Updates from November, 2008

• How to Monetize the Giving Away of Content
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 2:04 pm on November 24, 2008 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  Tags: Blog Marketing (202), WOM How-to (591)

  Rohit Bhargava of WOMMA governing member Ogilvy PR, and Influential Marketing Blog creator, has written a new post that tackles one of the most rudimentary and persistent WOMM questions: how does one generate WOM by giving away content, without breaking the bank?
  He provides three simple but well-reasoned answers:
  1. Partial Access | Full Access. The simplest example of this is music download sites that let you get a 30 second sample of a song…
  2. Standard Version | High Def Version. A good example of this is last night’s release of the television show 24 with Kiefer Sutherland, and how they will be offering a “Director’s Cut” version on DVD…
  3. Limited Time | Archive. The site that uses this technique to great effect is MarketingSherpa. All the new articles published on the site are free to read…
  Read all of Rohit’s answers in full in his post: 3 Ways To Give Away Content Online (And Still Make Money).

  The full story at Influential Marketing Blog:
  http://rohitbhargava.typepad.com/weblog/2008/11/3-ways-to-give.html
  

  

  

   

• Unraveling the Mystery of Social Media ROI
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 2:03 pm on November 24, 2008 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  Tags: Research (520), WOM and Social Networks (700)

  A huge inhibitor of brands, companies, and other organizations’ integrating marketing strategies with word of mouth marketing (WOMM) has been the criticism that it is “impossible to measure ROI with WOMM.” As WOMM advocates know, this just isn’t true. We’re happy to provide to you, courtesy of MarketingProfs Daily Fix, a wonderful post about WOMM Measurement and ROI. Replete with Goals, Objectives, Tactics, Measurement Tools, and an overall Plan, this post may just be the retort that WOMM ROI skeptics have been searching for.

  The full story at MarketingProfs Daily Fix:
  http://www.mpdailyfix.com/2008/11/want_to_figure_out_your_social.html
  

  

  

   

• Google Allows Search Voting, Then Disallows, Then Re-Allows…For Now
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 2:02 pm on November 24, 2008 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  Tags: WOM Trends (737)

  Some of us have already chanced upon Google’s new SearchWiki feature, a tool which allows Google-registered users to both comment and vote up or down on search results and URLs. We say “chanced,” because, depending on when you read this post, and have navigated to Google in the past few days, you may or may not have seen the inconsistent SearchWiki feature.
  Google has been wrestling with the policing of this new feature, and reports of vandalism and spam are already surfacing. It will be interesting to see how this pans out, especially considering Google News comments are now scrutinized by human beings, and Google Knol (a Wikipedia competitor) has a strict author verification process. In short, Google has never allowed for unfettered commenting and rating before, and we aren’t sure if they’d start with their bread and butter: search results.

  The full story at Micro Persuasion:
  http://www.micropersuasion.com/2008/11/google-you-open.html
  

  

  

   

• 94% of UK Reviewers Write on Behalf of Consumer Altruism
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 2:01 pm on November 24, 2008 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  Tags: Research (520), WOM and Social Networks (700), WOM Trends (737)

  WOMMA Members Bazaarvoice and the Keller Fay Group have collaborated on a followup survey to Bazaarvoice’s study from a year ago which found that 90% of US reviewers review to “help others.” This year’s survey, which asked 3,800 Brits who wrote online reviews of products for their motivation, found that a staggering 94% responded that “important to write reviews to help other consumers make good purchase decisions.”
  The altruism spread beyond consumers as well. “82% of those surveyed said they wrote reviews to help companies make better decisions about the products they offer.”

  The full story at Bazaarblog:
  http://www.bazaarblog.com/2008/11/20/94-of-uk-customers-write-reviews-to-help-fellow-shoppers/
  

  

  

   

• Catchphrases that Went Viral
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 2:00 pm on November 24, 2008 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  Tags: Viral Marketing (187), WOM Trends (737)

  Perhaps Freakonomic’s latest post merely confirms that while it is sometimes exceedingly difficult to predict what will be viral, what will generate WOM, and what can be utilized, resultantly, for WOMM, there is still predictability in the world of WOM. Freakonomic’s reader-generated list of the most viral phrases of 2008 helps show us that while some phrases came out of left field, it’s not hard to see why others are now famous. At a simplified level, it’s easy to see that socially important phrases, as well as the incredibly inane, always seem to stick in our minds.
  Here are some picks from the readers:
  1) “Too big to fail.”
  2) “Here’s a link to [insert expert here]’s take on the financial crisis.”
  3) “Why so serious?”
  4) “Yes we can.”
  5) “My friend, Joe the plumber…”
  6) “I can see Russia from my House.”

  The full story at New York Times: Freakonomics Blog:
  http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/our-daily-bleg-which-quotes-were-viral-in-2008/
  

  

  

   

• WOM Marketing in Tough Times
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 1:56 pm on November 21, 2008 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  Tags: WOM How-to (591)

  Anything Goes Marketing (AGM) has put together the “Three Rs of Marketing and a Bonus R,” a nice piece on marketing during the big R that looms (the oft feared recession). Unsurprisingly, many of AGM’s tips include an increased utilization of WOMM tactics and techniques, such as leaning on webinars, email newsletters, and social media tools like Twitter and YouTube.
  Perhaps their most important point is the Bonus R: Remove.
  Remove barriers between the sales and marketing team.
  Remove campaigns or tactics that are not working.
  Remove crappy data and automate the process if possible.

  The full story at Anything Goes Marketing:
  http://anythinggoesmarketing.blogspot.com/2008/11/recession-is-here-time-to-become-eco.html
  

  

  

   

• Negative WOM Motrin Debacle Highlights Big Companies’ Social Media Fears
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 1:54 pm on November 21, 2008 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  Tags: Brands and WOM (503), WOM Trends (737)

  In the wake of the recent Motrin IB “pain in the neck” advertising debacle, which saw Motrin inadvisably criticizing new mothers, the aversion of similar large companies to social media emerges once again. But, as What’s Next Blog points out, this is a ridiculous fear. If big companies can own their own social media space, they’ll prosper, not falter.
  With respect to the Motrin, What’s Next explains that “instead of responding with their own good-natured and humorous response, Motrin has remained deadly serious, ending up looking rather silly.”
  What’s Next continues:
  “Big brands: you’re the man now, dog, and the woman. You need to engage in some serious research and school yourself on what is happening online that doesn’t come from the usual suspects – you and your corporate buds.”

  The full story at What’s Next Blog:
  http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2008/11/why_big_companies_are_so_scared_of_social_media_cornflakes.asp
  

  

  

   

• Download WOMMA Research Symposium and Marketing Summit Presentations
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 1:53 pm on November 21, 2008 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  Tags: WOMMA Ad (246)

  WOMMA just finished up a great Marketing Summit in Las Vegas last week. Although we missed seeing several of you there, we know how important education is to you and your staff. Therefore, we’ve made many of the presentations from the conference available to WOMMA members in the Member Center. Even one of our keynote speakers shared his presentation — Tony Hsieh from Zappos — as well as many presentations from major brands. Thanks again to our wonderful speakers for sharing their data.
  Go to http://womma.org/livedocs to see the list of available decks, click the link of the presentation you want, and log into the Member Center to download.
  If you aren’t already a member of WOMMA but would like more information about benefits and joining, call 312-853-4400 and ask to speak to a membership staffer, or email us at membership@womma.org.

  

  

   

• Peter Kim’s Take on the Next Digital Era
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 1:52 pm on November 21, 2008 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  Tags: WOM Trends (737)

  Peter Kim is in New York, moderating a PR Week panel on the most important trends in public relations. In anticipation of his meeting, he asked his readers of Being Peter Kim their thoughts on a few major issues affecting his industry and the WOM industry.
  Some must-read WOM highlights are his questions,
  1) What’s the biggest development in the social media space that affects all organizations?
  2) What’s the most underreported trend in the business world that you think deserves more attention?
  The full set of questions and answers at our link.

  The full story at Being Peter Kim:
  http://www.beingpeterkim.com/2008/11/comments-on-the-next-digital-era.html
  

  

  

   

• Ethical WOM News: Activision Admits Bike Hero is Viral Marketing
  
  

  WOMMA Editor 1:51 pm on November 21, 2008 | Comments Off Comments Permalink
  Tags: Brands and WOM (503), WOM Ethics (138)

  Perhaps you’ve seen the recent, now viral, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlMYWuGUZlM">YouTube where we find a fan playing Guitar Hero — with a bicycle (Bike Hero).
  The video is, frankly, pretty darn entertaining and impressive. Well, it turns out it’s also a creation of Activision, the purveyors of the Guitar Hero franchise. The extremely high production value of the video, and the sheer spectacular nature of the video itself, suggested to many from the outset that more was at hand than just a fan-made video.
  Turns out they were right. In an interview with MTV, Chief Creative Office for Activision, Brad Jakeman, admitted that Activision created the video as a stunt to drive up WOM for their video game franchise. Stay tuned for the public reaction, or outcry.

  The full story at Bit Tech:
  http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/11/21/activision-admit-bike-hero-is-viral-marketing/1