Page 145 - The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

The Impact of Word of Mouth and the Facilitative Effects of Social Media 137

activity levels of its user members. According to their field research, done
by accessing an unnamed social networking site, approximately 22 percent
of the typical user’s friends were significant influencers of the user’s behav-
ior. Data from Statistica.com reveals that in 2012 the average Facebook user
had 262 friends, and that number rose to 429 if the individual was between
18 and 24 years of age. Calculating 22 percent of the former number re-
veals that, on average, the typical Facebook user’s behavior is influenced by
58 people, and for those in the 18–24 age group that number rises to 95
and does not even take into account the influence that friends of friends
have on consumer behavior. Clearly, the average person cannot even hope
to claim having 58 close friends, suggesting of course that the effect of weak
ties is alive and well on social networking websites.
The question remains, though: How can the marketer effectively utilize
social media so that one’s unique selling proposition can be actively em-
braced by members of the site, and how can it be spread at a faster and
broader degree to relevant members of one’s target market? We turn to this
issue next.

Effectively Conducting WOM via Social Media

One can assume that the success of a given Internet social networking site
(SNS) is a function of size and activity levels of the current user base. A survey
conducted in December 2012 by the Pew Internet and American Life Project
revealed that more than 92 percent of online users between 18 and 29 years
of age use social networking sites, and the usage rate is 69 percent across all
age groups who are online users (Duggan & Brenner 2013). By far the high-
est usage is found for Facebook (66 percent) followed by LinkedIn (20 per-
cent) and Twitter (16 percent). Only two years ago, MySpace was second to
Facebook in usage (48 percent in 2010), and Tumblr, which is currently used
by 5 percent of Internet users, was not even on the map. These numbers
show how quickly the landscape changes in Internet social networking and
how important it is for marketers to adapt their SNS strategies.
BIA/Kelsey (2012) reported that U.S. social media advertising spending
reached 4.6 billion dollars in 2012 and is expected to grow at a 19.2 per-
cent clip annually through 2016. SNS sites allow consumers to interact
with companies by explicitly becoming friends or fans. These sites also
facilitate WOM activities because users’ social networks are readily avail-
able on these sites, and such networks may therefore be perceived by the
marketer as more credible and trustworthy.
Four factors have been identified in the literature as affecting WOM
behavior within the context of social networks. These include tie strength