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  3. There is much hype about social networks and their potential impact on marketing; so many companies are diligently establishing

There is much hype about social networks and their potential impact on marketing; so many companies are diligently establishing

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问题     There is much hype about social networks and their potential impact on marketing; so many companies are diligently establishing presences on Facebook. Yet the true value of social networks remains unclear, and while common wisdom suggests that they should be tremendous enablers and amplifiers of word of mouth, few consumer companies have unlocked this potential.
    More recently, we have adopted a new mind-set: we think of word of mouth generated on social networks as a distinct form of media. This idea is more than a semantic detail. When you think of word of mouth as media, it becomes a form of content, and businesses can apply tried-and-true content-management practices and metrics to it. In addition, word of mouth generated by social networks is a form of marketing that must be earned—unlike traditional advertising, which can be purchased. Therefore, companies could succeed only by being genuinely useful to the individuals who initiate or sustain virtual world-of-mouth conversations.
    An effective way for a brand to be useful in the context of social networks is to make people who o-riginate a word-of-mouth conversation seem important within their own social environment. Recognition by peers is a powerful motivator, and brands that allow users to gain it deliver real perceived value. When users publicize that recognition, it translates into word of mouth.
    Never underestimate the value consumers place on opportunities to boast online about their achievements. For example, when members boast of reaching their target weight with help from Bodybuilding. com workouts, we receive authentic and credible word-of-mouth approval at almost no cost. In fact, if recent behavioral research is accurate, these experiences can create "contagions" in which the behavior of users is mirrored by their networks of friends, amplifying the word-of-mouth effect and reflecting well on the underlying brands.
    It’s our strong intuition that virtual items play an important role in facilitating virtual word of mouth. People’s obsessive acquirement for virtual items reinforces our notion that users seek online importance; they purchase virtual goods primarily for self-expression and for recognition. Virtual gifting is becoming an important consumer activity among Facebook members. Today, much of this activity is free, but Facebook is introducing a virtual-currency "credit" system that will allow sellers to get real dollars for their gifts. In the context of a social network, it is not a stretch to conceive of virtual gifts as important objects, especially as their availability can be strictly limited. Just think about the fervor consumers accord collectibles of all kinds, from baseball cards to coins. If virtual items prove similarly desirable, they are likely to be a big deal for consumers and marketers, as well as a great tool to create useful word-of-mouth media.
    Word-of-mouth marketing through social networks could emerge as an important tool in the marketer’s arsenal. That will depend on whether marketers can tame the fundamentally unpredictable and accidental nature of word of mouth without losing what makes it so valuable in the first place—its authenticity.
To use social networks as enablers and amplifiers of word of mouth, companies should first______.
选项 A、apply effective content-management practices
B、make products useful to network users
C、use purchased media successfully
D、abandon traditional marketing media
答案B
解析 第一段末句指出，尽管公众智慧已表明，社交网络是口碑的强劲促成者及放大器，但鲜有公司已真正挖掘出这一潜能。第二段顺而提出解决办法：将社交网络下的口碑当做一种独特的媒介，并在末句进一步指出：只有对那些“发起或维持虚拟世界对话的人”真正有用，社交网络下的口碑营销才能成功。由此可见公司首先应该使得自己的产品对社交网络用户真正有用，[B]选项正确。
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