They give you their word

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I did not find Google through a search engine. I first found out about Google through word of mouth. And it was through word of mouth that I first heard about Craigslist (www.craigslist.org), digital camera review (www.dpreview.com), Techcrunch (www.techcrunch.com), Gigaom (www.gigaom.com) and other interesting technology and Web 2.0 sites. It is quite intriguing, if not ironic; when you consider that in this digital age we still rely on this very human way of sharing useful or relevant information.

Savvy marketers call folks that transmit this word of mouth information as transmitters or ambassadors, recognising the importance of such ambassadors for brand building and creating a buzz around their products and services. Many tech savvy companies and entrepreneurs are busy trying to harness the power of word of mouth marketing in the online world. In India there are quite a few online sites like Burrp (www.burrp.com) and MouthShut (www.mouthshut.com) that have an army of volunteer reviewers who share their opinions and views about various services and products. The information they share ranges from restaurants, nightclubs, tech gadgets to services.

Mumbai-based Burrp bills itself as a “fun way to find and share your views on local stuff” like restaurants, points of interests and so on. MouthShut, another Mumbai-based company is focused on products and services. “MouthShut is India’s first and largest user generated content company,” points out Faisal Farooqui, founder and CEO of MouthShut. MouthShut started off with plain old text reviews and recommendations, but has now expanded to include video and social networking tools.

Both these sites do a good job of aggregating and sharing information on a whole range of services, places and products.  Burrp has gone one step forward and added an SMS feature that lets you receive updates on your mobile phone after you register for their service. MouthShut offers video reviews on its online site. While both sites provide excellent information there is no immediacy, that is, I can’t experience the information right away but have to go search for it online. That got me thinking if there are ways in which this online experience can be enhanced and improved.

How many times have you gone to a restaurant or a shop and thought if only there was a way to share the experience and information with others right there and then? While this was not possibly until a few years ago, today with the proliferation of powerful connected digital devices like multimedia cellphones and digital cameras you can share your experiences instantaneously. You can record either a short video clip or digital images and share it with others at the click of a button. You can then send it as a multimedia messaging clip to your friends and family.

The fact that people use their multimedia phones and other gadgets to record and share information has not gone unnoticed by mobile handset makers like Nokia and others. These mobile companies have recognised the potential of word of mouth marketing. By tapping into their user base they can create ambassadors and transmitters for their products. A couple of years ago Nokia India sponsored a user generated contest with the TV music channel VH1 called ‘Shot by you’. More recently Nokia has launched a new competition called ‘Soul of the Night’ to promote their Nokia N82 phone where users are encouraged to share their new places of discovery using their Nokia phones.

With the advent of tech gadgets people now have access to an instant and powerful way to share their experience and reviews. But, the question remains how do others then discover that rich and interactive experience? The jury is still out on what form of word of mouth marketing will dominate in this technology savvy world.