Buzz campaigns seek to make each customer encounter look like a spontaneous occurrence rather than a calculated marketing plan engineered by professionals. In the past, word-of-mouth marketing was generated by revealing information to a few key people in a target audience known to have heavy influence on their peers. With the growth of the Internet, buzz campaigns have been initiated in chat rooms, blogs, and instant messaging applications.

Peer-to-peer marketing is at the core of buzz campaigns. Because peers trust each other more than the companies running the campaign, peer campaigns lend more credibility to the marketer than other types of marketing. While record companies and the fashion industry are notorious for PR stunts, buzz marketing is new to many businesses.

Buzz Campaigns Come to Digital Media

"Neighboring" over instant messaging uses dialogs initiated by individuals within an IM network rather than a marketing company. It uses the strength of word-of-mouth marketing along with the relationship a particular customer already has with the advertiser. Since IM is mostly used for personal communication, advertisers will have to rely on strong relationships with individual consumers in order to generate buzz.

One example of how companies use IM to market is Yahoo Instant Messenger's Imvironments. Another idea is for a customer service rep to IM with a customer and make product recommendations. If the customer likes the recommended product, he or she is likely to share it with others.