Now, more than ever, trust is the top priority of consumers in the U.S. Last year only 10% of respondents believed advertisers were trustworthy, and as social media technologies create even more transparency this percentage has the potential to change dramatically.
Word-of-mouth proves to be the most influential way for companies to market their brands since usually the most trusted source of information by consumers is recommendations from friends. Marketers should consider integrating word-of-mouth tactics across campaigns to allow positive feedback about their brand image to spread among friends virally.
Source: eMarketer, June 8, 2009
