If there’s one approach marketers have been united in touting as the best form of advertising or promotion, it’s word of mouth recommendation … referrals and endorsements from friend to friend, colleague to colleague, relative to relative.

I’d count myself as one of those marketers.

Of course a huge surge of support for "word of mouth" was generated by the arrival of social media tools and platforms, which seemed to significantly diminish the cost and logistical challenges of stimulating and spreading "buzz." In fact, "viral marketing" became the buzz term.

As for the nonprofit sector, there’s probably not a fundraiser out there who hasn’t attempted some sort of online viral campaign.

But here’s some chastening survey data from Edelman, the PR folks, as reported in Advertising Age …

"…according to Edelman’s latest Trust Barometer, the number of people who view their friends and peers as credible sources of information about a company dropped by almost half, from 45% to 25%, since 2008."

Now of course, there’s trust, and there’s trust. To paraphrase one commenter on this data: Would I trust the opinion of someone like myself on some new software? Yes. Would I trust someone "like me"about chemical additives? Never!

That said, it’s not hard to believe that the efficacy of word-of-mouth is indeed eroded by a glut of "friends" and recommendations from them. And as Ad Age opines:

"If consumers stop believing what their friends and the "average Joes" appearing in testimonials say about a product or company, the implications could be significant not just for marketers but for the social networks and word-of-mouth platforms selling themselves as solutions to communicating in a jaded world. The influence of peers has been considered the leading rationale for brands’ shifting marketing dollars to social media.

In some cases, social networks themselves may be contributing to the decline in trust. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have allowed people to maintain larger circles of casual associates, which may be diluting the credibility of peer-to-peer networks. In short, the more acquaintances a person has, the harder it can be to trust him or her."

For the record, the article notes that trust in marketing messages is down in all media … down 23 points for TV between 2008 and 2010, and down 20 points for radio and newspapers.

So, who do you trust?!

Tom