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WOMMA Summit Presentation Slides Posted!

Just got back from another great WOMMA Summit in Las Vegas. Presentation slides are now posted on our website:

Slides for WOMMA State of WOM Research Address
Slides for Socializing WOM Research throughout the Organization with Bing

PREVIEW: Integrated Social Media: Business Impact Study 2011 at ARF Audience Measurement 6.0

We're excited to announce a new study on social media in the marketing mix that will be premiering at the ARF Audience Measurement 6.0 conference ( #ARFAM6). ChatThreads and Ogilvy partnered to study what the true business impact is of social media. We used our BrandEncounter™ platform to track how consumers come into contact with five Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) brands and to measure the impact on their consumption frequency, amount spend, and shifts in brand perceptions.

At the conference we'll answer the following:

- Does social media impact "spend trend" (the likelihood that a consumer will increase the amount they spend at quick service restaurants) and how much they actually spent?

- Does social media impact "consumption trend" (the likelihood that a consumer will increase how many times they eat at a QSR) and how many times they actually eat at a QSR?

To be among the first to find out the answers to these questions and more be sure to attend our "Emerging Hot Topics" talk on Monday, June 13 @ 5:20 pm!

ChatThreads Presentation Slides and Paper from ARF re:think 2011

Presentation slides and paper for ChatThreads' presentation at ARF's re:think 2011 conference are now available!

The title of my presentation and paper, admittedly a mouthful, was "Real-Time Capture of Consumer Brand Encounters for 360° Media Optimization and Consumer Insights." In the paper and presentation I discuss our real-time touchpoints tracking platform, BrandEncounter^TM. Here's the executive summary from the paper:

A basic problem for brand marketers is to understand when consumers notice their brands and how these encounters contribute to purchase. Past approaches to solving this problem focus on what marketing spend or impressions are purchased rather than what consumers actually notice (purchased impressions vs. actual impressions), record a limited set of encounters, and rely on data recalled weeks or months after the actual encounter rather than at the moment of encounter.  Additionally, results are rarely available to help marketers actually inform the next budget cycle’s planning or optimization in real-time. A better solution provides validated data captured in real-time for any type of consumer brand encounter, based on what consumers actually experience, within a competitive set of brands, to offer insight, optimization, and data inputs for time-series modeling.

Download ChatThreads' ARF re:think 2011 Presentation

Download ChatThreads' ARF re:think 2011 Paper

Listening 2.0: Social CRM and the Future of Social Listening

Be sure to check out what promises to be a thoughtful and informative webinar on social CRM and the future of social listening. I'm honored to be one of the panelists and will be sharing some exciting new developments for measuring online and offline WOM and social media which you won't want to miss! Details below. (If you're not a WOMMA member but want to participate shoot me an email at chatterbox AT chatthreadscorp DOT com)

March 18 - Listening 2.0: Social CRM and the Future of Social Listening

Presenter: Rob Key, CEO, Converseon

Panelists include:

-Dr. Walter Carl, Founder and Chief Research Officer,  ChatThreads

-Jeff Zabin: CEO, Gleanster

-Pauline Ores, Market Insights, Principal Consultant Social Insights Practice, IBM Corporation

Date: Thursday, March 18, 2010
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM CST
Who: For Everyone
Register Here: http://bit.ly/Mar18Webinar
Full details here: http://bit.ly/March18Info

WOMMA State of WOM Measurement Presentation 2009

Did Walter send you here? If so, I'd love to hear comments about my presentation...

Today I will be giving the Annual State of Word of Mouth Measurement presentation [links to SlideShare] at WOMMA's 2009 Summit. This is my fourth year giving this presentation and I'm honored to have the chance to do so again. 

There are a few links I will reference in my presentation and I've invited audience members to visit this post so they can link through:

WOMMA Metrics Best Practices Guidebook

Olivier Blanchard's Presentation on Definitive Social Media ROI

The Impact of Marketing-Induced Versus Word-of-Mouth Customer Acquisition on Customer Equity Growth

White Paper on Building Customer Networks for Successful Word of Mouth Marketing

Google Trend Chart for "Social Media" and "WOM"

Combining Empirical Data With Simulations

Social Media Marketing for Dummies

Visit ChatThreads to learn more!

Free access to Admap article: "Is Talking Getting You Anywhere? Measuring WOM Marketing"

Here's a PDF of my Admap article (Admap allows us to post it free for 30 days so read it now, or get your subscription to Admap). Be sure to check out other Admap articles devoted to WOM as well.

It was strange for me to give up editorial control over the final content of the article. Overall, though, the editors did a great job making my verbose language choices more concise and incorporating images and tables to bring the content alive. Just a couple comments to clarify some of the content:

- Figure 3 on p. 19: There should be a dollar sign not a pound sign by Net Conversation Value. (While we do work in the UK, this Conversation Value Model analysis was done for a U.S. client. Must have been a typo missed in the final editorial process).

- The blurb by the photo on p. 17: "Research by ChatThreads found that 50% of influencers' conversations were face-to-face, while 35% took place online." Be sure to read the full text in the body since we measured this for a new technology product launch where a company engaged influential bloggers. Other programs we measure, such as for CPG products, typically have 80%-90% of WOM that takes place offline. (Also, the article states that ChatThreads is the WOM marketing agency, while that text should refer to Matchstick).

WOMMA Webinar: Measuring the Value of WOM, Come Rain or Come Shine

What are you doing at noon EST on Thursday, April 9th?

You should be calling in to the free webinar I am doing (courtesy of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association) on how to measure the value of consumer conversations. It's free whether you are a WOMMA member or not. Here's the official blurb:

Whether the days are cloudy or sunny, or your brand is in or out of the money, measuring the value of word of mouth (WOM) has become a strategic imperative. This webinar will guide participants through five ways that consumer conversations impact a brand’s bottom line and offers specific tips and techniques to assess the value of WOM to your brand.

Hope to see you on the call! Register Here

Admap series of articles on WOM Marketing

Be sure to check out the current issue (April 2009) of Admap which has a series of articles on word of mouth. Articles include:

Where is talking getting you? Measuring WOM
Comparing new models for measuring word-of-mouth ROI, such as Conversation Value, Momentum Effect and Net Promoter Economics. 
Dr Walter Carl, ChatThreads

Influencers are essential in driving WOM
As demand for word-of-mouth marketing has grown, so has the need for insight into how influencers stimulate demand. 
Ed Keller and Brad Fay, Keller Fay Group

Empower consumers to shape the brand
Getting word-of-mouth right is not about telling people what to think, and may require a change in corporate culture. 
Ivan Palmer, Wildfire

Paying lip service is not enough
Word-of-mouth needs to be integrated into the whole brand development process, not tacked on as an afterthought. 
Geoff Gray, Naked Communications

Tap into passions of brand advocates
To ensure productive and long-term conversations with consumers, a brand must first identify its discursive matrix. 
Molly Flatt, 1000heads

The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited

If you haven't heard yet be sure to check out Emanuel Rosen's newly revised book The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited. I have long advocated the original version of the book and have used it in teaching my classes on word of mouth and social media. I would tell people that if they could only read one book on WOM marketing to read this one. But after talking with Emanuel about his plans to rewrite the original and being interviewed for it I am now recommending that people read the new version. Here's the marketing blurb I wrote for it:

"I'm sorry to say I can't recommend The Anatomy of Buzz as my top pick anymore. There's something better out there and it's called The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited. Like its predecessor, it's accessible, compelling, and is based on solid principles of how word of mouth works, but this book has been completely revamped to include fresh material, new topics, and the latest research."

You might also be interested in Guy Kawasaki's interview of Emanuel Rosen. Be sure to check out question 13 in this interview: "How can a company effectively measure the buzz it's generating?"

The book is officially available February 24th.

Cross-posted from Word-of-Mouth Communication Study

State of Word of Mouth Research & Measurement 2008

Earlier this morning I presented the State of Word of Mouth Research and Measurement at WOMMA's annual Research Symposium. You can see it here.