Paying People to Create Word of Mouth Buzz
from the the-evil-side-of-marketing dept
Yes, it seems that marketing continues to sink lower and lower. Now, apparently, companies are paying people to act like fans and generate buzz online in chat rooms and such. I thought this might be happening, but I do wonder if paid for buzz has a very hollow ring to it. Word of mouth buzz usually works best when the people receiving the buzz get it from folks they know, trust, and respect. If random folks just show up in a chat room screaming about some new movie, I'd wonder about it.
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Cool
MB
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It's not all that new
Also, I've seen ads advertising jobs as political protesters. (How lame does your cause have to be when you have to HIRE your protesters?)
Same $#!#, different medium.
Jon Acheson
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Not really new
But giving swag out for positive word of mouth seems like an old idea. Radio stations routinely give away copies of some artist's new album in contests. It's a little less blatent tit for tat exchange, in that the winner is not required to talk up the album, but the idea is that they will.
The internet is just making these old ideas more pervasive.
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