"Making Sense of IWOM": IWOM White Paper on How IWOM is generated and disseminated

 

September 24, 2009

In Topic 1 of CIC's "Making sense of IWOM" white paper series, we suggested that the majority of consumers use IWOM to help them make purchase decisions about products and brands they plan on purchasing. What we did not do look at was if they found answers if they left, stuck around or if they posted comments about those products and answer other consumer questions about those brands and products.

To answer these questions, CIC today releases our second "Making Sense of IWOM" series white paper titled "How IWOM is generated and disseminated." In this study we found that consumers in online communities not only passively listen to and receive messages, but also proactively post and spread comments about brands and products. According to our research findings, 54.1% of 640 BBS and blog users will initiate conversations or post comments related to brands/products.

In addition to answering that initial question, we also take an in-depth look into the reason as to why consumers generate and disseminate IWOM and discover that 8 main types of motivations exist, the 3 most important being interpersonal communication, self expression and experience sharing, which respectively accounted for 82.7%, 79.5% and 78.9% of 346 BBS and Blog users who post comments on brands/products online and the other 5 types being community status (54.6%), helping others (53.2%), upholding justice (45.4%), work related (44.2%) and seeking help (25.4%).

Finally this report gives better insight into the characteristics and culture of online community users. According to their different levels of involvement in generating and spreading IWOM, we segmented them into active users, disseminators and opinion leaders.

To read the white paper in full, please download free from here or view the report on slideshare. You can also visit our IWOM master or our blog seeisee.com to learn more about our previous White Papers or for a better understanding of Chinese Internet communities and the rapid development of IWOM in China.

While this report is a general analysis of Chinese online communities and its members, as these communities continue to develop it's essential that marketers and brands understand these consumers' insights and communicate with them on an equal level. Stay tuned for our Topic 3 of CIC's "Making sense of IWOM" white paper where we will discuss how brands can participate in online communities.

ABOUT CIC

CIC is the thought leader in Internet Word of Mouth (IWOM) with over 4 years experience in China working with cutting edge clients across multiple industries on a retainer basis. With proven case studies, CIC is the first and best option in China to help clients makes sense of the buzz. CIC coined the term IWOM and has pioneered the concept of IWOM, redefining the relationship between brands and consumers. CIC is committed to both providing objective third party strategic advice to clients and promoting the healthy development of the Internet Community in China. CIC's research and discussion of IWOM's impact and best practices can be found on its company blogs, in its IWOM white papers and IWOM watch reports and through its IWOM roundtable events such as IWOM summit and IWOM classroom.

CIC offers customized and syndicated reports as well as an industry leading IWOM analytics dashboard which is supported by proprietary Chinese language based text mining technology (patent pending), data processing technology and data visualization technology. CIC's retainer relationships stretch over multiple years with multinational clients from Fortune 500 companies.

CIC's continual development and evolution is driven by an unique, powerful and open mindset and learning culture which at its foundation continually seeks to understand how the Internet, and IWOM, is redefining the relationships between brands and consumers.

For more information, please visit

 

• www.iwommaster.com (CIC IWOM master intelligence service platform)
• www.ciccorporate.com (CIC website)
• www.seeisee.com (CIC Company blog in Chinese)
• www.seeisee.com/sam (CEO's company blog in English).

 

Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 86-21-5237 3860/61/62/63 ext.880 to arrange an interview for additional quotes, or for more information on the study.