WERE BACK:

Welcome back old and new IT Bloke Customers and Readers alike.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your patience, as we put together and launched this our new Multi-Blog website.

Don't worry we have not changed our ethos in anway,  just our site.  We will still be bringing you our own unique and ubiquitous brand of Gonzo Journalism tailored for the Social Media age that you have all come to know and love.  However now our new Multi-Blog site will allow us to expand on that and also make your life easier as it now has three totally separate Blogs/Sections:

HOME PAGE: which is now totally devoted to all things Word of Mouth {W.O.M.} Marketing.

product reviews and of course championing those less known about concepts, causes,  problems and facts that they don't want us to know about!.

IT BLOKE's: is our totally new section, where we will be blogging about the more leisure and cultural orientated side of being an IT Bloke or Blokette for that matter.

And so,  our dear  friends,  bookworms, most noble fellow drinkers, frustrated burglars, affronted policemen, upright citizens with furled umbrellas and secret buccaneering dreams--that seems to be very nearly all for now. It has been nice having you with us, and we hope you will come again, not once, but many time and once again thank you for your patience, we hope you enjoy reading our new site as much as we have enjoyed making it for you.

Kind Regards & Best Wishes ~ Ashe, Toby & all our  Staff & Gonzo Journalists @ IT Bloke - London.....

Word of mouth tops consumer trust yet again

Can anyone still be in doubt that peer to peer word of mouth is the one most influential factor in determining where consumers spend their money, attention and time? Neilsen’s latest Global Online Consumer Survey, which polled 25,000 Internet consumers from 50 countries, has reiterated research we’ve seen year on year by finding that 90% of people trust recommendations from those they know.



There are a couple more really interesting findings here. One is that brand websites are considered equally trustworthy to consumer opinion published online - a change from previous reports and perhaps an indication that brands are becoming much more skilled in creating engaging, transparent and personalised presences which encourage a dialogue with consumers rather than broadcasting marketing spiel. The other is that online ads - video, banner and SEO - are right at the bottom, below equivalent methods offline. For me, this proves that social media is simply not a traditional marketing tool. Interruptive brand ads are just not welcome in a space which is all about emotion, independence and UGC. Word of mouth, of course, most definitely is. ~ Regards,  Ashe... IT Bloke, {G.B.}.