Moving Forward

A new Keller Fay study of the brand-related conversations of consumer influencers estimates that a mere 15% of consumers account for 1.5 billion brand impressions per day. This 15% of consumer influencers (approximately 32 million individuals) are involved in 184 word of mouth conversations a week, more than 1.5 times the average consumer. Since this group generates 30% of all word of mouth conversations, these vital influencers are now classified as “Word Of Mouth” (WOM) leaders. One of the study’s conclusions, to grow a brand in today’s market, companies need to recognize the importance of these WOM leaders and incorporate a marketing campaign to effectively connect with them.

More information on WOM’s:
Many WOM influencers are Boomers. 37% of WOM’s are ages 40 to 59.

People with influence are power listeners–not just power talkers. Their conversations are split between those in which they give the most advice (38%), those in which someone else does (25%) and those in which advice is shared from both directions (37%).

The Internet acts as resource for word of mouth, more than a channel of conversation. Most WOM influencer conversations (72%) happen in face to face conversations, rather than online. But results also indicate that WOM influencers rely heavily on the Internet as a resource for the information that they pass along to their friends and families.