The opportunity Bob speaks of is LISTENING.

If listening is the single biggest opportunity in the history of consumer marketing, then why is it such an untapped resource? Why aren’t more brands engaging with customers through listening-inspired marketing activities?

Those questions and more are answered and explored in THE LISTENING PLAYBOOK written by Steve Rappaport, ARF’s Knowledge Solutions Director.

This worthwhile book presents listening-inspired marketing to help brands solve marketing challenges ranging from maintaining sales momentum to co-creating new products to understanding shifts in the marketplace to so much more. 30 case study examples are detailed showing how brands are applying listening-inspired marketing to impact their business.

Also detailed are do-it-yourself and full-service vendor methods of listening to the online and offline conversations customers are having about brands.

It really is more than a book to read, it’s a book to use… hence it’s called a “playbook.”

The first step in this playbook on applying listening-inspired marketing is to… LISTEN. Easier said than done as The Listening Playbook points out. Some brands aren’t open to listening for fear of what they may hear. Other brands are overwhelmed by the voluminous amounts of conversation data found online. Many brands are unsure how best to positively impact financials through listening. And, some brands want to listen but don’t know how.

To assist brands in their listening approach, The Listening Playbook explains the various do-it-yourself search/monitoring tools, text analytics software services, and full-service listening platform vendors.

That’s helpful information but the most valuable information in the playbook are the case study examples of how brands are applying listening-inspired marketing activities.

For example, we learn how MINI USA analyzed online conversations and discovered MINI owners “… viewed their car as a blank canvas onto which they could project their personality, through customizations and modding [slang for ‘modifying’], and enjoy doing it and sharing it virtually and in-person. With that listening insight, MINI USA developed various activities to foster more sharing opportunities within the MINI community of customers.

We also learn exactly how CDW, a computer hardware and accessories brand, listened to conversations its customers were having on three company-driven online communities. Based upon what CDW heard from its customers, the company overhauled its cold call marketing strategies and designed new customer relationship strategies.

JetBlue’s listening strategies, along with scores of other companies, are detailed in The Listening Playbook showing how the airline uses Twitter to stay ahead of potential customer service issues and react to any customer service issue flare-ups happening 24/7.

As I mentioned, The Listening Playbook is a very helpful and valuable resource from any company wanting to improve its business from listening to the conversations customers are having and will continue to have about their company.

A printed copy can be purchased online at Amazon and Lulu.

A bite-size chunk can be had for free by reading (or downloading) Chapter 1 off Scribd.com.

The ARF Listening Playbook - Chapter 1, Essentials of Listening

DISCLOSURE: I paid for my copy of THE LISTENING PLAYBOOK. WOMMA is friends with ARF. A session at the upcoming School of WOM conference will be co-presented by WOMMA and ARF. I liked ALF. Liked that ALF was featured on a recent episode of CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory.” I also like the smell of mayo in the morning.

For the WOMMA Measurement & Metrics Guidebook, Melissa Douglas, Manager of Social Analytics at Bazaarvoice, contributed an in-depth article about measuring the impact of consumer generated ratings and reviews on a business.

I asked Melissa a few pointed questions about her article. Her responses make for good reading for every marketer and product manager.

1. Besides increasing conversion rates, what are some other benefits to a brand sharing Ratings & Reviews of products online?
“There are various benefits to bringing user-generated content (UGC) to your brand. User-generated content not only influences your top line numbers, such as increasing sales, but also impacts your bottom line. Metrics such as conversion, product abandonment, customer service interactions, and return rates can impact both your top and bottom lines. For example, by taking action on poorly rated products or assuring these reviews stay live on your site, you can easily decrease customer service support and return rates. Negative reviews help set proper expectations with your customers and give internal teams the necessary information to optimize the product catalog and improve products. And featuring highly-rated products in marketing campaigns can directly impact conversion rates and call attention to those products that your community considers the best.”

2. What types of businesses can benefit most from Ratings & Reviews? Conversely, what businesses would benefit least?
“All types of industries benefit from UGC. Most obviously, retailers benefit when customer-contributed content helps shoppers find the right products for them on ecommerce sites. But we’ve seen UGC benefit our clients across all verticals. Manufacturers can syndicate their UGC through the channel to numerous retailer sites, helping potential customers wherever they shop. Our clients in the travel industry receive the highest average user contributions per day, as travelers often book online and are eager to share their experiences. Shoppers on financial services sites click to “Read Reviews” even more often than most other verticals – for these highly researched purchase decisions, UGC satisfies the increased demand for information. And UGC helps entertainment providers attract highly-engaged contributors, as customers are eager to share their experiences from shows and artists they are passionate about. In short, any industry would benefit from authentic word of mouth.”

3. What’s the most important Ratings & Reviews metric for a business to measure if its goal is to increase sales?
“Some of the key metrics to take into consideration when measuring ROI include review volume and the percentage of products that contain reviews. Looking at depth and breadth of your review content is critical for success. Keeping your review content evergreen is important, and it’s key to continuously encourage reviews for new products as they are released and sold.”

In WOMMA’s Measurement & Metrics Guidebook, Idil Cakim, VP of Interactive Media at GolinHarris, shares her views on “The Influence Factor” and how brands can engage, monitor, and measure influencer marketing programs.

This short Q&A will give you a bite-size chunk of Idil’s perspective on designing and delivering influencer marketing programs.

1. What constitutes influence offline and online?
“The fundamentals of offline and online influence are the same: perceived knowledge of the influencer, credibility and hence trust. In the offline world, we have more access to visual, cultural and social clues that help us assess the influence factor. Meanwhile online, we have more third-party resources and published statements that can help us assess a given source’s influence and authority. Whether online or offline, influencers are experts who know how to spread their messages either through peer-to-peer conversations, organized activities or publications.”

2. Any pitfalls to Influencer Marketing?
“The most common pitfall is sharing an idea or a product with too few influencers and expecting to move the needle. An influencer is bound to take the message further than the average person. However brands may need to engage hundreds of influencers at a time to have quantitative results that show the impact of their efforts.

Lastly, thinking in terms of campaigns with limited times for outreach undercuts the value brands/organizations can derive from influencer relations. Spot outreach is fine, but there needs to be ongoing communication between the brand and its influencers, just like any healthy relationship.”

3. What are three steps a brand should take to design a better influencer marketing program?
First, determine your own influencer criteria and make sure you can recruit enough influencers who can create noticeable change.

Third, plan for ongoing engagement. Sustain authentic communications and continuously offer value to your influencers through news, information, first-to-try types of offers.”

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BONUS COVERAGE:
On a recent WOMMA Brands Council Jam Session, Idil shared more practical insights about Influencer Marketing. The following SlideShare presentation includes snippets from this recent webinar.

As VP of Product at Scout Labs, Margaret Francis is responsible for designing online listening tools to help brands better understand consumer sentiment in online word of mouth conversations.

For the WOMMA Measurement & Metrics Guidebook, Margaret contributed an article about “mining social media for consumer opinion” to develop “business intelligence” and “measure marketing impact.” This article is a deep dive into the budding field of Sentiment Analysis.

I asked Margaret a few questions to help us better understand her perspective on harvesting, analyzing, and measuring consumer sentiment about brands.

Explain the importance for why a brand should do Sentiment Analysis.
Margaret Francis (MF): “A brand like Nike needs to know if people like them or not, but on the whole they probably know that many people associate them with favorable qualities that support their brand promise. I’m sure they have a brand tracker that measures overall Nike brand perception in much the same way as geologists study glaciers, looking for long term evidence of movement. Traditional sentiment analysis falls into this genre of study. It’s interesting data, but not for every day, and mainly intended for the very few people at Nike that have custody of ‘the brand.’

Also, it isn’t just brands that need sentiment analysis. How do consumers feel about use of sustainable materials, Chinese knock-offs, personalization, marathons, Spandex, the color pink, or a sponsored athlete’s extramarital affairs? These are not strictly “brand” inquiries but they are very important questions for marketing and other functional areas that deal with consumer preferences- areas like product development and customer service.”

What are some absolute “No No’s” businesses must consider when creating and using a Sentiment Analysis measurement process?
(MF): “There are known problems with having humans decide what is and is not positive/ negative sentiment:

That said, there’s a reason traditional PR firms have stuck to the same methodology for a long time: They do sentiment analysis only on blue chip media pieces, using only in-house resources with strict guidelines, so analysis is limited in scope and expense and absolutely defensible. This is understandable but hardly forward looking. The rich nuggets of market intelligence derived from social media are a source of competitive advantage that no one can afford to ignore.”

Talk about a specific brand that has benefitted from doing Sentiment Analysis.
(MF): “It’s hard for me to give you some of the more compelling examples I know of, because the brands concerned view those examples as confidential business intelligence. Let me give you a hypothetical example. It isn’t a mystery that there is a furor right now over the Toyota brand due to the ongoing recalls on multiple makes and models. Any user of Scout Labs could plug in a search for the brand “Toyota” and see that there’s been a shift from positive to negative opinion over the past 6 months, and read consumer comments about the reasons why. Notice the shift from overall positive to overall negative sentiment for Toyota:

Platforms like Scout Labs exist to inform brand strategists, not replace them. In the hands of the right decision makers, the kind of real time sentiment analysis Scout Labs can provide on any word, brand, product or phenomenon is very powerful marketing intelligence.”

*** Learn more about WOMMA’s MEASUREMENT & METRICS GUIDEBOOK ***

For the WOMMA Measurement & Metrics Guidebook, David shares insights into how to measure consumer advocacy. It’s a smart read and WOMMA members can download a (.pdf) copy of this guide. (A bound copy is also available.)

To learn more about David’s angle into consumer advocacy, I asked him a few questions… his responses are below.

What constitutes “advocacy” as it relates to marketing?
“When a conversation about a brand results in a personal recommendation for the brand, advocacy happens. Our research and client experience clearly shows a direct correlation exists between advocacy and sales. Greater advocacy leads to more personal recommendations that result in higher sales. At MotiveQuest, we’ve been able to track 72% of sales of a major liquor brand back to advocacy. In other words, marketing can spark conversations but advocacy can deliver sales.”

When measuring advocacy, what’s the most important consideration?
“It’s important to first distinguish between ‘participants’ and ‘advocates.’ Participants will talk about a brand while advocates will go a step or two further and recommend a brand. With that explained, the most important consideration when measuring advocacy is tracking the total number of advocates for a brand. Successful brands clearly have more advocates tomorrow than they did yesterday.”

Recently, the Edelman Trust Barometer revealed a significant decline in people believing their friends are a credible source of information… what’s your take on Edelman’s findings?
“Marketing people are abusing social media and thus reducing trust. Too many marketers are measuring social media success by the number of friends, fans, and followers a brand has. The term “friend” no longer has the same personal meaning it once did. Influencer marketing strategies have helped to also erode trust. Trust amongst friends and consumers depends on people having real, organic, honest conversations with each other on the web and in person.”

*** Learn more about WOMMA’s MEASUREMENT & METRICS GUIDEBOOK ***

Over the next two weeks we’ll be publishing short Q&As with some of the marketers, researchers, and academics who have authored papers in the Guidebook.

We’re talking first with Jennifer Voisard, Community Manager and Analyst with ComBlu, about her piece on Cost Deflection. Voisard’s paper explains the financial benefits to how and why businesses can use social media engagement with customers and customer communities to reduce business expenses.

Your paper shares insights on applying the “Cost Deflection” model to online and offline WOM. Why is this of importance to a marketer?
“It is no secret that Marketers are on the hook to prove what we instinctively know to be true, that WOM produces substantial ROI. This was the catalyst for creating this Guidebook. The reason I focused on Cost Deflection was to offer Marketers a different way to approach this daunting task.

The thinking needs to go beyond increasing web traffic, coupon redemption rates, producing a funny viral video, hosting a successful house party or having a large fan base on Facebook. These are important indicators, but they don’t give you program ROI. Marketing can add real value by designing and integrating their engagement strategies based on the actual KPI’s of the business. No matter the economic climate, Cost Deflection always helps the bottom line and can make for a happy and receptive CEO come budget time.” (Jennifer Voisard)

What’s a key step businesses must do to incorporate a marketing-focused Cost Deflection model?
“Everyone has heard the phrase it takes a village. Well, it applies here to. The biggest key to success is the ability to break down organizational silos. Form an integrated team across multiple business units such as: Marketing, Customer Service, Engineering and Product Development for example.

In order for cross-functional collaboration to occur in an efficient manner, you’ll likely need buy-in at the executive level. Otherwise you may find yourself herding cats, and you run the risk of disappointing your customers by failing to effectively manage their feedback and most importantly their expectations.” (Jennifer Voisard)

In your opinion, what company has found success implementing a marketing-focused Cost Deflection model?
“I would say that there are some divisions in Microsoft that get this. The example I highlighted in the chapter was of an early pilot program within the Online Services group. Since then, they have formally implemented their new operational model. Today, their KPI’s speak for themselves, and we are starting to see program adoption increase.

WOM programs deepen the relationship between customer and brand. I think any company that embraces customer feedback and leverages the passion and expertise of their brand advocates, can have a successful program like this.” (Jennifer Voisard)

*** Learn more about WOMMA’s MEASUREMENT & METRICS GUIDEBOOK ***

BACKSTORY
The issue of ethical word of mouth marketing has taken on new prominence given the rise of social media websites like Twitter and Facebook. Many brands and agencies are designing word of mouth marketing programs to foster relationships with online influencers.

To foster these relationships, brands and agencies will sometimes give bloggers material compensation (loaner product, free services, in-kind gifts, and special access privileges) and/or actual compensation (cash) in exchange for talking online about a product/service a business provides. For such testimonials and endorsements, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is now requiring marketers and bloggers to be 100% transparent in disclosing any material relationship between the two.

DISCLOSURE MATTERS
At the most basic level, if there is a relationship between a blogger and a brand that might affect the credibility of an endorsement; such a connection must be adequately disclosed. This act of disclosure protects both consumers and advertisers because it assures consumers that testimonials are truthful and trustworthy, and it offers marketers a proven way to reach audiences with credible information. The matter of disclosure is vital because word of mouth works best when it is 100% credible.

While the WOMMA Ethics Code, updated most recently in September 2009, is compliant with everything the FTC is now requiring from marketers and bloggers, our member companies have asked for more specific guidance as it relates to adequately displaying disclosure online.

BEST PRACTICE GUIDANCE
WOMMA’S GUIDE TO DISCLOSURE IN SOCIAL MEDIA was written and vetted by a cadre of industry leaders, WOMMA members, non-members, academics, and social media participants. This guidebook details how and where to make online disclosure clear and prominent. It also outlines the responsibilities of marketers and bloggers to ensure adequate disclosure happens.

Key online platforms covered in this Disclosure Guide include: Blogs, Online Comments, Twitter, Social Networks, Video Sharing websites, Photo Sharing websites, and Podcasts.

In this Guidebook, researchers, marketers, academics, and practitioners share measurement best practices that address both online and offline forms of WOM. Watch the short video below to learn more:

NOTES:
This Guidebook is available as a free PDF download to WOMMA members. A bound version of the Guidebook is available for non-WOMMA members and WOMMA members. Look inside the pages of the Guidebook here.

At a gathering recently in Washington DC, I shared a presentation on how (and why) brands are using social media to deliver customer service. (You can review the presentation slides here.)

As I was putting together my presentation, I noticed two tweets and a blog post that tell the importance of using social media to address issues from customers.

SMART INSIGHT (from @jowyang)

MISSED OPPORTUNITY (from @jackiehuba)

MADE OPPORTUNITY (from Robbin Phillips)

One question Jay asked me was:
Is WOM diminished as a marketing discipline?

My reply:
“Absolutely not. A word of mouth recommendation from a friend or an acquaintance is and will always be trusted more than traditional advertising. Friends trust what friends say more than people trust what companies say. That isn’t going to change.

As a marketing discipline, WOM is now more important than ever because we have so many ways to connect with people besides a phone call or a face-to-face visit. Being able to have a conversation with someone using computers and smart phones increases the opportunity for WOM to happen.

>>> Have a listen to the podcast <<<.

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Key quotes from the podcast include:
“In the past, we just felt word of mouth would happen serendipitously…We’ve now learned through The Tipping Point…more people are trying to think about getting people to talk, not serendipitously, but strategically.” | John Moore

“The key of it is, people passing the word about you. …It just boils down to ‘what does it mean to be remarkable?’ So remarkable, that people remark.” | Paul Williams

“My advice is to be 100% confident in how you deliver a customer experience before you start to try to strike up conversations online. Because if you are not confident, you will not want to listen to some of the negative feedback online about how you are doing business.” | John Moore

“Word of mouth, to do it properly, it’s not just a department head; it’s not just one person. It’s the way you run a company.” | Paul Williams

“It doesn’t matter how many fans you have online. But we get caught up in that as a measurement of success, and frankly the real measure of success is; is a company making money. Are they turning conversations into transactions?” | John Moore

“I sort of see word of mouth as how do companies, and businesses and people give a script to the people who might talk about you. That way you can guide the discussion. So, ‘how can I give you bullet points to talk about my brand?’” | Paul Williams