First Day

Fist Impression    

The reason why I choose Word of Mouth marketing is that social media is the trend of marketing as the fast evolution of technology raises. A combination of internet and media can create an everlasting conversation and discussion. And business is all in those conversation and discussion. I think the classic example will be super bowl commercials. Since the commercial time of super bowl costs a lot and is limited, every company does their best to create a topic instead of presenting products. If customers have the conversation about your products, they will be your best ads that costs least. And the people who can be master of creating this atmosphere will be the winners.

What I learned

Word of mouth is behavior or an action that we do every single day. If you watch movies, you will know what I am saying. For example, a person finds a street fight, and a mass will come just in a few seconds. The reason why is that the person gets into a bar or wherever and yells “street fight!!!” It is the basic concept of word of mouth. And as the evolution of technology, word of mouth is involved with social media including news, internet, broadcasting, video, and pictures. These social media create more various interactions between consumers and advertisers. It indicates that more information is explored. However, word of mouth is not only like traditional marketing but also more specific just than giving information. Professor Barnes showed a video in the first class that a very high percentage of population skips ads on TV, but they buy recommendations from friends, family, experts, and real reviewers. I have an experience of being part of word of mouth.

I was crazy about instant camera before especially Polaroid instant camera. But because Polaroid transferred it instant film technology to digital, all the film production stopped in 2008. So, I started discovering other brands. Eventually I found Fuji Instant camera and ordered from Japan few years ago. As I brought my camera to school and party, I always brought up a hot conversation by using this camera. And gradually I found a lot of my friends started using this kind of camera because of me. (I should have commission from Fuji!!!!!) Apparently this is the result of word of mouth since I recommended this product to my friends and created a hot topic without showing any official ads of Fuji. And I have to say Fuji did have some ads in public. But none of my friends who bought the camera because of me was aware of those ads. This is how powerful word of mouth is, and there are so many examples out there on Youtube and around you.   

And here is a very simple analysis based on Andy’s three reasons that make people talk.

First, I as a consumer love the product and would like to share it with my friends. Secondly, I feel I am an old-school by using this product since it is an old-school technology. But that is exactly the feeling I am looking for as I decide to purchase this product. The feeling of owning an unique film in the world and the excitement of getting the picture right away make me feel good. Thirdly, I feel connected as they keeping upgrading its instant camera products. However, I have to say it happens to me because this is my case. I looked for the product at the first place because Polaroid stopped the production. Otherwise, I do not think it will be the point for me to feel connected.