The Altimeter Group compiled an excellent research report that found 8 key criteria for Facebook success.
The report is highly comprehensive and found that 14 of the 30 brands reviewed fully leveraged social features to activate word of mouth.
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8 Success Criteria for Facebook Marketing
Pat McCarthy
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Sponsored Blogs & Ethical Questions
Pat McCarthy
Bess Auer has got a pretty good gig; she’s an English teacher by day and a blogger for Chevy by night. In exchange for one month of driving a 2010 Camaro, Bess blogs about her experiences at least twice per week.
Paying per post has come under scrutiny in the past, but last year’s updates to the FTC’s Guides on Testimonials and Endorsements cleared up many concerns. Now bloggers and brands are required to disclose their relationship if any sort of value has been exchanged. In Bess’ case, she’s given a car and gas, and the rest is up to her. If she doesn’t like the car, she can say so.
Key Takeaway: Disclose, disclose, disclose. The key to blogger outreach isn’t controlling the message. It’s finding the right people for your product/services.
Read more about blogger outreach and ethics at The Joplin Globe
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Brands Bringing Bank on Facebook
Pat McCarthy
Learning by example is a great way to get some fresh ideas. The cited article lists four online brands and marketers who have effectively used Facebook to increase their bottom line.
1. Wildfire - They use Facebook lets clients design their own campaigns while Wildfire connects it to the right channels to best enable a viral response.
2. Slide - The app developer was one of the first to utilize Facebook to spread their wares.
3. Oodle - They power Facebook Marketplace and run an individual classified ad site.
4. Zynga - The Facebook game developer has made an empire with simple interactive games that pit friends against friends.
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Bookmark These Influencer Posts
Pat McCarthy
I tend to bookmark posts that hold relevant data or other helpful resources. For the past month or so, The Word has been citing a series of posts about influencers by Lithium Technologies’ Principal Scientist of Analytics, Dr. Michael Wu.
Yesterday he told me that he had aggregated the series into one comprehensive post. It’s far too much to summarize. It covers everything from theory to metrics.
View Dr. Wu’s Influencer webinar deck here
Lithium Technologies is a WOMMA member.
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Interview with Gretchen Fox, VP of Social Media, Live Nation
Pat McCarthy
Context Optional did an interview with Gretchen Fox that had some great takeaways:
3. How important is having a strategy around your social media efforts?
Strategy is the root of planning; without it, you’re shooting in the dark.
6. On a scale of 1-10, how important is ROI? Do you measure it?
While ROI is an important business metric, at this point we are more concerned with ROP (Return on Participation) and continuing to bring value to our fans. More than just converting people to sale, we’re focused on how well we’re building relationships with our fans and artists as well as cultivating conversation around our tours.
8. When it comes to social, you never want to ________.
Forget that the community must always be a place that our fans want to be a part of.
Read the rest of the interview at Context Optional
Context Optional is a WOMMA member.
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Study: Brands Act Weird on Twitter
Pat McCarthy
“Marketers use Twitter to broadcast, while consumers use it to converse.” - Sarah Hofstetter, Senior Vice President of Emerging Media and Brand Strategy at 360i.
The six-month study done by 360i analyzed 1,800 tweets. It found:
1. 43% of original consumer tweets are conversations while only 16% of marketer tweets are dialogue with consumers.
2. Only 12% of consumer tweets mention a brand. Top brands mentioned are Twitter, Apple and Google.
3. 94% of tweets are personal in nature and only 8% are private. This creates an amazing pipeline for brands to listen to the community.
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WOMMA & WOM UK Align with Newly Formed WOMMAUK
Pat McCarthy
In a move to share word of mouth marketing expertise in the United States and United Kingdom, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association and the Word of Mouth Association UK have formalized their partnership. WOM UK has now become WOMMAUK and the two associations are working closely together to develop and raise the profile of the fast-evolving industry.
“We welcome the opportunity to share our expertise and knowledge with our colleagues across the pond in WOMMAUK and look forward to learning from their experience too,” said Paul M. Rand, president of WOMMA and president/CEO of the Zócalo Group. “For many WOMMA members who may not have much international WOM exposure, this agreement provides them with resources they may not be able to access or afford on their own,” Rand said.
“Word of mouth dissolves the boundaries between on and offline, local and global, like no other discipline, so for us a partnership with WOMMA was a no-brainer,” said Molly Flatt, WOM Evangelist at 1000heads and WOMMAUK president. “In such a quickly evolving industry, it’s essential that we share insights and essential that we present a united stance on ethics, best practice and measurement if word of mouth is to become central to businesses worldwide. We’re delighted to be working with such a strong and enthusiastic team at WOMMA and know that our members will benefit from the partnership enormously.”
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The CMO’s Dilemma
Pat McCarthy
Habits are hard to break. For years, CMO’s have tried to crack the social media code but ended up failing. The cited article by John Bell, WOMMA’s Immediate Past President, goes through all the steps that lead to a lackluster social media campaign.
The problem lies with the procedure of traditional marketing. When you tie a new media campaign to old media standards, they will inevitably fall apart. Social results don’t look like mass media results.
Key Takeaway: The value of social and word of mouth marketing is that you build a long lasting and stable relationship with your consumers.
Read the full dilemma & download the red paper at The Digital Influence Mapping Project.
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6 Ways to Turn Tweets into Leads
Pat McCarthy
Twitter is a great way to find people who could use your product. Even here at WOMMA, we keep an eye out for potential members or event sponsors on Twitter. The cited article offers a few tips that can help you generate leads on Twitter.
1. Interact with People - Reply, comment, ask questions. This is how you build relationships in real life and on Twitter.
2. Don’t Tweet in a Silo - Good communication between sales and marketing is key. If someone is in the final stages of the buying process and you try to start an initial engagement on Twitter, it looks very bad.
3. Monitor Your Competitors’ Brands - Imagine Twitter as an open marketplace. Keeping an eye on the competition really helps greatly.
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Survey: Moms Don’t Trust Corporations
Pat McCarthy
Moms play a critical role in our economy. They often control a significant amount of a family’s purchase decisions. That’s why a recent CafeMom study causes a bit of a stir.
It found that only 7% of moms agree that corporations understand their needs and work to make their lives better. That is a severe lack of trust. To overcome this, brands need to promote a brand culture of honesty and interest in moms’ lives.
Key Takeaway: Trust is something that is build through dialogue. Reach out, listen and reflect your community’s needs in product improvements.
JustinAtSmile.ly 7:57 am on July 27, 2010 Permalink
Nice Post Pat. I think the most important thing a company can do in the social media space is foster a 2-way conversation with its consumers. This will build relationships and ultimately boost sales…
Pat McCarthy 10:57 am on July 28, 2010 Permalink
Thanks Justin! Much agreed. I think this study shows the long way brands have to go before they can really reap the benefits of community engagement. A lot of people worry about ROI, but a poorly executed program will ensure a weak return.