, “Social media and the word of mouth publicity,” International Research Journal of Advanced Engineering and
Science, Volume 3, Issue 2, pp. 95-100, 2018.
stronger than advertising message of a biased promotional
campaign from a company. The message in WOM is well
defined and customized for the particular consumer and his
interest. After all, we talk to others about the product that we
are interested in at the moment, otherwise we would be asking
for advice. People generally talk about things that interest
them, that they are passionate about etc. So, to generate a
WOM-campaign, you will have to ensure that the message is
interesting and relevant to the audience.
4. WOM appears more reliable.
The advice from friends is much more reliable in the
consumers‟ perception than that of a seller or marketer who
may be making a hard pitch for his product. Since people
participate and personally create the media, amongst others via
blogs, you get a fresh group of opinion leaders. It is important
that identifying these opinion leaders is a challenging task for
the marketer. Working with opinion leaders is for that matter
not only a prerogative of online WOM, it is an imperative. It
has been implemented successfully in many sectors in the last
few years.
5. WOM can be managed.
Word-of-mouth marketing is not easy to control as it is not
an exact science. Most of it escapes your control possibilities
because of its interpersonal and limited controllable nature, in
contrast to communication that can still be implanted in
conventional advertisement and mass media. The fact that
WOM is difficult to control does not mean that you cannot
manage.
6. WOM speeds the purchase process.
In his book „The secrets of word of mouth marketing‟,
George Silverman gave a new light on marketing. His
statement is that all forms of marketing, advertising and
communication should actually be considered possibilities for
generating WOM. Silverman doesn‟t imply that other, classic
ways to see marketing are senseless. He simply suggests
looking at everything from the WOM-point of view, which
provides some interesting insights if you do this exercise. One
of them is that WOM considerably accelerates the decision
process in the area of purchases, amongst others through the
trust that consumers have in the person that they are talking to.
Silverman states that the acceleration in the purchase process
is a direct route to more sales and that this is exactly where
WOM gets its strength.
7. Word-of-mouth shortens the buying process (speeds up the
decision process)
People like to tell stories and that has its anthropological,
cultural, sociological and historical reasons. As you know, the
spoken language was in use earlier in history than the
„writing‟. Ancient cultures were obliged to pass on their
religious practices, their history and so on to their offspring by
telling stories. In some cultures that tradition of passing on
stories orally is still present, although they are now more often
written down too. That is the reason for WOM to be effective.
We are storytellers by tradition because only a good story is
worth telling and passing on. The conclusion for marketers
who want to use the power of word of mouth marketing is
simple: they should be good storytellers too. WOM is
definitely not just a matter of communication, networking and
so on, it is still primarily a question of a good and, in the case
of marketing authentic, relevant and honest story that the
„audience‟ really wants to pass on. Regardless of the medium
and the format, what once used to be oral and written
storytelling is now multimedia and digital.
The Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA)
released the "State of Word-of-Mouth Marketing" survey in
January 2014, and it gives insight into what marketers think of
word-of-mouth marketing is. 64% of their survey respondents
mostly or completely agree that word-of-mouth marketing is
more effective than traditional marketing. Half indicated that
they've incorporated word-of-mouth marketing into their
traditional marketing campaigns. 70% of respondents are
planning to increase their online WOMM spend, and 29% will
increase their offline word-of-mouth marketing spend. 82%
use word-of-mouth marketing to increase their brand
awareness and 43% expect word-of-mouth marketing to
improve their direct sales.
It is easy to appreciate the buzz around word-of-mouth
marketing, but the most challenging aspect is creating a word-
of-mouth marketing strategy that works for your business and
your customers. Keep the statistics handy as you identify,
inspire, and incentivize key customers and influencers who
can unlock important listeners and prospects through word-of-
mouth.
V. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION
Demand for word-of-mouth marketing is on the increase.
With the emergence of new digital and computer savvy
consumer, traditional marketing can no longer influence the
consumer purchase decisions. This creates a gap between the
new role of the consumer and the existing marketing
strategies. In an increasingly competitive marketplace and
abundance of choice, customers no longer trust the messages
they are sent by traditional marketing channels. As a result,
word-of-mouth marketing gained importance. Based on
recommendations between two or more consumers related to a
product or service, word- of-mouth is regarded as the most
credible source of information and the most powerful tool to
influence consumer purchase decision. Today, more and more
companies have begun to include word-of-mouth in their
marketing mix. For the majority, word-of - mouth is known
but not yet fully understood
Social media is full of buzz and is influencing consumer
behavior in many ways. Every marketing company is making
full efforts to contact prospective customers and influence
them through advertisements and word of mouth campaigns.
However, with the advent of social media, customer contact
has become a different cup of tea. The customers are always
connected and not only have they expressed their choice, but
they also influence the choice of their friends and family
members. Social marketing efforts have paved the way for net
working and mobile marketing and communication. Mobile
International Research Journal of Advanced Engineering and Science
ISSN (Online): 2455-9024
99
Dr. K. R. Subramanian, “Social media and the word of mouth publicity,” International Research Journal of Advanced Engineering and
Science, Volume 3, Issue 2, pp. 95-100, 2018.
phones and other appliances influence the social media and the
connected societal members.
Web has paved way for more and more social contact and
the „always connected‟ young members of the society through
their digital messages are influencing public opinion and
product reviews on the internet and social networks. It is
rightly said that „word of mouth has been replaced by typed
word messages flashing at great speeds to friends and family
circles. These messages have the potential to form opinions
and this network of social friends and contacts are exploited
by marketers.
Marketing Communications used to rely on Advertisement
and print media. As the speed of communication has
accelerated new media plans are in place for marketing
products and services through faster modes. That is how
digital media has accelerated communication between
consumers, opinion makers and new potential buyers.
Advertisement through conventional media is also costly and
many times ineffective in the „always on‟ society. In fact
conventional advertisements in the TV or news paper channels
have reduced and have limited use in Product promotion and
publicity. The digital media on the other hand offers the
benefit of reach to large customer segments and opinion
leaders.
With the advent and proliferation of digital media,
conventional media has gone out of business. Word of mouth
publicity is always true and that is how publicity takes place
through opinion leaders. The way of finding and making use
of this opinion leaders have changed. Social media is
impacting all facets of society and Product promotion and
publicity is no exception.
VI. SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATION
Marketers have to fully realize the emerging trends and
modify their campaigns to suit the new ways of doing
business. Conventional methods of publicity and promotion
through TV and the print media will have to be reviewed in
the light of digital progress in the markets and consumer
segments. Successful companies are aware of this new reality
and they are already responding to consumer behavior. No
company can ignore the reality of changes in the marketing
environment.
REFERENCES
A. Print & Publication
[1] Barreto, A. M. (2014). The word - of -mouth phenomenon in the social
media era. International Journal of Market Research, 56 (5), 631- 654
[2] Lang, Bodo, Lawson, Rob (2013). "Dissecting Word-of-Mouth's
Effectiveness and How to Use It as a Pro-consumer Tool". Journal of
Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing. 25 (4): 374–399.
[3] Robert V. Kozinets; Kristine de Valck; Andrea C. Wojnicki & Sarah J.S.
Wilner (March 2010). "Networked Narratives: Understanding the Word-
of-Mouth Marketing in Online Communities". Journal of Marketing.
[4] Koeck, Benjamin; Marshall, David (2015). "Word of Mouth Theory
Revisited: The Influence of New Actors on Seeding
Campaigns". Advances in Consumer Research
[5] Howard, Theresa (2005), "USA Today: Viral advertising spreads
through marketing plans". USA Today.
[6] Lovett, Mitchell, Peres, Renana, Shachar, Ron, "On brands and word-of
mouth" (PDF). Journal of Marketing Research. 50 (4): 427–444.
[7] Lovett, Mitchell; Peres, Renana , Shachar, Ron. "On brands and word-
of-mouth" (PDF). Journal of Marketing Research.
[8] Boyer, Stefanie L.; Edmondson, Diane R.; Baker, Brent; Solomon, Paul
(2015). "Word-of-Mouth Traditional and Covert Marketing:
Comparative Studies". Academy of Marketing Studies Journal.
[9] Allsop, D. T., B. R. Basset, and J. A. Hoskins (2007), „Word-ofmouth
research: Principles and applications‟. Journal of Advertising Research
47(4), 398–411.
[10] Bansal, H. S. and P. A. Voyer (2000), „Word-of-mouth processes within
a service purchase decision context‟. Journal of Service Research 3(2),
166–177
[11] Bone, P. F. (1992), „Determinants of word-of-mouth communications
during product consumption‟. Advances in Consumer Research 19(1),
579–584.
[12] Bone, P. F. (1995), „Word-of-mouth effects on short-term and long-term
product judgments‟. Journal of Business Research 32(3), 213–223.
[13] Bristor, J. M. (1990), „Enhanced explanations of word of mouth
communications: The power of relationships‟. Research in Consumer
Behavior 4, 51–83.
[14] Brown, T. J., T. E. Barry, P. A. Dacin, and R. F. Gunst (2005),
„Spreading the Word: Investigating antecedents of consumers‟ positive
wordof-mouth intentions and behaviors in a retailing context‟. Journal of
the Academy of Marketing Science 33(2), 123–138
[15] Dawar, N. D., P. M. Parker, and L. Price (1996), „A cross-cultural study
of interpersonal information exchange‟. Journal of International
Business Studies 27(3), 497–516.
[16] Day, G. S. (1971), „Attitude change, media and word of mouth‟. Journal
of Advertising Research 11(6), 31–40.
[17] De Bruyn, A. and G. L. Lilien (2008), „A multi-stage model of word of
mouth influence through viral marketing‟. International Journal of
Research in Marketing 25, 151–163.
[18] Dellarocas, C. (2003), „The digitization of word of mouth: Promise and
challenges of online feedback mechanisms‟. Management Science
49(10), 1407–1424.
[19] Dellarocas, C. (2006), „Strategic manipulation of internet opinion
forums: Implications for consumers and firms‟. Management Science
52(10), 1577–1593.
[20] East, R., K. Hammond, and W. Lomax (2008), „Measuring the impact of
positive and negative word of mouth on brand purchase probability‟.
International Journal of Research in Marketing 25(3), 215–224.
[21] East, R., K. Hammond, and M. Wright (2007), „The relative incidence of
positive and negative word of mouth: A multi-category study‟.
International Journal of Research in Marketing 24(2), 175–184
[22] Frenzen, J. and K. Nakamoto (1993), „Structure, cooperation, and the
flow of market information‟. Journal of Consumer Research 20(3), 360–
375
[23] Godes, D., D. Mayzlin, Y. Chen, S. Das, C. Dellarocas, B. Pfeiffer, B.
Libai, S. Sen, M. Shi, and P. Verlegh (2005), „The firm‟s management
of social interactions‟. Marketing Letters 16(3/4), 415–428.
[24] Goldenberg, J., B. Libai, and E. Muller (2001), „Talk of the network: A
complex systems look at the underlying process of word-of-mouth‟.
Marketing Letters 12(3), 211–223.
[25] Harrison-Walker, L. J. (2001), „The measurement of word of mouth
communication and an investigation of service quality and customer
commitment as potential antecedents‟. Journal of Service Research 4(1),
60–75.
[26] Herr, P. M., F. R. Kardes, and J. Kim (1991), „Effects of word-of-mouth
and product-attribute information of persuasion: An
accessibilitydiagnosticity perspective‟. Journal of Consumer Research
17(4), 454–462.
[27] Hogan, J. E., K. N. Lemon, and B. Libai (2004), „Quantifying the ripple:
Word-of-mouth and advertising effectiveness‟. Journal of Advertising
Research 44(3), 271–280
[28] Laczniak, R. N., T. E. DeCarlo, and S. N. Ramaswami (2001),
„Consumers‟ responses to negative word-of-mouth communication: an
attribution theory perspective‟. Journal of Consumer Psychology 11(1),
57–73.
[29] Naylor, G. and S. B. Kleiser (2000), „Negative vs. positive word-
ofmouth: An exception to the rule‟. Journal of satisfaction,
dissatisfaction and complaining behavior 13, 26–36.
International Research Journal of Advanced Engineering and Science
ISSN (Online): 2455-9024
100
Dr. K. R. Subramanian, “Social media and the word of mouth publicity,” International Research Journal of Advanced Engineering and
Science, Volume 3, Issue 2, pp. 95-100, 2018.
[30] Nyer, P. U. and M. Gopinath (2005), „Effects of complaining versus
negative word of mouth on subsequent changes in satisfaction: The role
of public commitment‟. Psychology & Marketing 22(12), 937–953
[31] Phelps, J. E., R. Lewis, L. Mobilio, D. Perry, and N. Raman (2004),
„Viral marketing or electronic word-of-mouth advertising: Examining
consumer responses and motivations to pass along email‟. Journal of
Advertising Research 44(4), 333–348.
[32] Puntoni, S. and N. T. Tavassoli (2007), „Social context and advertising
memory‟. Journal of Marketing Research 44(2), 284–296.
[33] Ranaweera, C. and J. Prabhu (2003), „On the relative importance of
customer satisfaction and trust as determinants of customer retention and
positive word of mouth‟. Journal of Targeting, Measurement & Analysis
for Marketing 12(1), 82–90.
[34] Smith, R. E. and C. A. Vogt (1995), „The effects of integrating
advertising and negative word of mouth communication on message
processing and response‟. Journal of Consumer Psychology 4(2), 133–
151.
[35] Subramani, M. R. and B. Rajagopalan (2003), Knowledge Sharing and
Influence in Online Social Networks via Viral Marketing,
Communications of the ACM, 46(12), 300-307.
[36] Villanueva, J., S. Yoo, and D. M. Hanssens (2008), „The impact of
marketing-induced versus word-of-mouth customer acquisition on
customer equity growth‟. Journal of Marketing Research 45(1), 48–59.
B. Web References
[1] Bughin, Jacques. "A new way to measure word-of-mouth marketing"
McKinsey Quarterly http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Marketing/
[2] Gulati, Neha. "Ways of doing online Word-of-Mouth Marketing"
Magnon International
Digital_Marketing/A_new_way_to_measure_word-of-
mouth_marketing_2567. http://blog.magnoninternational.com/online-
word-of-mouth-marketing/
[3] Hausman, Angela, Ph D. "Social Media Marketing is Digital Word
of Mouth" Hausman Marketing Letter
http://hausmanmarketresearch.org/digital-word-of-mouth-can-you-
trust-em
