The Digital Handshake: Seven Proven Strategies to Grow Your Business Using Social Media

Chapter 1. Consumer Skepticism Is at an All-Time High

This chapter seeks to lend insight into the reasons for this increasing skepticism and shed light on who consumers are turning to for advice on goods, products, and services.

THE INSURGENT CONSUMER AND THE INFLUENCE OF WORD OF MOUTH

In a February 2006 article from Advertising Age,^[4] Editor Jonah Bloom stated, "While too many advertisers are still focused on the business of shouting one message over and over, today the most important communication is not the marketing monologue, but the dialogue that takes place among customers."

Consumers are becoming insurgent, rising in revolt against slick, overly produced ads in favor of recommendations by fellow consumers and user-generated content such as that found in YouTube videos or customer ratings and reviews such as those at Amazon, Judy's Book, or Yelp.

For example, never do I go to the movie theater and spend $35 for tickets, soft drink and popcorn without first checking movie reviews on sites such as Yahoo! Movies or Rotten Tomatoes. I'm not interested in reading what the professional critics have to say but glean, instead, the opinions of average Joes who spent their hard-earned cash.

Of course, nothing trumps the influence of recommendations from trusted family members and friends. In their social media manifesto "Trust Economies,"^[4] authors Chris Brogan and Julien Smith assert, ...