In today’s economic climate, marketers are trying to do more with less by making more efficient media buys. The most cost efficient, and often most trusted form of media is word of mouth. Senior Forrester Research Analyst Jeremiah Owyang called word of mouth the holy grail of marketing.

Organizations like hospitals rely heavily on word of mouth to remain top of mind for patients choosing a health care institution for their treatment. Lee Aase from the Mayo Clinic presented at the Community 2.0 Conference in San Francisco on how the Mayo Clinic is using social media to share their message with the existing community and extend the reputation built over many decades through word of mouth.

As millions of new users continue to join and use Twitter, retweets are quickly becoming the most effective way to socially endorse a brand or comment. A retweet is repeating someone else’s quote or tweet on Twitter. Owyang’s blog post called retweets the core essence of viral content spreading, as the content of a retweet was so valuable and important to that user that he or she was willing to share it with their network. And Forrester research indicates that Twitter users are brand sensitive.

Retweets are one way to make measuring and monitoring word of mouth more tangible and accurate. Repeets.com, a new site launched this week by our own Adam Coomes, tracks the hottest and most retweeted tweets of the day, week and month, providing a snapshot view of the most shared tweets. Mesiab Labs has launched www.retweet.com, an online petition users can sign to endorse retweets with the hope of creating enough support that Twitter will make an official Retweet button.

The chart below shows the steady rise of retweet or RT references online. Check out the spike from April to May 2009. How is your brand using and measuring retweets?

Word of mouth is on fire.

The control of brands is shifting from the companies to people. According to Forrester Research, 1 in 3 of adults online want to hear the opinion of a friend or family before making purchasing decisions. More people are using social networks and trusted influencers to aid in their purchasing decisions.

Social Radar can help you manage your brand using one of the biggest content collections in the world. Talk of your brand, company, or products can be measured and managed.

How is the new social web changing your marketing strategies?

The ability to simply listen to social chatter lets you engage customers and thought leaders like never before.

Gain valuable feedback on your products and services not coming from focus groups or complicated marketing research techniques, but from the unfiltered voices of your customer base.

Target negative feedback and use it as a chance to engage someone and create a positive customer service situation where none existed before.

Target highly influential people in your industry and leverage the trust they have built with their readership to put your product/service in front of the right people.

Understand the happenings and trends in your industry as well as activities of your competitors.

Keeping a blind eye to the conversations on the web and tracking the wrong statistics can create a very unrealistic perception of what people truly talk about and how they feel about your brand. Don’t be left in the dark.