Word of Mouth Communication and its Effect on the Affective Commitment
In the Information Age, social networks play an important role in spreading the word of mouth communication among consumers. The question is whether word of mouth may also interfere with affective commitment of the client in relation to a brand or product
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Pereira (2010) points out social networks are gaining importance in contemporary society because they allow continuous interaction from information sharing and collaborative creation of contents. Before the popularization of social networking, marketing was restricted to organizations that possessed enough financial resources to invest in traditional means of advertising for prospecting new clients such as television, radio, outdoor etc. All these media require high financial investments. Social networks enable more specific actions and are relatively cheap, allowing companies to use this tool in an assertive way for the marketing of their products, services and market differentials. The positive and spontaneous word of mouth spread by satisfied consumers exerts great influence on the social networks. According to Gruen, Santos and Acito (2000), the involvement of the client in relation to a product or brand cannot be bought. It's won in the long run, through attitudes that convey trust, respect, care, attention and affection with each other. The commitment and retention of clients is a process, not an end in itself. Several companies in Brazil and around the world have realized that social networks are a valuable relationship, communication, sales and even after sales service to its customers. According to the company ComScore (www.comscore.com ), a global leader in tracking digital world with various researches on the digital marketing intelligence, people in the world already spend close to thirty billion hours a year in social networks. This demonstrates the importance that these networks have today in the online list of favorite pastimes of the world population. This intense connectivity across networks is a global phenomenon. Smartphones help increase this phenomenon, as they ensure unrestricted access to the profiles, posted comments and shared experiences. Also according to ComScore, social networking sites have currently 1.2 billion users worldwide. Activities related to interactions in social networks more than tripled in recent years. Currently, still according to this source, 25% of all time spent online is spent by people on social networks and 1 in every 4 minutes spent online is spent on interactions provided by these networks. One of the most popular activities are visits to shopping sites, since three out of four users, have a habit of visiting such sites. One in every two users enter sites related to sports and the same percentage is observed visiting newspaper websites. 62% of internet users visit gaming sites and 50% visit sites of television programs. The web is now an important tool for banking, with 38% of visitors. Meteorological sites represent a significant portion in online searches, representing 30% of hits. But the highlight comes to social networks, which now account for 1 in every 4 minutes spent by users on the Internet. This means that 25% of all time spent on the web is currently spent on social networking sites. The topic to be addressed in this paper is very important, especia
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