اثربخشی کلمه ای در شبکه های اجتماعی آنلاین و آفلاین

Social networks connect users to share thoughts and build friendships. The high degree of intimacy among users has made it a good venue for word-of-mouth (WoM) marketing. Admittedly there are some basic differences, but this study focuses on the effectiveness of WoM marketing in offline and online social networks. A system was developed to simulate offline and online networks using small-world (SW) and scale-free (SF) networks, respectively. An offline network was found to be more effective in promoting a product with a fixed advertising budget and in selling higher margin products than an online network. However, if customers have diversified backgrounds and are strongly opinionated, an online network is a better venue. These findings can be used as guidelines to determine the appropriateness of moving WoM marketing from offline to online networks.