The whole document is a must read for all WOM marketers, obviously, I would like to quote two parts of it however, two key issues of influencer engagement that - from my experience - companies and/or people in general do not comprehend:

1.'Your best influencers may not always be positive about your product, company and/or services. In fact, your biggest fans may at times be your harshest critics. The fact they are sometimes negative will make them far more credible to their networks.'

2.'Influencer programs are, by definition, long-term, multi-year commitments designed to build a relationship; they are not marketing campaigns. Campaigns can augment influencer efforts to help find, activate, or engage influencers in particular activities (like a product launch), but influencer programs need to level out the roller coaster of connections provided by campaigns.'

Expecting an influencer to praise shit, and to do it after two enagement e-mails or messages of all sorts is insane! All we are talking about it trust and loyality - not to the brand, but loyality to yourself. Any influencial, serious blogger, twitter user, etc will always be expected to write truth and only truth - since this is exactly the reason why we all post on-line - in our fields ruled by freedom of speech:)

The Handbook, which has been a year in the making, is a significant addition to the marketing knowledge base as it helps define and categorizes types of influencers. It provides suggested guidelines for working with influencers and how to follow-up to sustain an influencer marketing program. A comprehensive bibliography of influencer marketing resources is included in the Handbook. WOMMA seeks feedback and suggestions for changes from interested parties including practitioners specifically interested in influencer marketing.

Facebook | Message: WOMMA Releases Influencer Marketing Handbook for Public Comment

Per adesso, l'agenzia di marketing del passaparola, BzzAgent, ha calcolato a quanto vale una conversazione di uno dei suoi 425.000 agenti per conto di un brand, dividendo le vendite per il totale delle conversazioni. Da questo calcolo è venuto fuori che il valore di ciascuna conversazione è di 50 centesimi di dollaro.

Alla stessa conclusione sul valore delle conversazioni è arrivato anche un white paper del ChatThreads Group, ma usando una formula diversa, che prende in considerazione la reachness della campagna, il comportamento d'acquisto e altri fattori tra i quali i costi delle azioni di marketing. Ad esempio il white paper riporta il caso di una campagna della durata di sei settimane per un prodotto di largo consumo, nell'ambito della quale 1867 partecipanti hanno parlato, in media, con 16,4 persone, delle quali l'8,3% ha discusso a sua volta della campagna con, in media, altre 1,94 persone. In questo modo è stata calcolata la reachness della campagna, consistente in 747.537 persone, e sono stati considerati i 146.545 prodotti venduti. Anche considerando tutti questi fattori il gruppo di studio della ChatThreads è giunto alla stessa conclusione che una conversazione in media vale 51 centesimi di dollaro.

E in Italia? Esistono studi analoghi? Non mi risulta...ma se qualcuno avesso notizie diverse siamo tutt' orecchie ;-)

By way of Word of Mouth Marketing Association

technorati tags: wom, womma, twammer, twitter, spam

As the current generation of social media savvy consumers evolves from myspace, facebook and twitter to embrace mobile media and content on-demand, very soon (if you haven't noticed already) we will begin seeing a major shift in how content is produced and requested by audiences.

While many large corporations have already jumped on the band wagon and started blogging or hiring ad agencies to produce blog worthy videos for viral marketing campaigns via YouTube combined with innovative micro sites, already they have lost major footing and decreased their brand equity by missing one critical component: Truth.

The key to successful user-generated content, will lie in brand alignment and authenticity. Telling the truth with regards to your brand, who created your WOMMA campaign and what your intentions are. No longer, will traditional advertising or corporate entities be allowed to hide behind empty promises as we enter a generation of savvy consumers ready to do the online research, google the product and find out what other consumers are saying.

The truly successful online business that creates a model of flexibility and open source collaboration, while not able to control the process, may end up creating an online thinktank capable of producing results 10x better than a traditional corporate structure. It is entirely possible that in this virtual workforce future, we will all be creators, designers and inventors collaborating with one another to solve commercial and global problems in real-time on a scale never seen before.

Hill is president and owner of Incitrio, a boutique branding agency located in Sorrento Valley.

Even with network TV, there's something to watch just about every night of the week: So You Think You Can Dance on Wed./Thurs.; How I Met Your Mother on Mon.; and NCIS on Tues. I'm a sucker for TV, even the 'uncool' shows. So recently, I'm trying something new... reading.

I just finished Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz. Andy founded WOMMA (WOMMAssociation) and consults with companies about... well WOMM. Honestly, I wouldn't have picked up the book had it not contained a foreword by Seth Godin and afterword by Guy Kawasaki. (Shows you how much I know about WOMM.)

The book was a breeze. I don't think it necessarily covered any topic that I didn't already know. BUT its huge accomplishment, and why I'm now a Sernovitz fan, is Andy's ability to tie random communications tips and theories into a comprehensive framework. I learned how one-off techniques play into an entire WOMM strategy, that when done right, will bring genuine results and interest to your product/service. That's only part I of the book. Part II delves into actual program set ups, short and sweet case studies and action, action, action. Treat this book as WOMM 101, just the basics. (Andy actually writes out word of mouth marketing- sans hyphens, but I hope WOMM will work just fine in this instance as well.)

I won't divulge the book; you'll have to read it (and if you share with 9 of your friends... hello, discount!). I won't even go into the simple theories that Andy lays out. Instead, here are my favorite 3 take-aways:

• BE HONEST: always disclose any affiliation you have with any company, when talking about them. People will find out. You will look like an ass. It's hard to wash the "ass" stamped on your forehead.
• After studying Southwest in case studies in college, people are still talking about their amazing customer service- which is key.
• Adding "tell a friend" helps talkers help you. I still remember that Bank of America "offered" both my dad and I $55 each when I signed up for an account. Of course, they never gave my dad the money... (Booo!! Bank of America sucks!! Carry out your word, damn it! You succeeded at tell a friend but failed at the honesty and customer service parts)... but you get the idea.

A slight qualm with the book is that it assumes someone's already talking about you. I wish Andy would discuss more about buzz generation, when there isn't already a pool of customers or fanatic fans out there. How do you build that fan base? Especially for a company who's product is completely new? Every other start-up has a beta, so how do you get yours noticed? The follow up being, as more and more companies offer user-based incentives (discount codes, friends & family coupons, betas, etc.), how do you cut through the clutter? What's the 'next-best-thing' if you will, or is it just about carrying out strategy better than those around you?

While I wait patiently for Andy to one day find this blog post (*wink*), you should probably check the WOMMA website to find more up-to-date information.

Happy reading!

.

Postscript: since Word of Mouth Marketing is about well... word of mouth, here's my 'talking' moment:

People often gripe about AT&T, especially after the release of the iPhone last year, when they were forced to sign a two year contract. So many argued, "I'd buy an iPhone... only if I didn't have to sign with AT&T.

AT&T has their issues, but here's why I'm loyal:

My DSL service was having some technical problems. On and off for a week, I just couldn't get service. After a few calls to the center, where I remained cooperative and polite, I asked about the cancellation policy. A customer retention person (sorry, I forgot your name!) quickly came on the line, apologized, sent over a tech person for free and gave me a semi-permanent $10/month off per bill AND $60 rebate for the trouble (that's basically 2 months free for ya'll Comcast & dial-up users). Of course, I enjoyed the $10 off and service returned back to normal. With AT&T, I always expected to fight about the measly $60.

So I called today. The customer service rep was incredibly polite, answered my questions, congratulated me on my "insider" pricing and informed me that the $60 had already been returned to my acct, since I wasn't charged for March or April. How about them apples?!?

This sounds so elementary, but thanks, AT&T, for actually carrying out your word. God knows Comcast doesn't.

I just finished Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz. Andy founded WOMMA (WOMMAssociation) and consults with companies about... well WOMM. Honestly, I wouldn't have picked up the book had it not contained a foreword by Seth Godin and afterword by Guy Kawasaki. (Shows you how much I know about WOMM.)

The book was a breeze. I don't think it necessarily covered any topic that I didn't already know. BUT its huge accomplishment, and why I'm now a Sernovitz fan, is Andy's ability to tie random communications tips and theories into a comprehensive framework. I learned how one-off techniques play into an entire WOMM strategy, that when done right, will bring genuine results and interest to your product/service. That's only part I of the book. Part II delves into actual program set ups, short and sweet case studies and action, action, action. Treat this book as WOMM 101, just the basics. (Andy actually writes out word of mouth marketing- sans hyphens, but I hope WOMM will work just fine in this instance as well.)

I won't divulge the book; you'll have to read it (and if you share with 9 of your friends... hello, discount!). I won't even go into the simple theories that Andy lays out. Instead, here are my favorite 3 take-aways:

• BE HONEST: always disclose any affiliation you have with any company, when talking about them. People will find out. You will look like an ass. It's hard to wash the "ass" stamped on your forehead.
• After studying Southwest in case studies in college, people are still talking about their amazing customer service- which is key.
• Adding "tell a friend" helps talkers help you. I still remember that Bank of America "offered" both my dad and I $55 each when I signed up for an account. Of course, they never gave my dad the money... (Booo!! Bank of America sucks!! Carry out your word, damn it! You succeeded at tell a friend but failed at the honesty and customer service parts)... but you get the idea.

A slight qualm with the book is that it assumes someone's already talking about you. I wish Andy would discuss more about buzz generation, when there isn't already a pool of customers or fanatic fans out there. How do you build that fan base? Especially for a company who's product is completely new? Every other start-up has a beta, so how do you get yours noticed? The follow up being, as more and more companies offer user-based incentives (discount codes, friends & family coupons, betas, etc.), how do you cut through the clutter? What's the 'next-best-thing' if you will, or is it just about carrying out strategy better than those around you?

While I wait patiently for Andy to one day find this blog post (*wink*), you should probably check the WOMMA website to find more up-to-date information.

Happy reading!

.

Postscript: since Word of Mouth Marketing is about well... word of mouth, here's my 'talking' moment:

People often gripe about AT&T, especially after the release of the iPhone last year, when they were forced to sign a two year contract. So many argued, "I'd buy an iPhone... only if I didn't have to sign with AT&T.

AT&T has their issues, but here's why I'm loyal:

My DSL service was having some technical problems. On and off for a week, I just couldn't get service. After a few calls to the center, where I remained cooperative and polite, I asked about the cancellation policy. A customer retention person (sorry, I forgot your name!) quickly came on the line, apologized, sent over a tech person for free and gave me a semi-permanent $10/month off per bill AND $60 rebate for the trouble (that's basically 2 months free for ya'll Comcast & dial-up users). Of course, I enjoyed the $10 off and service returned back to normal. With AT&T, I always expected to fight about the measly $60.

So I called today. The customer service rep was incredibly polite, answered my questions, congratulated me on my "insider" pricing and informed me that the $60 had already been returned to my acct, since I wasn't charged for March or April. How about them apples?!?

This sounds so elementary, but thanks, AT&T, for actually carrying out your word. God knows Comcast doesn't.

The creator of BzzAgent, co-founder of WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) and author of THE GRAPEVINE, Dave has a new book out. It is entitled THE WORD OF MOUTH MANUAL: VOLUME II, and in an rather unorthodox move, he has decided to self-publish it. The physical edition costs $45.00, but he is offering a digital edition free of charge. If you'd like a copy, simply download a PDF of the book.

Now a couple of weeks ago in my review I said that Groundswell is the how-to book for marketers wishing to play in a post-cluetrain world - and I now see that Join the Conversation bridges the intellectual divide between The Cluetrain Manifesto and Groundswell. The first half of the book is a bit scholarly - and while I was a bit put off by this at first, I really appreciate it having finished the book.

When Jaffe reaches back to George Orwell's on media and connects it to Web 2.0 a single word pops into my mind. Subversive. That's what this whole social computing movement is. It's subversive because it's a revolution that takes power out of the hands of giant corporations and gives it back to people. With the Internet as plumbing we can find our tribe and talk to them - regardless of time and distance. Jaffe makes the point that Orwell would have loved the subversive nature of this revolution – the new age of conversation. Power to the people!

Jaffe makes a passionate argument that markets are conversations - so of course marketers must be involved. Before reading the book I considered myself a bit of a Purist (on the Purist => Corporatist Scale) and I still do. What comes clear is how this apparent gulf between people and corporations can be bridged. It is simple really; corporations need to act human if they want to participate in the conversation. And that means giving up control, not always being right, respecting people building relationships instead of running campaigns, listening and acting like caring human beings.

Along with lots of great examples of how companies are doing things right in conversational marketing, he has some great counter examples - and he's not afraid to call them out! (TIP: If you find yourself asking the lawyers to contact one of your best customers who is doing something odd with your brand or product, you are about to nominate yourself for the "Join the Conversation Hall of Shame". )

My favorite thing about this book? Jaffe is very passionate about this subject and he doesn't pull punches. He is happy to get in an argument - and even offend if he thinks you don't get it. I also like the scholarly approach of the first half, because with this Join the Conversation provides the intellectual grounding in how corporations can get on board the Cluetrain.

TO'B

1. Joseph Jaffe keynote. On the plane down to Miami the night before I had read his book. To see him the next morning was a treat. As I twitted during the meeting he presents (and writes) like a man with his hair on fire. Love the energy and fearlessness.
2. The WOM in action work groups. We split up the group and each worked with 1 of three charities – 1Sky, Wilderness Society and Overtown Youth Center. This was awesome as we harnessed the power of the attendees on helping three deserving charities.
3. Owen Mack from coBRANDIT Video – I know there is streaming stuff, but I was blown away by this. He interviewed me on his N95 phone – it was streaming to his QIK site and people were watching and listening real time. The people watching and listening were (real time) texting in questions or comments which showed up on his monitor/screen as Joseph Jaffe interviewed me (go to 12:33 for my 15 sec of fame). WOW!
4. Bob Pearson from Dell. He told the story of how Dell has gotten into conversational marketing. (Let's just call it talking to customers) and how it has radically changed the culture at Dell. Money quotes from Bob's presentation?

• "you have a new homepage – it's called Google"
• "communities are NOT about us"
• "Dell has sold $500k worth of gear on Twitter"

Finally in the Q&A Bob was asked this question

Q:
"If one of your people has 700 Followers on Twitter (@richardatdell) how do they do their day job?"

A:
"Talking to customers IS their day job"

1. The breakout groups with Bonin Bough from Weber Shandwick and Rohit from Ogilvy. They did a great job of facilitating conversations about communities and social media tools respectively. Thanks.

Ever since reading Douglas Rushkoff's book Get Back in the Box, I've taken it upon myself to figure out how to do good marketing (and do it right for ALL parties involved).

I hope to start a blog soon to inform the marketing world of the importance of Word of Mouth and Social Media amongst Hispanics/Latinos in the United States.

Keep on watching out for more posts! This will be interesante!

-Matt

From WOMMA-U

TO'B

Obviously losing control is a valid concern - after all, we're in the business of crafting messages - but what I want to know is how in the world have the more traditional methods completely eluded the "lack of control" branding that digital can't seem to shake off?

Somewhere along the way, I think we've forgotten that there's not a whole lot of control in offline PR either. Even though a press release is crafted with specific messages in mind doesn't mean that once it gets out there, it's not going to ripped apart in editorial and offline word of mouth. The only control we have is with the outlets we give that message to and it does not matter if those outlets are online or off. Once that message goes out, it's gone.

The difference is that we are better able to gauge public feedback online - which can be a huge wakeup call for companies who have been largely unaware about what happens to their perfectly crafted messages once they get out into the unpublished public domain.

Skepticism of digital PR tactics is not about losing control of the message, it's about staying in denial about what your target audience really thinks. While I maintain that a harmful online mention isn't necessarily good news, isn't it better to receive and learn from feedback from your target rather than sweeping it under the rug?

Andy Sernovitz is a blogger at Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That! and author of Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking. He'll be joining John C. Havens today on Media 2.Open at 3pm ET to discuss the book, the blog and the world of word of mouth.

With straightforward advice and humor, marketing expert Andy Sernovitz can tell you how the world’s most respected and profitable companies get their best customers for free through the power of word of mouth.

Photo by Hyku

According to this story from Techdirt, when you join the "community" at Sears & KMart,

"What happens is that you are asked if you want to "join the community," and then, without clearly explaining what the software does, Comscore's tracking software is installed. After that, all of your online activities -- including to "secure" sites like banking sites -- is sent directly to Comscore, despite Sears' website insisting that none of the data you share will go to anyone but Sears. "

Yeah right! OK people, let's keep building the trust.  (Hat tip to The Daily Lark.)

TO'B

1. Send the same simple message through all of your internal and external communications. If it’s not simple, it can’t survive being passed via word-of-mouth.
2. Don’t position your product or service as part of a general category. Get more specific. Define it by its most-needed attribute: “The SUV gets 85 miles per gallon.”
3. Examples that are borderline outrageous will make your story worth repeating.
4. Sprinkle your marketing messages with success stories from real people.
5. Offer customers multiple (but simple) ways to inquire/order what you offer.
6. Get experts on your side by bringing them into conferences, advisory groups and seminars. Encourage them to spread the word to others.
7. Ask customers for referrals. Encourage your sales people to request referrals, recommendations and testimonials.

Ratner Media offers numerous consulting “starter packages” to help get your campaign rolling. 

Contact us today at 310-473-1501 or 1-800-248-2814  

The first from Quicken Loans. I'll note that the presenter of the project was Clayton (the man) Closson, who used to work at our MS&L Ann Arbor office. He moved on to Quicken to be part of their blog team among other things about a month before I started.

Clayton's program was a collaboration between Quicken and Yahoo! Answers. As the story goes, Clayton was perusing Yahoo! Answers and saw someone that had a question about mortgages. Being a home loans expert, he stepped in to answer the question. After several months it became evident just how many questions there are on home loans. Clayton's Answers were picked most often as the best by Yahoo! users giving him and the company instant credibility. The people at Yahoo! Answers took note and offeredQuicken a Yahoo! Answers Knowledge Partner profile, as the Home Loan Guru.

What started out as a nice thing to do turned into an awesome word of mouth campaign. Personally, that's what I love about it - Quicken didn't go out there and hit people over the head with adverts that screamed "We're the experts!!!!", they reached their target audience in an engaging manner and left the loan decision-making process to the consumer. Through this partnership, Quicken Loans is seen as the authority on home loans and mortgages from a trusted and credible third-party source. Well done!

The second Wommie campaign I want to highlight is Converseon's Second Chance Trees project. Rob Key, CEO of Converseon, and Paull and Christi's boss, presented this amazing campaign. Converseon blurred the line between the virtual and physical worlds by incorporating Second Life into what was basically a fundraiser for the reforestation of the world's rainforests.

Converseon, in collaboration with Plant-It 2020 bought an island on Second Life on which any Second Life user can purchase a virtual endangered tree to plant on the island for 300 lindens (about one U.S. dollar). From there, each tree planted on Second Life plants the same species of tree in a real life rainforest. It took off like gangbusters. People who planted trees on Second Life began sharing them on Flickr, making memorial trees for loved ones and blogging about the program - all with minimal involvement from Converseon itself.

I had to eat my words a little bit, because I am not a fan of Second Life, but I think the SCT project works where others have failed for several reasons:

• Even though you have to buy something to participate, the campaign is not trying to "sell" you anything (notice a trend here?)
• Philanthropy always goes a long way with the general public
• People who aren't on Second Life can still understand, identify and be likely to pass on the information to others
• It was a Second Life campaign that was in no way limited to Second Life (something that resonates with me, especially)

There were two other winners: Affinitive for their American Skiing Company: MyA41.com Passholder Community and Fanscape for their campaign, "Clear Channel NEW! Populating Site with Musicians" Feel free to check those out as well!

Congratulations to everyone! And watch out for next year. We're reclaiming the prize in '08.

• Promoting "best practices" to ensure more effective marketing
• Protecting consumers and the industry with strong ethical guidelines
• Evangelizing word of mouth as an effective marketing tool
• Setting standards to encourage its use

WOM Marketing Industry Worth $1 Billion in 2007, $3.7 Billion by 2011
At the Word of Mouth Marketing Summit last week PQ Media made an announcement that rocked the industry -- and proved what WOMMA's been saying all along: WOM marketing is big, and it's here to stay.

PQ Media's Word of Mouth Marketing Forecast 2007 marks the first ever comprehensive look at the size and growth of the word of mouth marketing industry. According to the research presentation, which was delivered by Patrick Quinn, President and CEO of PQ Media, marketers are expected to spend more than $1.35 billion this year on word of mouth marketing, making it the fastest growing segment in marketing services. According to PQ Media’s projections, the WOM industry is forecasted experience incredible growth, leading to a spend of more than $3.7 billion in 2011.

Unlike many of the sessions at Womma, this one turned into a real discussion instead of just a sales pitch. We touched on cultural differences, the impact of China on WOM, how to sell WOM abroad and most importantly (to me anyway) - the influence of American WOM practices on the rest of the world.

Now this is where it gets interesting:
Most of the audience agreed that the rest of the world was anywhere from 18 months to three years behind the US and most agreed that they have a lot to learn from the Americans, but from there it split. About half of the audience said that they want to take after Americans or use the American model for their own practices. But when panel moderator, Balter, asked that half if they would like to see Americans actually come over and show them the ropes, only two people raised their hands. The panel member from Germany was especially skeptical. "That's very dangerous territory," he said. Ouch.

I walked out of the room feeling dejected. I am an American - an outgoing one at that. And here I am, with all these plans, wide-eyed and State-side, not even knowing if I'm going to be accepted or wanted once I move. I have had a little bit of encouragement along the way, though: According to TWL, I'm an American, but "a nice one." Gee thanks, but doesn't that, even in jest, imply that rest of my countrymen are awful?

Dangerous territory, indeed.

As usual, it comes down to stereotypes. I sat in a room full of international attendees who came to the States to learn about American WOM practices and yet, were ready to judge Americans as unfit to advise on WOMM elsewhere. Sure, cultural elements come into play, but it seems to me that the age-old fear of the overbearing American "taking over" is at play. So riddle me this: If someone is going to judge me and my business practices simply because I'm American, doesn't that make that person just as shortsighted as the stereotypical Americans he or she is trying to avoid?

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Like you, I was surprised to learn that there is an association dedicated to WOM, I guess if we are curious enough we do learn something new everyday. Anyway, its website is a good resource for those of us looking to build greater buzz for our brands online.

Listed below are common types of word-of-mouth marketing described by WOMMA:

• Buzz Marketing: Using high-profile entertainment or news to get people to talk about your brand.
• Viral Marketing: Creating entertaining or informative messages that are designed to be passed along in an exponential fashion, often electronically or by email.
• Community Marketing: Forming or supporting niche communities that are likely to share interests about the brand (such as user groups, fan clubs, and discussion forums); providing tools, content, and information to support those communities.
• Grassroots Marketing: Organizing and motivating volunteers to engage in personal or local outreach.
• Evangelist Marketing: Cultivating evangelists, advocates, or volunteers who are encouraged to take a leadership role in actively spreading the word on your behalf.
• Product Seeding: Placing the right product into the right hands at the right time, providing information or samples to influential individuals.
• Influencer Marketing: Identifying key communities and opinion leaders who are likely to talk about products and have the ability to influence the opinions of others.
• Cause Marketing: Supporting social causes to earn respect and support from people who feel strongly about the cause.
• Conversation Creation: Interesting or fun advertising, emails, catch phrases, entertainment, or promotions designed to start word of mouth activity.
• Brand Blogging: Creating blogs and participating in the blogosphere, in the spirit of open, transparent communications; sharing information of value that the blog community may talk about.
• Referral Programs: Creating tools that enable satisfied customers to refer their friends

I'll be keeping you updated with more knowledge of WOM, stay tuned!