Paul Simon sings "50 Reasons Marketers Embrace Word of Mouth"

"The problem is all inside your head", she said to me
The answer is easy if you take it logically
I'd like to help you in your struggle to be free
There must be fifty reasons to embrace word of mouth

She said it's really not my habit to intrude
Furthermore, I hope my meaning won't be lost or misconstrued
But I'll repeat myself, at the risk of being crude
There must be fifty reasons to embrace word of mouth
Ya, Fifty ways to leave mass marketing

You just slip out the viral, Tyrell
Make some new buzz, Gus
You don't need to be loud, Saud
Just get yourself free
Hop on the CGM, Brem
You don't need to discuss much (well actually you do)
Just drop off the noise, Royce
And get yourself free

She said it grieves me so to see you in such pain
I wish there was something I could do to make you trusted again
I said I appreciate that and would you please explain
About the fifty reasons (to embrace word of mouth)

She said why don't we both just sleep on it tonight
And I believe in the morning you'll begin to see the light
And then she kissed me and I realized she probably was right
There must be fifty reasons to embrace word of mouth
Fifty ways to start some buzz

You just slip out the RSS, Jess
Make some new fans, Hans
You don't need to be scared, Jared
Just get yourself free
Hop on the social web, Caleb
You don't need to spend much
Just drop off the fake, Blake
And get yourself free"

If your still reading this post after my massacre of a Paul Simon classic....here is in my experience, for good or bad, the stated order of priority that marketers, agency folk and entrepreneurs give for embracing organized word of mouth:

1. Accelerate sales (R)
2. Launch a product/service (R)
3. Deliver buzz/publicity value (A)
4. Build awareness/exposure (R)
5. Drive referral (A)
6. Deliver web traffic (R)
7. Deliver live traffic (R)
8. Target new/specific audience (A)
9. Support ad campaign (A)
10. Develop/enhance grassroots perception (S)
11. Seed influencers (A)
12. Leverage a sponsorship or new news (A)
13. Improve credibility of message (E)
14. Drive overall marketing spend efficiency (R)
15. Incubate a community of brand fans/ambassadors(E)
16. Last ditch chance/nothing else has worked (S)
17. Create novelty (A)
18. Drive/upsell revenue (R)
19. Build better customer experience (A)
20. Be/appear progressive/try something new (S)
21. Launch in a specific geography (R)
22. Get noticed by bloggers/social media (A)
23. Build brand love/affinity (E)
24. Build a worthy cause (E)
25. Galvanize employees/stakeholders (E)
26. Create new/fresh content (S)
27. Meet/go deeper with a tough-to-reach audience (A)
28. Reduce customer acquisition costs (R)
29. Chase younger, more networked audience (A)
30. Support company values/strategy (S)
31. Address CEO challenge (S)
32. Drive brand loyalty/lifetime value of users (E)
33. Participate in a dialogue/conversation (S)
34. Target localization of international/national effort (S)
35. Because we have found money/new budget (S)
36. Improve customer support (S)
37. Create an account specific/alliance-based program (S)
38. Ego/want personal brand to be noticed and talked about (S)
39. Act as a sounding board/stimulus for a lot of ideas (S)
40. Follow a competitor/improve on a competitive effort (S)
41. Diffuse bad word of mouth (A)
42. Identify superior real world insight (S)
43. Work with a new agency/get new ideas (S)
44. Test market for the rest of the company (S)
45. Convert competitive users/ask for reappraisal (A)
46. Solve a problem (S)
47. Find new employees (S)
48. Skirt/circumvent  regulations (S)
49. Save operational costs (R)
50. Create a new distribution channel (E)

Legend - R - Results-focused, A- Advocacy-focused, E- Evangelism-focused and S- Soft benefits