Google recently teamed up with Keller Fay Group (a word of mouth and research company) to study the relationship between word of mouth conversation and the internet. Their study, based on 3,000 responding adults- concludes what most professional service providers probably already know – that the majority of word of mouth conversations still happens face-to-face (82%).
Does that mean that professional service firms should be ignoring social media and the internet? Of course not. As the study shows, the internet is the leading source of information that people talk about when they have their face-to-face conversations. I think this goes right to the heart of what I and others in Duct Tape Marketing have been saying for a while – those who learn to merge their online and offline worlds are those who are most successful using social media and the internet to grow their business.
The video below gives an overview of the findings from the study. Since Google is a partner the study, it will come as no surprise that they found search is more important than social media when it comes to driving business. I believe partners and business owners should focus on their overall internet presence rather than worrying about the distinction between search and social media outlined in the video.
