The Dynamic Evolution Mechanism of Heterogeneous OWOM—An Improved Viral Marketing Model

Mengjie Liao,Jian Zhang,Lin Qi

doi:10.3390/info11030140

Abstract

The negative impact of brand negative online word-of-mouth (OWOM) on social images in social media is far greater than the promotion of positive OWOM. Thus, how to optimize brand image by improving the positive OWOM effect and slowing the negative OWOM communication has turned into an urgent problem for brand enterprises. On this basis, we analyze the evolution process of the OWOM communication group of the social media brand network based on the SOR (stimulus-organism-response) theory of psychology. Through constructing the heterogeneous brand OWOM communication dynamic model and conducting the multi-agent-based simulation experiment, the dynamic visualization of brand OWOM communication effect combined the thinking model of viral marketing is realized. Experiments show that the ability of brand communicators to persuade has a direct impact on the persistence and breadth of brand communication. When the acceptance of the consumer market is high, the negative OWOM of the brand has a relatively huge impact on consumers.

Highlights

Technological development and business model innovation have spawned an experience economy centered on the individual needs of customers
A bad consumer experience can hardly form a scale through online word-of-mouth (OWOM) communication, which has attracted the attention of brand enterprises
The rapid development of the mobile Internet has reduced the social cost of consumers, which has contributed to social media featured with a large user base and convenient information sharing

Summary

Introduction

Technological development and business model innovation have spawned an experience economy centered on the individual needs of customers. In an experience economy environment, brand companies concentrate on achieving customer satisfaction by creating a sound consumer experience. The OWOM communication in the traditional sense is limited by the region, means, time, and local social relations. In this case, a bad consumer experience can hardly form a scale through OWOM communication, which has attracted the attention of brand enterprises. The rapid development of the mobile Internet has reduced the social cost of consumers, which has contributed to social media featured with a large user base and convenient information sharing. Online word-of-mouth (OWOM) communication has emerged as the times require, gradually becoming the most convenient channel for consumers to obtain brand information [3]

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