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Look Smart, Be Smart: A daily compendium of what you need to know to be effective as a word of mouth marketer
There's a fascinating article this morning on Aaron Swartz's blog, examing the question of who writes Wikipedia. I love this kind of stuff. As more communities are built online, we get a new opportunity to monitor and understand how communication...
Clearly, the interest on behalf of both managers and scholars regarding WOM and WOM marketing has increased recently. This is for a variety of reasons, including issues with traditional marketing media (fragmentation, lack of credibility, cost, and PVRs) as well...
This summer, courtesy of a unique movie promotion, MySpace users saw their names on the big screen by enabling WOM on the small screen. The first 10,000 people to add Mooby's Presents Clerks II as a friend in their MySpace...
"Advertising Age" columnist Bob Garfield is practicing what he preaches. In his 2005 article, "Inside the New World of Listenomics," Garfield analyzed the ways in which open-source technology and consumer-generated media are changing how companies build their brands. Now, Garfield...
Two "Entertainment Weekly" writers consulted experts at CollegeHumor, YouTube, Google Video, AOL Video and MySpace this summer to find out what makes a viral video sensation. The keys to viral success, according to the amateur filmmakers, include: * Comedy: The...
As Facebook.com now knows, WOM goes both ways. On Sept. 5, Facebook debuted a new feature on its popular social networking Web site: an RSS news feed that alerts members of changes to their friends' profiles. In response, scores of...
Information Week: Customer Reviews, WOM Inspire Loyalty San Francisco Gate: 'Sick Blogs' Help Patients Share Information...
Could be. A fresh look at the research nets an upsetting conclusion: the experiment largely failed. But...it may not really matter. From the article: It is just as likely, though, that Milgram was wrong. But if we don't live in...
When it comes to emerging media channels and techniques, the vast majority of marketers report interest in WOM, more than are interested in podcasts, RSS and even blogs, according to research released this summer by Epsilon in association with WOMMA...
Early this summer, Interpublic Group announced the formation of a user-generated content (UGC) practice as part of its Emerging Media Lab to help its clients understand UGC such as blogs, shared videos and podcasts. An initial study of online video...
In the past 12 months, 48.3% of business executives have been directly influenced by WOM in making a technology-related purchase decision. That's according to MarketingSherpa's 2006 Business Technology Marketing Benchmark Guide, which was published this summer in partnership with WOMMA...
It's common knowledge that emotional marketing is good marketing. But one emotion in particular -- surprise -- is key in effective WOM campaigns, according to a 2003 pilot study in the Journal of Economic Psychology. The authors of the study,...
Help us plan our next event! WOMMA Summit 2 is Dec. 11-14 in Washington, D.C., and we need your help to assemble the best speakers on the best topics possible. Take our latest events survey at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=53582584588...
WOMMA hosted WOMBAT 2 June 20-21 in San Francisco with more than 400 attendees and more than 70 of the industry's best speakers. If you missed it -- or just want to relive it -- you're in luck: The WOMBAT...
WOMMA has a brand new office in downtown Chicago. Our new address and phone number: 65 E. Wacker Place, Suite 500 Chicago, IL 60601 312-853-4400...
WOMMA has a new managing editor, Matt Alderton, and a new web producer, Addam Wassel. Matt joins WOMMA from Chicago-based Imagination Publishing, while Addam comes to WOMMA from Inphonic Inc. in Washington, D.C....
Every few months, we send our members a care package full of exciting books, recordings and other promotional materials. If you'd like to sponsor our next mailing -- and reach our members with your marketing materials -- email editor@womma.org. Because...
Even more companies have joined WOMMA. Welcome to: Competitrack, c3design, ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership, Eventive and Career Vision. We thank everyone for their support!...
--> OMMA Conference & Expo: 9/25, NY, WOMMA members save $200 --> Mid Market eTail 2006: 10/30-11/1, San Francisco, WOMMA members save 10% --> Forrester's Consumer Marketing Forum: 11/20-11/21, London, WOMMA members save 15% Learn more: http://www.womma.org/events.htm...
WOM tops the list of marketing practices at the country's fastest growing private companies, according to a new Inc. 500 survey. The magazine asked CEOs on its list how they advertise or market their products and services and found that,...
Viral videos are exploding onto computer screens nationwide, bringing with them a host of ethical questions and conundrums of which WOM marketers have long been aware -- and which the government is now acknowledging. The Federal Trade Commission has announced...
Thanks to the recent rise of local search sites like Yelp, CitySearch, Angie's List and Yahoo! Local, customer referrals are becoming more thorough, more honest and more accessible. A September feature by the San Francisco Chronicle, however, reveals that they...
Viral video continues to evolve at a viral pace. The latest development is the debut last week of Revver.com. The first service of its kind, Revver matches users' videos with advertisers, who sponsor them. The trackable ads appear at the...
When shopping online, consumers choose products twice as often if they are recommended via user-generated product reviews. So says a 2004 study in the Journal of Retailing by Canadian researchers Sylvain Senecal and Jacques Nantel, who sought to measure the...
More than 80% of business and IT professionals worldwide read blogs, according to the results of a new survey on emerging media in the BtoB marketplace by KnowledgeStorm and Universal McCann. Of those, a full 70% recommend or pass along...
WOM is a powerful influencer among consumers who give purchase advice to others. That's according to WOMMA member BIGresearch's latest Simultaneous Media Survey of 15,000 people regarding their media consumption. It found that while "advice givers" often formulate recommendations based...
One in every five advertisers plans to employ viral marketing strategies next year, according to a new report from Jupiter Research, and more than half of those will be new to the practice. Attracting them, says report author Emily Riley,...
WOMMA was mentioned recently in InformationWeek, the New York Times and the Des Moines Business Record ... Congratulations to Member Gary Stein of Ammo Marketing, who has a new baby ... Congratulations to Member John Moore of Brand Autopsy on...
Even more companies have joined WOMMA. Welcome to: Staples, PR Newswire, ID Society, R/GA and Publicis Dialog USA. We thank everyone for their support!...
Director Michael Wiley has moved to Edelman from GM. Per WOMMA Bylaws, a company may only hold one seat on the WOMMA Board of Directors. As such, Michael has stepped down as a Director. In his place WOMMA welcomes Zane...
By now you've probably heard about the controversy surrounding LonelyGirl15 and her YouTube video blogs. It is important to note that this situation isn't actually a word of mouth marketing issue -- there was no marketing involved, after all. Still,...
--> OMMA Conf. & Expo: 9/25, NY, save $200 --> PROMO Live: 10/10-10/12, Chicago, save 10% --> Mid Market eTail: 10/30-11/1, San Francisco, save 10% --> Forrester's Consumer Mktg. Forum: 11/20-11/21, London, save 15% --> CtoC Marketing and Advocacy: 12/6,...
Join us Wednesday, Sept. 27, at noon EST for an exclusive teleconference on viral video. We'll be discussing WOMMA's actions and important issues surrounding LonelyGirl15 and marketers' involvement in consumer-generated media environments. Dial in Sept. 27 at noon EST to...
We need interesting, dynamic speakers for our December event. We're looking for word of mouth presentations on: * Ideas and issues * Real brands * Solid data and results Please note that vendor presentations are unlikely to be selected without...
Help us plan our next event! WOMMA Summit 2 is Dec. 11-13 in Washington, D.C., and we need your help to assemble the best speakers on the best topics possible. Take our latest events survey...
Tackle large industry issues as well as smaller, project-focused tasks when you join a WOMMA group. Give us just two hours a month and we'll give you the chance not only to build an entire industry, but also to build...
In a twist of irony, an independent film with few words has found its way into 18 film festivals worldwide thanks entirely to WOM. Susan Buice of Framingham, Mass., and her boyfriend, Arin Crumley, created "Four Eyed Monsters" to retell...
Viral video isn't all fun and games. Former Lockheed Martin engineer Michael De Kort is proof. When mainstream media dismissed allegations that his former employer sold the U.S. Coast Guard $24 billion worth of refurbished equipment with significant security flaws,...
Wikipedia entries on the country's top 100 advertisers are consistently among the top-ranked pages in Google searches of those brands. That's according to Micro Persuasion, which last week performed a simple study that produced remarkable results -- remarkable because even...
The WOMMA Word