In many respects online word of mouth is as effective as any other medium to convey the worthiness of a product or service. This methodology is simplistic in its execution – someone writes somewhere that they had “X” experience with whatever, this comment or entry is then read by numbers of others who believe that this person or the place the comment is being made is a particularly trustworthy method of gaining opinion on something that they are interested in.

At the heart of this matter is trust – the reader must trust the source of his or her online information before forming the opinion that will ultimately have them decide for or against the subject of their interest. Studies have shown that consumers are much more likely to be influenced by online word of mouth than by radio or TV advertising, with print ad’s falling to a much lower level than that prior to the advent of the internet.

The under 30 crowd has become highly focused on consumer generated media, having not only viewed the content, but have also been influenced by it and in turn influence others by posting their own online commentary in response. This form of social commentary has been found to be most influential on areas about health, transport and consumer electronics, each of which could be considered a major capital outlay.

For online word of mouth sales to be capitalized on, marketing needs to be targeted towards the demographic most likely to be influenced by it, as mentioned above. The exponential growth of social networking has capitalized on this sort of advertising, with many sites and indeed multimillion dollar businesses solely supported by increasingly sophisticated methods of targeting the right audience, at the right time with the right product.

So how do you get WidgetX known online as a good product? So, having a quality product at a price point that targets the masses is important (why buy WidgetX if it’s 3 times the cost of a comparable other WidgetY?), which coupled with an understanding of exactly who it’s aimed at and why it’s of benefit to that market is key.

Opposite to what most people think, consumers today are on more on the ball than many marketers give them credit for, this is why some companies may spend fortunes on high cost advertising campaigns, both on and off line, still to see their product fail totally or fail to bring an acceptable ROI (return on investment), all because consumers ultimately decided that the product was not worth buying.Then they begin to tell others the same. This is why online word of mouth is enormously successful for those who succeed with it, and why it exerts so much influence over just about every market there is.