abstract
| - Word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM, WOM marketing), also called word of mouth advertising, differs from naturally occurring word of mouth, in that it is actively influenced or encouraged by organizations (e.g. 'seeding' a message in a network, rewarding regular consumers to engage in WOM, employing WOM 'agents'). While it is difficult to truly control WOM, research has shown that there are three generic avenues to 'manage' WOM for the purpose of WOMM: 1) Build a strong WOM foundation (e.g. sufficient levels of satisfaction, trust and commitment), 2) Indirect WOMM management which implies that managers only have a moderate amount of control (e.g. controversial advertising, teaser campaigns, customer membership clubs), 3) Direct WOMM management, which has higher levels of control (e.g. paid WOM 'agents', "friend get friend" schemes). Proconsumer WOM has been suggested as a counterweight to commercially motivated word of mouth.
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