On May 30, the FTC will be conducting a workshop on “dot com disclosures” to address the “clear and conspicuous” standard for new media platforms.

I’ve been privileged to work with the FTC over the past couple of months in coordinating the sessions and providing input.

WOMMA has been asked to participate in the workshop, and provide concrete, real world examples to illustrate the challenges presented by meaningful disclosure in social media.  James Dudukovich from Coca-Cola will be representing WOMMA through its Legal Affairs Committee on a panel, and Malcolm Faulds, co-chair of WOMMA’s MEAP, will be representing his company’s perspective.

There are 4 discussion panels, and the FTC has announced the issues to be discussed as follows:

Panel 1: Universal and Cross-Platform Advertising Disclosures

• When, where, and how should required disclosures be made?
• When and how can hyperlinks and similar techniques be used to make required disclosures?
• What techniques increase or decrease the likelihood that consumers will actually read a required disclosure?

Read about the three other panels at DiResta-the-Law

Learn more from the FTC

Community management is more than retweeting your friends or posting that cool picture in front of the fountain. Edelman Digital, a soon to be instructor for WOMMA’s community management online certificate program, says an effective community manager needs to connect with their community, understand their community, listen to their community and, most importantly, use their community to provide brand advocacy. Here are some other key points all community managers need to keep in mind before their next blog post.

• Identify the potential reach of your community as opposed to the size. People want to concentrate on the number of “likes” or “followers.” That doesn’t matter as much as the activity of your community members and their influence throughout their networks. If your content is sharable, informative and useful, your community’s community with share your message.
• Everyone wants to feel important. Make people in your following feel special. Empower community members to be the “go-to” person within their friendships. Accomplish this and your reach will grow like never before.
• Just like a marriage, effective community management takes time. Understand them, listen to them and figure out what they need. Afterwards, prove that they need you just as much as you need them. Figure this out and you are golden.

To hear more about the intricacies of community management, read the entire post or sign up for our 10-session online certificate program beginning May 15. Instructors hail from Edelman, Dell and more. They’ll turn you into the influential, informative and exciting community manager your company needs to stay ahead of the pack.

The Community Roundtable recently released their annual State of Community Management report. It carefully outlined the four different stages of community growth. They were:

Stage 1 – Hierarchy

This stage is for the pups. Here, you find a lot of unfocused social interaction. Perhaps one of the younger people in the office is “doing the social thing.”

To move beyond this stage, brands need to develop policies, goals and extensive listening. These will lay a foundation that will be sustainable as you move through the other stages.

Stage 2 – Emergent Community

At this point, your community is already started, but is still working out some kinks. As the community grows, take a closer look at risk assessment, engagement platforms, and your roadmap to success.

Stage 3 – Community

You’ve built it. They have come. Stage 3 is more about maintaining and integrating than building.

Momentum can be a tricky thing. What initially attracted your community members may have become less important. Regularly assess how well certain tactics work.

The community should also be integrated with other marketing initiatives.

Stage 4 – Network

The ROI is proven. The brass has bought in. The community is engaged, perhaps even a little self-sustaining.

Stage 4 is all about continuing to find ways for the community to help the brand and vice versa. Internally, no stone (read: department) should be unturned. HR? Recruit through the community. Product development? Use the community as a sounding board or idea engine.

Key Takeaway: Getting from Stage 1 to Stage 4 takes years of dedication. It takes real budgets, real employees, and really smart ideas. They aren’t built overnight, but nothing worth doing is.

Download the 2012 State of Community Management at The Community Roundtable

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WOMMA and The Community Roundtable are producing WOMM-COM Community Manager, a 10-webinar education program. Students will learn essential community management skills, from strategy to long-term management. Instructors hail from Dell, Intel, Edelman, ComBlu, iCrossing, and more.

Class starts May 15.

Register Here

Peter Friedman, CEO of Liveworld, has hired hundreds of community managers. He recently told Jeremiah Owyang, Industry Analyst for the Altimeter Group, about the balance he wants in his community managers:

“The key is to get someone with the right personality, enthusiasm and skills.  Experience counts too. Even if there were good CM certification programs around, I wouldn’t disqualify someone for not having such a certification. I’d look at the person’s other specifics … For example a person with 5 years real CM experience is likely to be much stronger than a person with 1 year of experience and a certification”.

Back in 2007, Jeremiah analyzed community manager job descriptions and found four requirements:

1. Community Advocate

2. Brand Evangelist

3. Savvy Communicator

4. Shapes Product Roadmap

Indeed, these four are all a balance between nature and nurture. For instance, communication with a community requires a natural knack plus knowledge of the media being used.

Jeremiah concluded his thoughts with this:

The Bottom Line: The emerging Community Manager education and certifications are a good thing for all professionals –yet be sure to balance them out with peer to peer learnings, and real-world experience.

1. Writing posts for Twitter, blogs, Facebook in addition to clear one-on-one communication with community members.

2. Patience (!)

3. Diplomacy

4. Customer Service

5. Troll hunting/spam disposal

6. Advocacy Advocacy Advocacy

7. What else? Add to the list by commenting!

WOMMA has been working closely with Rachel Happe and Jim Storer to create an online certificate program that teaches the basics of community management. We want 2012 to be the year of community management sophistication.

We hope you or your colleagues will join us in the inaugural program to learn from 12 community-minded instructors.

Start date: Jan. 24 (Just one day after Community Manager Appreciation Day)

Read Claire Flanagan of Jive Software’s take on the program

More Info

Register Here

By Paul M. Rand, President & CEO, Zocalo Group; and Immediate Past President, WOMMA

WOMMA is hosting a day-long Talkable Brands Exchange Live event during Social Media Week at Google’s Chicago office. You’ll learn how to measure word of mouth & social media and how it impacts your brand. Tickets are still available but going fast. Register Here.

As Social Media Week Chicago begins today we’re honored to be among 12 global cities participating in this international event. The week-long conference is a platform to connect people, content and conversation around current, best and next practices in the areas of word of mouth, social media and mobile marketing. Social Media Week is a unique conference series in that almost all of the sessions and events are free to attend and open to the public.

The schedule for the week includes more than 80 events across a full range of business, marketing, entertainment, government and education topics.

WOMMA is also hosting a Talkable Brands Exchange as part of this week’s activities.

Take a moment to check out not only the breadth and depth of the sessions, but also the companies,  brands and individuals involved.   You’ll be amazed.   Social media is truly transforming the way people, businesses and governments interact with each other.  Word of mouth marketing, of course, is at the heart of all of these changes.   Each brand, cause, candidate or issue is working to ensure that their target audience truly understands, engages with and hopefully shares their messages.

Zocalo Group is honored to have been selected, along with the Chicago Tribune, to be the hosts and organizers for SMW-Chicago and we’re grateful for the dedicated efforts of the Chicago Advisory Board, the speakers and sponsors. WOMMA is also honored to be the Official Social Media Week Chicago Marketing Partner.

Follow the action on Twitter at @SMWChicago.

Year in and year out, companies search for ways to build a competitive advantage. It can come from many aspects of a business, but more often than not, the employees drive the advantage.

WOMMA provides year-round staff development opportunities that keep your staff’s advantage strong. Our members always get a discount.

For Instance: Members save $100 on WOM-COMM Social Customer Care

We’d love to speak to you about membership. Please contact Jason Dent, Membership Development Director, at JasonDent@WOMMA.org or 312-53-4400 x. 201.

You can also learn more about Social Customer Care during WOMMA’s 6 webinar certificate program  - WOM-COMM Social Customer Care. It begins Tuesday and there is still plenty of space. Register Here.

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Not a member but want access? Connect with Jason Dent, WOMMA’s Membership Development Director, at JasonDent@WOMMA.org or 312-853-4400 x.201.

The WOMMA Talkable Brands Exchange Live events are knowledge forums where brands and agencies openly share and discuss their social marketing successes, takeaways, and best practices.

New York - Oct. 11

Keynote Highlight

Michael Donnelly, Group Director, Worldwide Interactive Marketing at The Coca-Cola Company

Description

A Taste of How The Coca-Cola Company Approaches Social Business

Key Takeaways:
- Risk Management, Legal, and Regulatory
- Managing Your Social Media Partners
- Rules and guidelines for conducting a truly integrated sweepstakes
- Exposure, liability and consequences
- Protecting your company’s identity in a virtual world

More Info and Agenda
Register Here

Save up to $150 with Duo pricing when you register two attendees at once.

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WOM-COMM Healthcare and Social Media Certificate

If you work in the healthcare or pharma industry, this important program will explain how to be compliant with new media and social media.

Attendees will gain a deep understanding of the rules and guidelines imposed by regulatory agencies, industry associations, and trade groups, including the FDA.

Class starts Oct. 18!

Register Here

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Join WOMMA Nov. 16-18 for this Vegas-style whirlwind of word of mouth marketing and social media education, unique and experiential networking events, and an information overload of strategies and tactics to create a Talkable Brand.

Presenting Case Studies from Major Brands and Agencies on:
• Content Development
• Paid, Earned and Owned Media
• Gamification
• Mobile
• Online and Offline
• And many more!

Learn More
Read the Agenda
Register now
Save $300 with the Early Bird price! Ends Oct. 28!

Wed. Oct. 5
12:00 pm ET/11:00 am CT

Speaker:

David Rabjohns, CEO, of MotiveQuest

You’ll Learn

1. How to think more clearly about customer loyalty
2. How to find your advocates
3. How to measure value in your marketplace
4. How to reduce customer defections

Register Here