Word of mouth marketing is characterized by the promotion of products and services through interpersonal channels and is an essential component in the communication mix of many companies. Therefore, the growing number of consumers connected on-line motivates companies to search new ways to maximize word of mouth marketing through the use of virtual tools, such as viral marketing. With the intention of identifying the main characteristics of efficient virtual word of mouth marketing, an exploratory research was conducted with Internet users, during January and February of 2001. Finally, six factors are suggested to influence virtual word of mouth marketing effectiveness.
Word of mouth marketing; Internet; viral marketing; interpersonal channels; diffusion of innovations