Word-of-Mouth … It’s a Good Thing!
Don’t be afraid that you might lose control of your brand when consumers talk about you and spread their messages via social media channels. Most conversations regarding brands (both online and offline) are positive.
The Keller Fay Group did an interesting study of hundreds of thousands of conversations and found that about two-thirds of word-of-mouth references to brands were mostly positive with fewer than half who believed negative buzz! 
Obviously, some industries will get better buzz than others such as food brands and kid’s products and no surprises what industries receive the lowest – telecommunications, financial services and healthcare industries to name a few. Another interesting fact was that amoung female Internet users in North America, have a greater motivation to share good brand experiences than bad ones. All in all, most consumers who give advice to others seem more interested in directing friends and family toward brands they like rather than away from brands they have had issues with –
The moral to this research … let your consumers and advocates talk about your brand and, when appropriate, don’t forget to also engage in the conversation which lets them know you’re listening and care about what they are saying.