The economics of buzz - word of mouth drives business growth finds LSE study

The economics of buzz - word of mouth drives business growth finds LSE study: "Word of mouth, both positive and negative, is a powerful component in driving UK business growth finds new research from academics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and The Listening Company."

Goo goo gah gah Google - Consumer Evangelism gone mad?

Goo goo gah gah Google: "A Swedish couple have named their baby, wait for it, Google. "

The Voice of Viral Marketing. Internet Tip of the Week: Outsourcing.

The Voice of Viral Marketing. Internet Tip of the Week: Outsourcing.: "...in order to most effectively execute a successful viral marketing project, it is important to build a significant understanding of your target audience to tap into their social and psychological network..."

McDonalds Fan Blogger Knows Company is Listening

McDonalds Fan Blogger Knows Company is Listening: "Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba over at The Church of the Customer Blog are tracking a McDonalds fan blog, McChronicles. By looking at his server logs, the blogger knows that McDonald's and its agency are listening even if they aren't communicating. "

Thanks to Steve Rubel for this.

Electronic Arts's Shawn Conly on Blog Analytics

Matt Galloway comments on Electronic Arts' use of Umbria Communications' blog analytics tools. Yay, we're getting a bit more detail! Matt compares Umbria's offering to that of Intelliseek. Matthew Hurst of Intelliseek responds.

What to Do When Your Client Wants a Chicken

What to Do When Your Client Wants a Chicken: "Though the concept itself was relatively novel 18 months ago, viral quickly became a common marketing campaign element. Yes, the term was coined to describe Hotmail's success in the late 1990s, but it took a breakthrough campaign like Subservient Chicken to make 'viral' part of every marketer's lexicon."

Big Media, Little Blogosphere

Big Media, Little Blogosphere: "Blogs are cheap, easily updated, and can focus on a niche market with passionate followers -- an advertiser's dream. "

iPod Users Are Among the Internet's Most Prolific Influencers and Advertisers, Intelliseek Study Finds

iPod Users Are Among the Internet's Most Prolific Influencers and Advertisers, Intelliseek Study Finds: "Consumers who own iPods are significantly more likely to create and spread consumer-generated media (CGM) on the Internet, a trend likely to increase with the incorporation of video content into iPods, says a recent consumer behavior study by buzz analytics firm Intelliseek."

Empowered Viewers in a film production

Empowered Viewers in a film production: -

Thanks to Paul Marsden for this link at his consumer empowerment blog. It's an example of a compelling way to get consumers on board.

Arctic Monkeys take chart top spot

Arctic Monkeys take chart top spot: "The Sheffield rockers built up a committed following of young fans well before they were even noticed by the record industry by taking advantage of the internet's viral marketing power. "

Building a buzz on campus

Building a buzz on campus: "During lunch at Boston University, five girls ogled a 6-foot-7 blond senior with a winning smile and high cool-quotient as he approached their table. He was cute, they agreed. But equally intriguing was his pitch."

The Sleepover Sales Pitch

The Sleepover Sales Pitch: "Dying to know what was said about you at the last slumber party? Time was when such curiosity ended in junior high, but now big-name brands are trying to get mentioned in girls' gossip. "

Lexalytics mixes models to raise profile in text analysis markets

Lexalytics mixes models to raise profile in text analysis markets: Here's an interesting company. Whilst Biz360, Intelliseek and Cymfony rely on hosted solutions, Lexalytics has the ability to host "in house". As analyst Nick Patience says, "...some customers are nervous about having their data stored on a supplier's servers. They prefer to deal with such things in-house and pay an up-front cost rather than a subscription."

It seems like the heat is on in the news/cgm analytics space at the moment. However, Lexalytics doesn't have the need to re-coup $$$ of VC funding in order to break-even, although Nick does make reference to Lexalytics contemplating raising money if they are concerned about rapid growth.

Comments on BzzAgent from the blogosphere

Comments on BzzAgent from the blogosphere: "I can't put my finger on exactly why I don't like BzzAgents. It could be that it seems to support enthusiasm for enthusiasm's sake... there's something contrived about it that puts me off."

Ooh, it's all kicking off...

Viral Marketing - What About Word-of-Mouse?

Viral Marketing - What About Word-of-Mouse?:

"I'm all for word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing, but I couldn't help but be repelled by a recent article I came across on MSNBC.com."

Says Tessa Wegert.

Data Mining: SonicHealth is Yoogli

"SonicHealth appears to be the Intelliseek competitor built on top of Yoogli's technology (see my earlier post). Here are the claims:"

Data Mining: SonicHealth is Yoogli

Surely not another competitor to Intelliseek?

Inside Fast Food - Internal Blogs

Inside Fast Food - Internal Blogs: "The fast food folks may not be 'outward bound' blogging but McDonald's has an active and successful internal blog. The COO, Michael Roberts, is blogging - even live blogging - and podcasting too."

Mapping the dynamics of Information Diffusion in Blogspace

Mapping the dynamics of Information Diffusion in Blogspace: Blogviz is a flash driven visualization model for mapping the transmission and internal structure of top links across the blogosphere. It explores the idea of meme propagation by assuming a parallel with the spreading of most cited URLs in daily weblog entries.

Watchdog Calls on FTC to Investigate Tremor

Watchdog Calls on FTC to Investigate Tremor: "Public watchdogs just won't leave the buzz marketers alone. Just as its two previous brushes with bad publicity had begun to fade from memory, this growing marketing subset may be in for another PR headache. "

Factiva, Biz360, Cymfony - all in the same space?

After attending the Factiva Forum in London today, it's clear that Factiva is now making serious moves into the media analytics (mainstream media, blogs etc) space. What were once providers of content are now offering added value services based on text mining technologies. As I mentioned in a previous post, I think it will just be a matter of time before Yahoo!, Microsoft and Google (or "GYM" as Factiva like to call them) adds an analytics layer to its search capabilities. What's interesting is how their service will affect companies such as Biz360 and Cymfony who already incorporate feeds from Factiva into their offerings. It seems that over the past couple of years Factiva has evesdropped on their practices and have decided to offer competing products. The advantage Factiva has is that many organizations already have a Factiva subscription. They would then simply have to pay for an analytics layer on top. Simple.

However, after speaking with some folk at the forum and having been around the block a few times with this kind of technology, it's clear to me that it doesn't matter how innovatively information is sliced and diced, visualized, clustered, taxonomized(?) - the "So what?" question inevitably comes up. Quite rightly so. These technologies do not stand up on their own. They have to become more of an integrated offering taking into account market research/marketing, product development, PR and communications data.

That aside, I applaud Factiva for entering into this space. It's going to be an interesting year ahead...

Hexbox 360 starts viral marketing campaign

Hexbox 360 starts viral marketing campaign: "Featuring a hexagon bordered by a four part circle, the Hex168 symbol certainly has some appeal and has started showing up everywhere from beaches to on buildings. 168 is hex for 360. One sighting even records it as a crop circle. "

How shock ads put PR in the spotlight

How shock ads put PR in the spotlight: "What role can PR play in ensuring a controversial ad gets positive coverage? In the wake of the banning of ads from Reebok and KFC, Donna Werbner finds out."

iPod Nano PR Crisis Solution

iPod Nano PR Crisis Solution : "There is a way to do podcasting nonstop forever with new 'perpetual' battery"

Clumsy and Dishonest Marketing Offends Bloggers

Clumsy and Dishonest Marketing Offends Bloggers: "Liza Sabater at Culture Kitchen blogs about how she was approached by a group trying to promote a project through a viral marketing blog campaign. Later she saw ads for the same project appear on the BlogAds Liberal Blogs Network, which her blog is also a part of. "

The Waning(?) Influence of the New York Times

The Waning(?) Influence of the New York Times: "Odd, isn't it? There are only two possible explainations, here: 1) BlogPulse graphs should not be trusted in the slightest bit, ever. 2) Kos made the whole thing up. I'm willing to bet it's #1. But still, this doesn't exactly inspire confidence for kos' data sources."

Yahoo! Ahead of Google on Social Media

Yahoo! Ahead of Google on Social Media: "InternetNews.com reports that Yahoo! Research tapped US Berkeley for help on its social media initiatives. Professor Marc Davis explains, 'We want to enable the billions of media consumers to become producers... And clearly, Yahoo! is poised as a company to make significant changes in the world of social media.' "

Podosphere PR? Not Yet.

Podosphere PR? Not Yet.: "Communicators aren't actively engaging with this community and I doubt many podcasters are engaging in any sort of dialogue with companies either - granted, there are some exceptions, but for the most part it's feeling a lot like that awkward school dance where everyone's standing against the wall staring at each other."

Intelliseek, AOL in Blog Content Deal

Intelliseek, AOL in Blog Content Deal: "AOL and Intelliseek on Monday plan to unveil a blog content deal. Sue MacDonald at Intelliseek confirmed that the deal - set to be announced Monday at 7:30 a.m."

Word-of-Mouth Communication Study: Public-Private Intersections in New Media: Is WOM A New Medium?

Word-of-Mouth Communication Study: Public-Private Intersections in New Media: Is WOM A New Medium?

I attended an interesting panel on Wednesday at Northeastern University. The panel was entitled “Public-Private Intersections in New Media” and hosted some leading academic thinkers talking about the implications of “new media” on our lives.

CGM for Market Research

Cymfony's Marketing Insight: CGM for Market Research

Some of the most challenging questions I get asked come from the market research space. Researchers want to understand everything about who’s posting.

Creating Passionate Users: Give users something to talk about

If you want people to talk, give them something to talk about. We all know that, but I love to see new examples....here>.

More Viral than Hotmail

More Viral than Hotmail: "That's how VC Tim Draper and Skype CEO Niklas Zennstrom characterized the spread of Skpe's VoIP software to an AO2005 Innovation Summit audience."

10 media trends to watch

10 media trends to watch

From the rise of transparency to the decline of newsprint, every PR pro needs to remain on top of the ever-changing media landscape.

The Best Advertising Money Can Buy

The Best Advertising Money Can Buy

If you're not budgeting for word-of-mouth advertising, your business is probably suffering. Our ad expert offers his tips on generating customer recommendations.

AuthorBuzz

Saw this today: it's a kind of BzzAgent for Books: AuthorBuzz

Listenomics

Listenomics: "'If the conversation is dominated by consumers themselves...who needs ads? This raises the question of what agencies are left to do. Maybe the answer is obvious: to manage, focus, exploit, maybe even co-opt the open conversation.'"

Customer Evangelism & Accelerating Revenue: Best Interests At Heart

Customer Evangelism & Accelerating Revenue: Best Interests At Heart: "Some of the most influential people in my world aren't bloggers. They're family and friends whom couldn't tell Bloglines from Flock from del.icio.us. "

Squidoo and Buzzoodle - Buzz Brand Names

Squidoo and Buzzoodle - Buzz Brand Names

When it comes to Buzz, naming can be a very important. A lot of business consultants will council against naming something with an unusual name.

Blogs are word of mouth. Period.

Blogs are word of mouth. Period

We find blogs through voices or ideas that we like (ty linkhopping!) and if we find them valuable, we continue reading, watching, and discussing.

Umbria Listens

Umbria Listens: "Lesson to marketers - engage your online detractors quickly and in meaningful and respectful ways"

Influentials Read Magazines... But Don't Trust What They Read

Influentials Read Magazines... But Don't Trust What They Read: "So, according to Gfk NOP, people - particularly Influentials - read newspapers and print media a lot. However, according to Starcom USA (via Ad Age - free reg. required)

...65% of the consumers believe that advertisers pay for editorial mentions [in magazines]. "

Branding in a World of New Communications: Consistency, Loyalty & Change in a World of Splintered Audiences

Branding in a World of New Communications: Consistency, Loyalty & Change in a World of Splintered Audiences

Listening to Online WOM: A Primer

Listening to Online WOM: A Primer

In The Beginning There Was WOM...

Since the dawn of time when the first Cro-Magnon grunted "Starbucks" to his cavemates, people have talked about brands, products and services. As we started walking upright, we came to call this chatter "word-of-mouth," or more recently by it acronym WOM.

In Matt Galloway's excellent article, he asks if anyone has had any experience in using the tools offered to analyse CGM content. What strikes me is that many companies are claiming to do this and that, but what does the end-user actually find useful? We know that NLP techniques are generally very good at entity extraction (e.g. people, companies, places etc) and at identifying basic relationships (i.e. Richard Branson is the CEO of Virgin). What they are not so good at is that level of human understanding when it comes to evaluating a piece of work/article/blog post etc. For analysing 1000s of articles, they are great as a "pulse-check" or a "heads-up", but the accuracy (in terms of analysing mood/sentiment) is often a little patchy. Don't get me wrong, I'm not dissing the technology, I'm just wondering how many of bells and whistles are actually used by PR/marketing people or are they used more to say "Hey, we're an innovative company, buy our products."

As Matt states, the technology is useful for companies that generate a lot of noise and some of the techniques are very good at isolating "hot" or "emerging" topics. But how is the data used by clients? What do they do with that information? With all the bells and whistles that are available in these offerings, what are the "must have" elements? Are many clients paying through the nose for something they don't end up using (but might be fun to play with)?

I agree with Matt. Let's see some sample reports. Let's have some more case-studies about how the data was used, but more specifically, what data was used? Only then can we figure out whether we need all the "innovations", or whether PR/marketing people can still get by with the essentials.

JibJab In Your Face Again

JibJab In Your Face Again: "'There is an incredible opportunity to create a new kind of media company that engages its audience in the fun of the creative process,' said Gregg. 'That's the kind of company we're trying to build.' "

Psychology is a Key to Succeeding in Blogger Relations

Micro Persuasion: Psychology is a Key to Succeeding in Blogger Relations

Kelly Abbott is correct when he writes that the best way to reach a blogger is to understand that he or she is motivated by something deeper than mere words on a virtual page. Bloggers love two things - links and themselves.

Online search company taps bloggers, celebrities to endorse product

Online search company taps bloggers, celebrities to endorse product: "By tapping 20 celebrities and bloggers, called High Rollers, to beta test the site and provide a specific search tailored to their interest, founder Dave Pell ensured the launch would be widely talked, and more important, blogged about.
His only requirement was that the bloggers not write about the site until launch, and all complied."

photos of new "widescreen" ipod leaking out

already, photos of the new "widescreen" ipod have been leaking out. accidental or deliberate WoM? you decide: -



more here and here.

Apple and video blogging

Apple and video blogging

MTV Taps into Consumer-Generated Media

MTV Taps into Consumer-Generated Media

”We are handing over an entire channel online to college students and everyone who wants new music," said Stephen Friedman, GM, mtvU.”

CGM, Blogs, and Politics

CGM, Blogs, and Politics

Consumer Generated Media department

Consumer Generated Media department

Do you have a department for Consumer Generated Media?

Most people might guess that their call centre is the closest thing to a Consumer Generated Media team. Perhaps this is the closest, but most call centre metrics are based around call rates, response times etc. Hardly any are given the freedom to help generate and nurture consumer generated media.

Monitoring blogs and other such forums to protect your company's reputation

Monitoring blogs and other such forums to protect your company's reputation

With the advent of the Internet, so much online information is available to consumers that companies need to monitor how much discussion there is out there about their products and services.

Monitoring only the mainstream media is not enough. Blogs, message boards and other discussion forums are becoming more influential, and businesses cannot afford to not pay attention to what is being discussed in such consumer-generated media.

Will blogging affect your next buy at the store?

Will blogging affect your next buy at the store? - Today: Food - MSNBC.com: "Phil Lempert shares his report on the latest trends in the supermarket and how technology usage will change how we shop. Read his report and share your thoughts"

Latest Trends and Research Findings Help Marketers Maximize ROI with the Moms Demographic

Latest Trends and Research Findings Help Marketers Maximize ROI with the Moms Demographic

One of the most critical and effective marketing tools in marketing to moms is word-of- mouth advocacy. Procter & Gamble is blazing the trail in knowledge and exploration of this vital tactic through its subsidiary Tremor group. Scott Almquist, Vice President for P&G Tremor will be leading an enlightening M2Moms presentation entitled "My Opinion Matters -- MOM Word of
Mouth."

Blogs vie with news for eyeballs

BBC NEWS | Technology | Blogs vie with news for eyeballs

Bloggers are gaining a higher profile alongside traditional news sources with Yahoo including blogs in its expanding news search system.

DJ Homeowners Get Creative With Blogs In Making Sales Pitch

DJ Homeowners Get Creative With Blogs In Making Sales Pitch

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Despite the still-hot real estate market, some homeowners are resorting to clever sales tactics to find the right buyer.

Advertising Highjacked by Consumers

Adrants � Advertising Highjacked by Consumers

ipod nano WoM gone mad? for those who dare...

For those who Dare

has the buzz surrounging the ipod nano gone mad? a quote from this article says: -

“I liked the hype, so I decided on the Nano,”

interesting. you only have to like the hype surrounding a product to buy it...

Blogs Shrink CBS News Cycle

Strategic Public Relations: Blogs Shrink CBS News Cycle

a graph is shown depicting how a news story evolves over time: -

1. Breaking News
2. News quickly gets picked up from primary sources
3. Mainstream coverage
4. News slowly loses its timeliness and becomes part of more thoughtful discource
5. Niche and Opinion Driven Discussion

interestingly, the ipod nano scratch/cracks story happened almost in reverse!

Ipod Video? Yay o' Nay?

Ipod Video? Yay o' Nay?



So, apple sends out e-mail invites to press type people, everyone goes wild at the sight of Steve Job's "One more thing..."

No Swoosh, No Gym: word of eye?

No Swoosh, No Gym

without seeing any traditional advertising, this 2-and-a-half year old told her dad that it wasn't possible to go to a gym unless you are wearing swooshes (nike). nike and the gym are one and the same, don't you know? say it with me: nikeandgym, nikeandgym, nikeandgym...

MobHappy: Gambling Epidemic

MobHappy: Gambling Epidemic

The Daily Mirror ran a survey recently which found that 93% of adults with internet access had placed at least one bet...Half the 2,000 people in the survey said that they'd started online gambling in the last 6 months, which says to me that word of mouth is clicking in. We have a true viral epidemic.

Naked Conversations: What Must PR Do? Part 2

Naked Conversations: What Must PR Do? Part 2

is franz ferdinand viral marketing?

i'm a regular reader of http://postsecret.blogspot.com. it's a site that encourages people to post their inner-most secrets. looking at the site today i came across this: -

is this franz ferdinand's ad-agency up to some viral marketing? the branding is very prominent as is the release-date for their next album. just a thought.

they just believe in their ipod

apple's ipod seems to be a buzz wonder-product. some consumers believe so much in their little ipods that they go to great lengths to advocate them. george masters produced a short animation for the ipod mini - completely unpaid or commissioned by apple. you can see his work **here** (quicktime required). george says he produced the animation "as an expression of my love for motion graphics and Apple products." this begs the question "why do people do this?" is it purely altruistic? does it raise their self-esteem because of the recognition it receives? does it raise their status as an all-knowing maven of the ipod? who knows...

buzz = controversy + sex + outrage

according to mark hughes, author of "buzz marketing", the key attributes that generate talk and buzz are: controversy, sex and outrage. read more here.

Help Spread the Word Viral Marketing

Help Spread the Word Viral Marketing: "Perter Caputa is offering to spread the word via his pc4media blog, and through his vast network of business and blogging contacts. As such, he is offering to put the combined strength of viral marketing bloggers to work for those who ask. "

Kings of the subculture

Kings of the subculture - Business - Business - theage.com.au

Seth Godin live

Paul Allen: Internet Entrepreneur

"the office" as an example of successful WoM

for those in the uk, you'll know that "the office" was a fantastic comedy success in the uk. i've just watched "parkinson" (a UK chat show) tonight and ricky gervais (creator of "the office") was interviewed. when asked by 'parky' why he didn't want his show to move from BBC2 to BBC1 in order to "chase the ratings", he replied, "i'd rather 'the office' be 1 million peoples' favourite sitcom than 10 million peoples' 16th favourite". indeed. the power of the few.

morph: The rest of the We Media Live-Blog

morph: The rest of the We Media Live-Blog

Buzz marketing in Canada

Church of the Customer: Buzz marketing in Canada, eh?: "At Matchstick [a word-of-mouth marketing agency] in Toronto, a typical national word-of-mouth campaign runs like this: 'Product seeders' are hired to identify 'influencers,' who are naturally enthusiastic toward a particular product category. Several dozen seeders reach about 100 influencers in each city. Matchstick hands out samples, thereby 'seeding the product,' then sends them on their way."

will the blogs lose their character, which is the reason people read them?

with all the recent buyouts of blog real estate by traditional media outlets, wendy davis from mediapost posted an interesting comment about this: -

“…it's not clear that blogs and other consumer-generated sites will retain their character when they're no longer independent, but instead part of the media machine they once spurned.”

sam decker translates this as: -

...will the blogs lose their character, which is the reason people read them?

a case in point is word of mouth for a product or a service which is akin to malcolm gladwells mavens, connectors and salesmen: -

Such seems to be the case with word of mouth for a product or other subject. Influencers, who are sort of hunter / gatherers, ferret out the latest product or news. When it’s really good, or something worth their passion, they share it with others. The more excellent products and/or in a higher passion category...the higher frequency and reach of word of mouth. Along the way, the next group of people tells someone (you can call them early majority if you’d like) and they tell the mainstream, and so on. By this time, the influencers have moved on. It’s no longer interesting.

he uses madonna as an example of what happens when something is constantly reinvented. her fans "found her" every time she reinvented herself. it gives them something to gossip about and reinvesnting the interest. in other words, people crave what's new and excellent.

following online conversations is hard work!

jeremy zawdony thinks that getting "involved" in blogs is the easy part. what's not so easy is the finding and subsequent monitoring of those blogs to which you have contributed. he believes that blog aggregators such do a poor job of making this easy: -

Aggregators do a poor job of making this easy. The blog search "verticals" aren't helpful either. They suffer from any number of real or perceived problems: slow and unstable (Technorati), incomplete (Google), contain lame advertising (Feedster), or are impossible for normal people to understand (PubSub).

and that simply subscribing to topical blogs via RSS/atom feeds don't help to manage the flow of information: -

Most aggregators make it so easy to subscribe (once you figure out how) that self-inflicted overload soon follows. You find yourself spending far too much time trying to "unbold" the folders of news on your desktop. The aggregator does little to help manage the flow of information, show you what really matters to you, and hide the stuff that's not important.

he also believes that every aggregator fails to make it easy to stay engaged in a discussion: -

It took me a while to figure this out, but every aggregator I've seen has completely fails to make it easy to stay engaged in a discussion taking place in comments on one or more blog posts. I typically comment on a blog post and never remember to go back to see if anyone else commented on what I said. That's not much of a "conversation," is it?

what follow on from his remarks are quite a few insightful snippets from bloggers who are equally concerned about the flow of information and offer some helpful advice. what's interesting is the passion with which bloggers seem to want to track their conversations and to be part of a dialogue.

you can read the full post here.

Fleishman-Hillard Looks to Youth for Clues to Future

Omnicom's Fleishman-Hillard has launched a cross-channel communications practice that combines elements of lifestyle marketing and buzz marketing, with an emphasis on youth culture...NGT ("Next Great Thing") will focus on youth culture, immersive and interactive marketing, and uncontrolled communications, involving experts from North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America, Australia, and South Africa.

More here.

Video blog firms consider subscriptions, ads

if you are under 35 years old, you won't be watching television, you'll be searching for blogs according to Blip.tv founder, Dina Kaplan. read more here.

have a big idea? here's how to get everyone on board...

according to the mind gym, if you have a big idea and want the buy-in from others, you need to take these easy steps: -

1 Be irreverent - Inspirational people bend the rules. They ignore conventions.

2 Be thrilled - To inspire others, you must be inspired.

3 Take a walk in their shoes - Who do you want to inspire? What matters to them? Get to know them, find out their hopes and fears.

4 Aim for the impossible - Great visions don't have to be possible - they have to be BIG. Create a vision that resonates with your audience rather than one that is deliverable in four years.

thanks to the pr machine for this - you can read it here.

Why Does Negative WOM on the Internet Hurt?

another insight from the hamburg word of mouth conference. shahana sen asks why does negative wom on the internet hurt? the review is, once again, courtesy of walter carl. you can read it here.

is this a bzzagent agent in action?

as bzzagent recently changed its policy i think we're going to see more posts like this that make reference to them.

Counter-Intuitive Findings About Positive & Negative WOM

thanks again to walter carl, giving us his low-down on the hamburg word of mouth conference. this post mentions robert east's challenge to two traditional assumptions about WoM: -

1) Negative WOM (NWOM) is more frequent than positive WOM (PWOM). FALSE
2) NWOM has more impact than PWOM. FALSE

you can read more here.

Word-of-Mouth Communication Study: Some Other Notables from Day 1 in Hamburg

fergus hampton gave an interesting talk on WoM at the hamburg word of marketing conference according to walter carl. so, what's the most successful example of WoM? religion, of course! read more here.

Pixel Ads Growing Exponentially - PR.com

it seems that www.milliondollarhomepage.com (a wom success) has had even more imitations. see my earlier post here.

TechWeb | News | Dell Ditty Gets Small Ad Campaign

Dell Inc. on Wednesday said it was primarily using a word-of-mouth campaign in marketing the DJ Ditty, a digital music player competing with Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod Shuffle. Read more here.

He Says, She Says

Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson says word of mouth is what it's all about when it comes to influencing the influencers—the micro celebrities whose opinions sell products on the long tail. Read more here.

Apple - iTunes + iPod Video?

more womming from apple with the 'imminent' release of the ipod video? decide for yourselves here. there's definitely some increased blog chatter going on - will the spike fall?: -

Positive v. Negative WOM: An Exploratory Study

walter carl makes reference to an interesting piece of work conducted by Jill Sweeney from the University of Western Australia. She looked at the differenced and similarities between positive and negative word of mouth. Word-of-Mouth Communication Study: Positive v. Negative WOM: An Exploratory Study. The takeaway sound bite is: -

Have a good product or service to generate positive WOM, and when there's a negative experience, give people outlets to vent their dissatisfaction early on.

the power of "word of mouth"

i love this cartoon. sums up how traditional mass marketing isn't having the impact it once was: -

what makes an idea viral?

courtesy of seth godin: -


For an idea to spread, it needs to be sent and received. No one "sends" an idea unless:

• a. they understand it
• b. they want it to spread
• c. they believe that spreading it will enhance their power (reputation, income, friendships) or their peace of mind
• d. the effort necessary to send the idea is less than the benefits
  

No one "gets" an idea unless:

• a. the first impression demands further investigation
• b. they already understand the foundation ideas necessary to get the new idea
• c. they trust or respect the sender enough to invest the time

This explains why online ideas spread so fast but why they're often shallow. Nietzsche is hard to understand and risky to spread, so it moves slowly among people willing to invest the time. Numa Numa, on the other hand, spread like a toxic waste spill because it was so transparent, reasonably funny and easy to share.

Notice that ideas never spread because they are important to the originator.

Notice too that a key dynamic in the spread of the idea is the capsule that contains it. If it's easy to swallow, tempting and complete, it's a lot more likely to get a good start.

But that doesn't mean that there's no role for mystery or ideas that unfold over time. In fact, the unmeasurable variable here is style. Howard Dean's ideas spread at the beginning--not because of the economic ramifications of his immigration policy, but because of the factors above. The way they were presented fit into the worldview of those that spread them.

A key element in the spread of ideas is their visual element. iPods and visual styles spread faster in the real world than ephemeral concepts. Pictures and short jokes spread faster online because the investment necessary to figure out if they're worth spreading is so tiny.

And of course, plenty of bad ideas spread. Panic, for instance, is a superbad idea at all times, but it spreads faster than most. That's because spreading an idea is rarely a thoughtful, voluntary act. Instead, it is near the core of who we are, and we often do it without thinking much about the implications.

come on pr people - start getting your hands dirty!

steve rubel argues that pr people should stop analysing blogs and start doing something about them. pr people should get their hands dirty and start interacting with consumers. he has three ideas: -

1) Hands-on Workshops: PRSA, Ragan, the IABC, PR Week and other organizations need to start running hands-on industry workshops - not just panels with bloggers. Memo to my friends at these organizations. This is money you're leaving on the table. Start renting rooms that have computers and wifi, not pens and pads.

2) Integration: Let's not do what we did back in the 1990s where we had lots of agencies with interactive divisions that had no connection to the mother ship. We need integration. We need to have every PR practitioner thinking about how they might use these tools in their current campaigns. Give blogs, RSS, podcasts just as much thought as press releases and pitch letters. I put this responsibility squarely on the PR professionals who are running PR campaigns. Innovate!

3) Encouragement: There's no easier way to get people learning about blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS, tagging, etc. than to get them to try it. Hill and Knowlton's effort is exemplary. But it's a first step. We need to get more agency heads blogging. By having his own blog, Richard Edelman is on the right track here, but collectively we need to get more of our corporate siblings into the pool. At a we need to teach them how to make RSS reading part of their workaday. At CooperKatz we're there, but we have further to go too.

edelman blogger survey in a nutshell

edelman has released it's blogger survey (821 respondents). here are the main findings. in summary, the majority of bloggers...

- blog in order to be seen as an authority in their field (33.86%)
- post every few days (37.88%)
- write about companies, products or their employees less than once a week (37.14%)
- would like product samples from companies in order to evaluate them on their blog (70.52%)
- have never been contacted by companies or their PR people (48.47%)
- don't know what company representatives they interact with most often (56.39%)
- think that companies and their PR people don't interact with them (41.16%)
- are indifferent about how much they trust messages from PR firms (5 on a scale of 1-10)
- are indifferent about how much they trust messages from companies (5 on a scale of 1-10)
- strike-through an error in a factually incorrect post and insert the correction in-line (38.73%)
- prefer companies to contact them via email if they get something wrong (see freeform answers) (65.40%)
- prefer to interact with company employess that blog when seeking information about a company's products/services (34.22%)
- think that blogs endorsed and produced by a company are 'somewhat trustworthy' (43.36%)
- think that blogs created by an individual employee are 'somewhat trustworthy' (60.29%)
- trust other bloggers when looking for product information (62.85%)

however, constantin basturea questions the standards employed for reporting blog surveys. noingnoing also isn't happy with the way it was conducted. large pinch of salt required?

how to meet the tipping-point people...

according to malcolm gladwell, in order for your message/brand/service, or whatever to reach tipping point, you have to be a connector, maven or salesman. this article gives some advice on how to target influential people in order to grow your visibility.

dr paul marsden cites some questions to ask in order to determine who are 'opinion leaders': -

1. My friends/neighbors consider me a good source of advice about [category]
2. I tend to talk a lot about [category] to friends/neighbors
3. In the last six months, I’ve talked to a lot of people about [category]
4. When asked for advice about [category], I offer a lot of information
5. When discussing [category] products, I usually convince them of my opinion

AOL to buy Weblogs Inc.

mainstream media swallows yet more blog real-estate. click here to read more.

are you a lazy blogger?

if you are, it doesn't matter. better to post a well thought-out 'good blog' every now and again, than a load of 'bad blogs' every hour!

A good blog post requires some degree of care. A good blog posting can add many more new visitors to your blog. Other people will link to it. Your regular readers will e-mail a link to their friends and family. The word of mouth, or should we say word of keyboard, will provide much of the viral marketing your blog requires. The news will spread even while you sleep. I knew you would like that part.

see the full lazy person's guide to blogging here.

watching those trends: "tryvertising"

if anyone hasn't seen the website www.trendwatching.com i urge you to take a peek. it's rammed full of real-world consumer trends that are submitted by a network of 6,000+ trendwatchers. of particular interest is a trend they call "tryvertising" which acknowledges the dying breed of mass advertising in favour of the way corporations must now ignite conversations between its consumers. companies using such methods include tremor and bzzagent.

wom in a legal catch-22?

it seems that word of mouth marketing, buzz marketing (or whatever you choose to call it) has been under scrutiny by lawyers, questioning its lack of adherence to FTC guidelines in the US. the catch-22 is that if an endorser is to profit from his/her endorsement, then it should be disclosed. but since such a disclosure undermines the very nature of buzz marketing, marketers are in a catch-22 situation. the word of mouth marketing association (womma) has responded to an ad-age article which asks "is buzz marketing legal?", reinforcing the fact that: -

word of mouth = honesty and openness

and refers readers to its code of ethics.

Connected Marketing: The Viral, Buzz and Word of Mouth Revolution

watch out for a new book edited by dr paul marsden and justin kirby: Connected Marketing: The Viral, Buzz and Word of Mouth Revolution. The synopsis: -

Explores the world of viral marketing and epidemic demand, assessing the key factors that make someone influential, outlining what makes a campaign infectious, and advising how to go about making a campaign that will be successfully transmitted by word of mouth, or mouse.

i think it's out in november/december 2005?

video ipod - another wom technique by apple?

i've been reading lately how people have been "talking about the new video ipod". engadget, the gadget blog, has received over 650,000 tips (together with secret photos) over the past few days from people who claim to have seen the video ipod before its official release (reputedly next week). some people have really gone to town. has apple been busy whipping up some buzz? even if some of the pictures and photos are fake, it's definitely got people talking!



***UPDATE*** apparently BBC6 let it slip that “Apple is set to unveil a new video iPod at the BBC Television Centre in London on October the 12th,” and that the company is “expected to reveal details of the new MP3 and video player as well as video bundles to be available from the company’s iTunes stores.” however, the broadcast has now been pulled from the bbc's website...

do blogs have tipping points?

if anyone has read malcolm gladwell's "the tipping point" they will know what connectors, mavens and salesmen are. in a nutshell: connectors have relationships with many, many other individuals; mavens have a deep knowledge about a particular subject and are keen to share it; and salesmen can influence people to take action.



dave pollard asks "do blogs have tipping points?" and wonders if you can use the tipping point model to break into, or even break up the 'a-list' of bloggers?

million $$$ pixelbay

the million dollar homepage was a remarkable WoM success and managed to pay for its creator's (alex tew) student fees. it seems a US company has piggybacked on his idea: www.pixelbay.org, but alex isn't too bothered about copycats and ripoffs: -

It is bound to happen (this is the internet afterall), and infact, I think it will work in my favour. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So I think any copy-cat sites will only have pure comedy value, whereas mine possibly has a bit of comedy PLUS some actual pull in terms of advertising dollars (I will be able to afford swanky socks, they will only get to buy crappy ones probably! They could have my old ones, if they like). So I say good luck to the imitators! While in my opinion it's not very cool - I would prefer to come up with something original - in many ways the act of copying (perhaps more on a subconcious level than anything) is the basis of all creativity. But yeah, really bad rip-offs are seriously lame - I mean, if you're gonna copy the concept, at least come up with your own design and text!
UK folks > am I bothered? :)

volkswagen scared to engage?

i've been reading matt galloway's volkswagen woes with interest. he knows vw is keeping an eye on his blog by tracing their IP address, but why won't vw respond? do vw realise the power of syndicated blog posts and that what was once private communication between a disgruntled consumer is now available for the world to see? matt asks how companies should deal with negative word of mouth (see the cillit bang story if you want to know how WoM can go horribly wrong!). i agree with him - vw needs to be open and honest - just as the makers of cillit bang were? have they learned their lesson?

the consumer is in charge

as an keen reader of steve rubel's blog i saw a post a while back which showed how bloggers were getting a bit antsy about the cracks and scratches appearing on their ipod nanos. looking at a more recent plot (below) we can see how the story has evolved over time. a quick delve into the posts reveals this kind of momentum: -

• consumers start to grumble on the apple forums
• a few bloggers start to make passing mentions on how easy it is to scratch the nano
• www.flawedmusicplayer.com makes its debut
• the register notices the chatter
• bloggers notice the the register
• slashdot notices the register and mentions the apple forums
• the register notices the increased chatter and references www.flawedmusicplayer.com
• steve rubel posts a graph showing the increased chatter and asks "Will Apple respond?"
• it hits the mainstream media
• apple responds and says it will replace damaged screens

here's an updated chart on the buzz surrounding this issue: -

the consumer is clearly in charge and apple had to do something.

my first post

hello,

this is my first post to a blog dedicated to the subject of "word of mouth marketing" (wom), viral marketing, contagion and such like. there may be bits and bobs of other stuff hanging around, but please indulge me from time to time. this is a personal blog not a company blog.

intro over.