blogsimplified.com » Thomas W. Valente http://blogsimplified.com fresh clean & simple Wordpress themes and ideas Wed, 20 Jan 2010 04:02:55 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 The Buzz Starts Here: Finding the First Mouth for Word-of-Mouth Marketing – Knowledge@Wharton http://blogsimplified.com/2009/03/the-buzz-starts-here-finding-the-first-mouth-for-word-of-mouth-marketing-knowledgewharton/ http://blogsimplified.com/2009/03/the-buzz-starts-here-finding-the-first-mouth-for-word-of-mouth-marketing-knowledgewharton/#comments Fri, 06 Mar 2009 23:14:56 +0000 admin http://blogsimplified.com/?p=452 Call it viral, buzz or word-of-mouth advertising: Getting customers to spread the word about a new product through their social or professional networks is a hot strategy in the marketing world. Its proponents insist that the technique — whether online or face-to-face — is sure to boost a companys return on investment ROI.

But how can companies find the right individuals to deliver the message? Marketers may wonder if they are finding the best “seeding points” — that is, well-connected people at the hub of social networks who will latch on to a product and promote it widely among the people they know.

New research led by Wharton marketing professors Raghuram Iyengar and Christophe Van den Bulte, working with University of Southern California preventive medicine professor Thomas W. Valente, has found that traditional targets may not be as influential as previously thought. The pharmaceutical firm that sponsored the research for their recently published paper, “Opinion Leadership and Social Contagion in New Product Diffusion,” had its “a-ha” moment when they found Physician No. 184 on a map.

via The Buzz Starts Here: Finding the First Mouth for Word-of-Mouth Marketing – Knowledge@Wharton.

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