Updates from July, 2008

• Online Communities Increase WOM, Build Brand Awareness
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 9:52 am on July 30, 2008 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Research (520)

  Thirty-five percent of users say online communities increase word of mouth, 28% say online communities contribute to building brand awareness, and 24% say they increase customer loyalty, according to a recent study, titled “The 2008 Tribalization of Business,” conducted by Deloitte, Beeline Labs, and the Society for New Communications Research. The study also found that the biggest obstacles to making online communities work include: getting people involved in the community (51%), finding time for community management (45%), and attracting community members (34%).

  The full story at MarketingVOX:
  http://www.marketingvox.com/word-of-mouth-insights-customer-loyalty-big-benefits-of-online-communities-040099/?camp=newsletter&src=mv&type=textlink
  

  

  

   

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• JCPenny Uses Online Game to Drive Dorm Buzz Among College Girls
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 9:50 am on July 30, 2008 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Brands and WOM (503)

  An online game from JCPenny, called Dork Dodge, is aimed at generating buzz among college coeds and to drive awareness of the company’s Dorm Life lifestyles brand. Gamers can create profiles, design personalized avatars, and play the game with their dorm mates. JCPenny is also using word of mouth and blog seeding to to get the word out about the game, and has a support page with tips for Freshman campus life on a branded Facebook page.

  The full story at Promo Magazine:
  http://promomagazine.com/news/jcpenney_creates_online_game_college_girls_0729/
  

  

  

   

• WOMMA Networking Event for Chicago-Area WOM Marketers
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 9:49 am on July 30, 2008 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: WOMMA Ad (246)

  ** NEW DATE FOR CHICAGO NETWORKING EVENT: TUESDAY, SEPT, 16, 2008 **
  Mark your calendars and roll up your sleeves: WOMMA is hosting a hands-on networking cocktail reception that you won’t want to miss. Whether you’re a Chicago local or going to be visiting the Windy City, we’d love to have you with us!
  We’re taking over the state-of-the-art kitchen at Calihan Catering, so not only will you have a chance to sip and chat with your word of mouth marketing peers, you’ll be able to participate in some fun cooking demonstrations brought to you by Chicago’s premier caterers while you do it. What better way to break the ice than to learn a hip kitchen trick or two?
  
  >> Details:
  * Where: Calihan Catering, 833 W. Haines, Chicago, IL
  * When (NEW DATE): Tuesday, Sept. 16, 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
  * Cost: $100 for non-members, $75 for members
  * Attire: Come as you are, it’s a casual networking reception.
  Join the WOMMA crew and spend some time with local WOM aficionados — people who “get” what you do — in a fun, relaxed setting. There will be networking, conversation, and deal-making, as well as stuff to eat and drink. Bring your clients, associates, and friends, too. Everyone’s invited — come hang out and share your excitement about the future of our industry.
  To RSVP now, visit:
  http://store.womma.org/products/chicago-cocktail-reception-networking-for-wom-marketers

  

  

   

• Micro Product-Review Site Blippr Provides New WOM Platform
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 9:45 am on July 30, 2008 | 1 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  

  David Binkowski of WOMMA member company Hass MS&L recently blogged about the launch of micro product-review site Blippr, which he claims may be onto something. With its 160-character length limit, the site replicates some of the “cut the clutter” emphasis of microblogging sites, and David lists some reasons why this translates well to product reviews. Because of the length constraints, users might have to find clever ways to insert the appropriate transparency and disclosure, but the platform certainly has lots of WOM potential.

  The full story at DavidBinkowski.com:
  http://davidbinkowski.blogspot.com/2008/07/prroduct-reviews-in-160-characters-or.html
  

  

  

   

• Finding the Dollar Value of Online Social Networking ‘Friends’
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 9:38 am on July 30, 2008 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: Research (520), WOM How-to (591)

  In this ClickZ article, Gary Stein of WOMMA member company Ammo Marketing adds to a previous discussion he kicked off about monetizing online social networks. Measuring social network values, according to Gary, is more complex than measuring page views — which is the go-to online metric standard — and is more to do with the strength of the connections. Gary lists and gives examples for several axes with which to measure the value of social connections — including volume, conversion, and advocates — and gives some strategy tips for how to see increases along those axes.

  The full story at ClickZ:
  http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3630339
  

  

  

   

• Product reviews in 160 characters or less
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 4:22 pm on July 29, 2008 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  

  [Originally posted by David Binkowski on DavidBinkowski.com.]
  Move over long form reviews, there’s a new player in town. Via TechCrunch, a new service launched this week called Blippr, which is a product review web site that limits reviews to 160 characters. When I first read about it I thought “there is no way it will work”, but after trying out the site there are several reasons it does work. Here are a few rules to success that they’ve followed:
  1. Be relevant. The categories they’ve chosen — music, movies, books and games — don’t require lengthy reviews, like, say, consumer electronics.
  2. Be portable. The site currently feeds into Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook. Smart move. They also have read-only rights to their API right now, which means third party sites can pull the reviews for their site at no cost. Look out Buzzillions.
  3. Be WOM worthy. All of the categories they’ve chosen heavily rely on word of mouth. And, more importantly, the site itself is a “love it or hate it” deal - which, according to Guy Kawasaki is a rule for creating a great brand/product.
  4. Be brief. Blippr is setting itself up for success by not trying to bite off more than it can chew. 160 characters, short, sweet and to the point. Perfect for the web and quick blips of information.
  5. Be easy. The site’s sign up took me less than a minute and posting a review is as fast as leaving a Tweet — without the fail whale.
  Sure, you can make all of the jokes you want about the Web 2.0 name, but the site is actually useful. They also have fun emoticons to represent your review’s tone. Try it and post your take in the comments! :D

  

  

   

• How Philosophy Put Bazaarvoice Stories to Work
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 4:19 pm on July 29, 2008 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  

  [Originally posted by Sam Decker on Bazaarblog.]
  Philosophy is a great skincare company that goes far beyond products – as their name suggests, their brand is about a way of being – a philosophy!
  To that end, they launched their “Your Mom’s Philosophy” campaign to encourage their customers to share the life-changing stories and lessons their moms taught them. Once stories were posted, writers encouraged others to vote, and two winners received $1200 Philosophy shopping sprees.
  Philosophy hoped to gain new visitors to its site – and boy, did they succeed. Here are some of the results:
  * They received more than 1,000 stories in just over a month and thousands of votes.
  * During the month of May, 39% of their entire web traffic came in through their “Your Mom’s Philosophy” pages
  * 33% of all their visitors overall read stories during their time on the site.
  * Visitors through Stories had 81% more page views and 20% higher average order value than average
  Traffic is still coming into the “Your Mom’s Philosophy” pages as daughters share their stories with friends and family.
  Philosophy used Bazaarvoice’s newest product, Stories, to make the entire process simple. They used our flexible options to style the input to match their existing site and brand, and our three-tier moderation – with our standard SLA of fewer than 72 hours – meant that they could collect stories with confidence and ease.
  We’re excited to say we have dozens more clients launching Stories, using it for holidays, special campaigns, and even recruiting! Keep an eye here for more great implementations, and think about how you can go beyond the product to build bridges between your brand and your customers.

  

  

   

• Tom’s Walks the WOM
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 1:39 pm on July 29, 2008 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  

  [Originally posted by Virgina Miracle on Marketing Environmentalism]
  Ben at Church of the Customer and John at Brand Autopsy have kindly shared the remarkable story of Tom’s Shoes. In a nutshell:
  Strategy: Passion + a Simple Mission
  For every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of shoes to a child in need. One for One
  Ton Shoe’ing a Baby
  Advertising Budget: $0. To quote the founder, “It’s hard to do advertising in a personal way” Marketing dollars are spent on getting involving customers in the mission - truly cutting the marketing clutter. In an MSNBC interview, a retailer explains that the shoes started selling after posting a picture of the shoes being handed out and the mission over the display.
  Results:
  * 60,000 pairs donated and a goal of 200,000 by the end of 2008.
  * People who think the shoes are ugly on first glance (including me) purchasing them and breathlessly waiting for them to arrive.
  * A growing army of volunteer marketers who want to be asked about their ugly shoes so they can tell the story.
  I am equally excited about the shoes, mission and conversational capital that I just bought!

  

  

   

• IBM Gets Social With BtoB Push
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 9:44 am on July 29, 2008 | 2 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  Tags: WOM B2B (51)

  IBM is adding a social element to its latest BtoB marketing push, pairing its new media campaign with a social networking site, Voice of the Business Partner, where companies that deal with middle-market business can interact directly with IBM. IBM is using the site as a way to gather feedback from these folks to inform how it serves and deals with this particular slice of its market — as well as to tweak its specific campaign efforts going forward.

  The full story at ClickZ:
  http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3630336
  

  

  

   

• Connect to WOMMA; Join the WOMM Conversation
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 9:41 am on July 29, 2008 | 0 Comments Permalink | Post Your Comment!
  

  There are tons of ways to get connected to WOMMA and our amazing community of word of mouth marketing experts, thinkers, and trendsetters. WOMMA is a hub for people who “get” word of mouth marketing, and we’d love to have you join us. Here are a few ways you can get connected:
  - WOMMA’s Twitter feed: WOMMA is on Twitter. Check it out. Follow us. Tell us what you think. Send us links, news, and tips. Follow WOMMA at: http://twitter.com/WOMMA
  - WOMMA’s LinkedIn group: This group is for WOMMA members only, and it is a great way to publicize your status as a word of mouth marketer. Join the WOMMA LinkedIn group at: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/126491/52B74B522B34
  - WOMMA’s Facebook group: WOMMA’s Facebook group has 1,100+ members, and is a great place to kickstart a conversation about word of mouth marketing. Join WOMMA’s Facebook group at: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=3272859a876&ref=ts