Comments on: Outside Line at WOMM-U http://www.outsideline.co.uk/blog/2008/05/21/outside-line-at-womm-u/ Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:26:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 By: Rayebays http://www.outsideline.co.uk/blog/2008/05/21/outside-line-at-womm-u/comment-page-1/#comment-519 Rayebays Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:44:43 +0000 http://www.outsideline.co.uk/blog/?p=57#comment-519 hi hi

]]> By: jack http://www.outsideline.co.uk/blog/2008/05/21/outside-line-at-womm-u/comment-page-1/#comment-109 jack Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:08:41 +0000 http://www.outsideline.co.uk/blog/?p=57#comment-109 I notice you don't really give any examples of influencing word of mouth. Bit more clarity on 'your' experience would have been helpful. In terms of earning word of mouth in any meaningful way I just don't think it's sustainable. The web is so disparate that you would need 10's if not 100's of people constantly monitoring communities to make even an indent into influencing people's views on a large scale. In my experience and I've seen this mentioned in forums around web it takes at least 1,000 posts in a particular forum to be perceived as trusted. Who can justify the time and/or money to build up this level of trust in not just 1 but 10's or 100's of online communities? Of course the change in the law makes a lot of this now impossible anyway and I bet there are community members around the globe now cheering at the reduction of blatant spam they all to often had to put up with. Attempts to influence word of mouth will now have to be totally above board and almost always explicitly branded whether it be blogs or message boards or 'thoughts' or whatever other spin you want to put on it. This surely misses the point? Word of Mouth was/is always about credibility. So whilst branded blogs or whatever might create some form of buzz or brand awareness it is hardly right to call it influencing word of mouth in the correct sense of the word. To me it seems marketers have just shifted the playing field because actually truly influencing word of mouth has proved to be very difficult if not impossible. It appears to me anyway that producing strong creative output is still the best way of getting the job done. I encourage all to read this - http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/122/is-the-tipping-point-toast.html I notice you don’t really give any examples of influencing word of mouth. Bit more clarity on ‘your’ experience would have been helpful.

In terms of earning word of mouth in any meaningful way I just don’t think it’s sustainable. The web is so disparate that you would need 10’s if not 100’s of people constantly monitoring communities to make even an indent into influencing people’s views on a large scale.

In my experience and I’ve seen this mentioned in forums around web it takes at least 1,000 posts in a particular forum to be perceived as trusted.

Who can justify the time and/or money to build up this level of trust in not just 1 but 10’s or 100’s of online communities?

Of course the change in the law makes a lot of this now impossible anyway and I bet there are community members around the globe now cheering at the reduction of blatant spam they all to often had to put up with.

Attempts to influence word of mouth will now have to be totally above board and almost always explicitly branded whether it be blogs or message boards or ‘thoughts’ or whatever other spin you want to put on it.

This surely misses the point? Word of Mouth was/is always about credibility. So whilst branded blogs or whatever might create some form of buzz or brand awareness it is hardly right to call it influencing word of mouth in the correct sense of the word. To me it seems marketers have just shifted the playing field because actually truly influencing word of mouth has proved to be very difficult if not impossible.

It appears to me anyway that producing strong creative output is still the best way of getting the job done.

I encourage all to read this – http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/122/is-the-tipping-point-toast.html

]]> By: Andy Bargery http://www.outsideline.co.uk/blog/2008/05/21/outside-line-at-womm-u/comment-page-1/#comment-107 Andy Bargery Mon, 26 May 2008 15:57:07 +0000 http://www.outsideline.co.uk/blog/?p=57#comment-107 Chris, Excellent post. It seems the key words to draw from your post in relation to WOM marketing are honesty, engagement and integration, all tied together with a strong storyline. I like the idea of earning word of mouth versus buying it, but I wonder if in reality there's a little of both of these in any campaign..? Look forward to the next instalment about measurement. This is clearly one of the biggest challenges facing all marketers / PROs and no doubt many would benefit from some ideas around measuring online WOM campaigns. Cheers, Andy Chris,

Excellent post. It seems the key words to draw from your post in relation to WOM marketing are honesty, engagement and integration, all tied together with a strong storyline. I like the idea of earning word of mouth versus buying it, but I wonder if in reality there’s a little of both of these in any campaign..?

Look forward to the next instalment about measurement. This is clearly one of the biggest challenges facing all marketers / PROs and no doubt many would benefit from some ideas around measuring online WOM campaigns.

Cheers,
Andy

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