The Customer Advocate and the Customer Saboteur: Linking Social Word-of-mouth, Brand Impression, and Stakeholder Behavior

Lowenstein (market research and consulting professional and author) explores recent changes in the concepts and execution of both social and business-related informal peer-to-peer communications in a time when potential customers are increasingly leery of messages from suppliers relayed through traditional media. He makes it clear that marketers must understand that customers are buried under an avalanche of messages coming from far more than traditional media: things like spam, pop-up advertising, telemarketing. He also notes that customers most consistently trust word-of-mouth communications. Topics include the history of customer advocacy and sabotage, the business case for advocacy, measuring and monetizing it, creating higher levels of advocacy with informal social communications, and more.