Coverage by Steve Barnes & Mike Stiles.

Vitrue will be doing our usual live-blogging action for you as we attend “WOMMA Summit 2011: Creating Talkable Brands – Next Practices and Best Practices” at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas November 16 & 17.  This is the premier marketing conference for helping marketers engage with customers in social media and beyond, so if you can’t make it out personally, we hope you’ll be able to pick up the very best tips and trends from our notes below! All times P.S.T.

DAY 1
1:30 Welcome Address
Rod Brooks @NW_Mktg_Guy WOMMA President

• -Rod is VP/CMO of PEMCO Mutual Insurance Company
• -WOM – The act of sharing something with someone else.
• -WOMM – Any business action that earns a recommendation.
• -WOMMA – A community of marketers shaping how businesses use word of mouth marketing.
• -Membership has grown to 350 member companies.
• -WOMMA has developed successful relationships with key industry groups.
• -WOMMA has expanded its products to such things as guidebooks and resource listings.
• -WOMMA has become the go-to source for press inquiries and thought leadership.
• -WOMMA announces its new President, experienced marketing executive Su Fanning.
• -WOMMA Exec. Director Kristen Smith will take the title of COO for WOMMA.

2:00 Opening Keynote: HOW TO FASCINATE: Harnessing Attention in 9 Seconds or Less
Sally Hogshead @SallyHogshead Author, Speaker and Chief Fascination Officer of Fascinate

• -fscoretest.com is where you can take your test to see how fascinating you are!
• -We take a product, a commodity, and put some marketing behind it to make it mean something.
• -Morton Salt costs 187 times more than regular salt.  But they can charge more because marketers made it mean something.
• -You can charge more if you make something fascinating.
• -60% of people think they’re more attractive than the average person.
• -90% think they’re smarter than the average person
• -But only 39% think they’re more fascinating than the average person.
• -We way overestimate ourselves in some areas, but underestimate how fascinating we are.
• -When you find out what makes you fascinating, that’s very powerful.
• -You don’t learn how to be fascinating, you unlearn how to be boring.
• -Society compels us to blend in, just the opposite of what we should be doing.
• -Your brain is hardwired to fascinate.  You have the tools to be fascinating.
• -Your brain is hardwired to be fascinated.  It wants to be fascinated by something or somebody.
• -Fascination comes from “fascinare,” to bewitch or hold captive so people are powerless to resist.
• -Throughout history, the ability to fascinate was approached with great fear.
• -Fascination is an intense emotional focus.  Those are the moments you can persuade.
• -If you don’t have they’re attention, if they’re distracted, you cannot persuade.
• -In the brain, fascination feels just like falling in love.  It’s highly positive.
• -You can’t depend on charisma.  You might have it, you might not.  It’s like talent.
• -Online dating sites are the single most competitive places on earth.
• -You have millions of people competing for one person, must captivate and close the deal.
• -It doesn’t matter if you’re the best, if nobody knows you’re there.
• -Having the best product is not enough, it’s just too competitive out there.
• -Our attention span used to be 20 minutes long.  Now it’s 9 seconds.
• -You have 9 seconds to make an impression and get your message out.
• -Relationships can’t happen in 9 second, but introductions can.
• -How do you take what you are, and condense it to 9 seconds?
• -The most fascinating option always wins, in all aspects of life.
• -If you don’t have the biggest budget, you better be the most fascinating.
• -If you put out boring messages, it actually damages you.  Stand out, or don’t bother.
• -Do you really like the taste of Jagermeister?  You drink it to make a statement.
• -We’re fascinated by power.  We naturally follow the leader.
• -We’re fascinated by passion.  Passionate people attract with emotion.
• -We’re fascinated by mystique.  It arouses curiosity.
• -We’re fascinated by prestige.  It earns our respect.
• -We’re fascinated by alarm.  It creates urgency.
• -We’re fascinated by rebellion.  It’s a game-changer.
• -We’re fascinated by trust.  It builds loyalty.
• -Of all the 7 triggers, rebellion seems to win the most.  The one brands are least willing to try.

 

3:15 Master Session:
How to Design and Deliver an On-Going Content Marketing Strategy
Jonathan Byerly @Jonathanatdell @Dell (J) Chief Content Strategist, Dell, Public and Large Enterprise
Sam Decker @SamDecker @MassRelevance (S) founder and CEO, Mass Relevance
Kathy Baughman @ComBlu (K) President, ComBlu

• -J: Our marketing was really product focused.
• -J: When we moved to solutions, we still approached it from a product perspective.
• -J: We had to create content about the challenges that made customers start looking for a solution.
• -J: You have to catch people in the research phase of their problem solving.
• -J: We hired a team of journalists to go out and write.  We gave them beats.
• -S: After awhile, all the people bringing content started sounding and looking the same.
• -S: Often, marketers are not good content creators because every thought is “internal.”
• -S: Marketers have to figure out how to get from entertaining content and making it lead to a sale.
• -K: Paid, owned and earned require different types of content.
• -J: When brands find out how much content they need, they get fearful.
• -J: There’s nothing wrong with presenting 3rd party content to your customers if it’s really valuable.
• -K: A lot of people in a company offer their opinion about content, with no process for coming to final decisions.
• -S: A good customer review is authentic and detailed.  Highlight the best reviews, positive and negative.
• -J: You’re speaking to different levels of decision-makers with your content.
• -S: Your content might be more valuable outside of your brand as a bridge to your brand.
• -S: Red Bull is a great example of “brand as media.”
• -J: You must help invest in the brand of the writers you have, make them experts in their field.
• -J: What is the content that you can create that closes the deal?

 

4:15 The Social Customer and Their Impact On Business
Michael Brito @Britopian @Edelman Digital
 SVP Social Business Planning, Edelman Digital

• -I’m not a target consumer.  I’m a person.
• -Reciprocal altruism: giving without any expectation of getting something in return.
• -If you love your customers, they’ll love you back, and tell others.
• -We’re all consuming massive amounts of content, every day.  So we create filters.
• -Customers have to hear something 3-5 times before they’ll believe it.  So you need total consistency.
• -Customers will ask their social friends and followers at the very start of their product search.
• -An advocate has emotional equity toward your brand, and will talk about you even if they’re getting nothing special from you.
• -So what if you created advocate programs?  Reinforce the relationships with them.
• -Internally there’s a confusion of roles and responsibilities, and it’s creating conflict.
• -Social media should be 10% of everyone’s job, not the domain of a handful of people.
• -Multiple and duplicate social media channels have to be reigned in.
• -There are numerous measurement inconsistencies internally at many companies.
• -A lot of the future planning for social revolves around internal processes and governance.
• -If execs want to evolve their organization, they’re going to have to change the way they behave.
• -Social Business defined: employees are empowered to engage with customers.
• -Listening to the customer without taking any action is worse than not listening at all.
• -Netflix lost over a million customer and their stock took a nosedive.  This is what the social customer can do.

Day 2
8:00 Keynote: We First: How Social Media can Remake Capitalism and Build a Better World
Simon Mainwaring @SimonMainwaring Founder/Author WE FIRST

• -1 in 6 Americans are now below the poverty line.  1 in 7 rely on food stamps.
• -People’s lives are so difficult, they’re questioning where money does and doesn’t go.
• -This has led to enormous consumer mistrust.  Business mistrust. Consumers don’t like us as marketers.
• 

  Simon Mainwaring

  -You can argue whether or not the Occupy movement is worthwhile, but it’s significant it’s happening at all.

• -Consumers are armed with tools that allow them to have huge impact on our brands.
• -Consumers want a company they can trust, but the trust level in the US is barely above that of Russia.
• -Consumers want a better world, not just better widgets.
• -86% of consumers want you to equate your company’s needs with society’s needs.
• -Contributory consumption: a small percentage of each purchase going toward a cause.
• -If 5% of the private sector contributed 1 penny on the dollar, it would drawf the giving of private foundations.
• -We spent $2b on virtual goods last year, on things that don’t even exist.
• -We’re talking about brand/consumer partnerships to make something good happen.
• -SocialVibe allows brands to pay for consumers’ attention by giving to charity in exchange for viewing an ad.
• -Brands and companies are coming together like never before in cooperative societal change ventures.
• -The role of brands is going to be more meaningful than ever.
• -We can be big players in positive change while also positively affecting our bottom lines.
• -Brands are crowdsourcing like never before to help them make their decisions.
• -Launch employee volunteer programs.
• -Starbucks’ CEO stopped all campaign contributions until Washington gridlock ends.
• -You will find plenty of open doors if you lead with goodwill.
• -Some companies tie to the music you’ve liked online and feed that to you as their on-hold music.
• -Rewards for reaching a certain level of interaction is going to get bigger.
• -Good works will have consumers wanting to actively support your company.  They will actually root for you.
• -Customers and the public are becoming activists like never before.
• -“We” is the new “me.”

9:15 Creating Lasting Advocacy On Campus With P&G
Kerri Christian (K) @ProcterGamble Brand Manager, P&G
Matt Britton (M) @mattyb123 @MrYouth CEO, Mr. Youth

• -M: Students just don’t see a need for television.  It’s not a gathering place anymore.
• -M: When trends start to happen in the student audience, you can be sure it will spread to mass market behavior.
• -M: When you market to students, you’re marketing to an audience with an audience.


Matt Britton

• -M: Students are changing the traditional lead funnel model.
• -M: Even Coca-Cola says we’re not in advertising, we’re in managing communities.
• -M: The class of 2015: only 11% define success as having a lot of money.
• -M: The class of 2015: they want to give back, but want easy ways to do it.
• -M: The class of 2015: they semi-proudly see themselves as lazy.
• -M: The class of 2015: rejects the whole bling-bling, flaunt wealth vibe.
• -M: The class of 2015: wants an accepting society.
• -M: The class of 2015: don’t want to wear suits or answer to authority.
• -M: The class of 2015: wants to innovate.
• -M: The class of 2015: feels like they can change the world.


Kerri Christian

• -M: Friend the class of 2015 by: helping them express their personal brand.
• -M: Friend the class of 2015 by: integrating your brand organically into their world.
• -M: Friend the class of 2015 by: communicating 24/7 like they do.
• -M: Friend the class of 2015 by: tapping their inner circles.
• -M: Friend the class of 2015 by: giving them their ownership stake.
• -M: Friend the class of 2015 by: evolving with their needs.
• -M: Friend the class of 2015 by: behaving in a 2-way fashion.
• -K: How can you make a student care about your brand?
• -K: Their program is “Ready U,” helping students beyond the classroom.
• -K: Content is organized by students’ “need states.”
• -K: They have on-the-ground student ambassadors.
• -K: They incorporate themselves into existing campus events.
• -K: They do plenty of sampling and partner with retailers on or near campus.
• -K: They partnered with College Humor as a content partner.
• -K: “Ready U” has resulted in an overall increase in sales for participating brands.

11:00 Operationalizing Social Media Within the Enterprise: 10 Lessons
Christine Cea (C) @Unilever_Press Brand PR Director, Unilever, U.S.
Ekaterina Walter (E) @Ekaterina Social Media Strategist, Intel
John Bell (J) @jbell99 360 Digital Influence Lead, Ogilvy

• -C: Unilever created an internal Social Engagement Playbook.
• -C: The goal, increase loyalty and advocacy to grow business.


Christine Cea, John Bell and Ekaterina Walter

• -C: You need stakeholder collaboration and a listening dashboard.
• -C: You have to move from campaign-to-campaign, to “always on.”
• -C: You have to establish the right voice and establish consistency of tone.
• -E: Intel is set up on a hub and spoke model to manage social internally.
• -E: Intel had to move from grassroots multiple pages popping up to a central, managed Page.
• -E: They have clear purpose and consistent branding.
• -E: Country Pages can publish their own content and customize using Vitrue Tabs.
• -E: Intel also wanted to provide country Pages apps, a branded asset library and analytics.
• -E: The Museum of Me was launched in one country but was so popular they were able to smoothly roll out to all.
• -C: Governance is a living document, not a “one and done.”
• -E: Go back to basics.  Know what your strategy is and objectives are.
• -E: If you provide the right infrastructure and support, the company will be behind you.
• -E: When you have opportunities, you have literally 2-3 days to capitalize on it.
• -E: We do moderation and engagement in-house.  And do NOT hire an intern to be a voice for your company.
• -E: DO NOT hire an intern to manage your brand page and be your voice.
• -C: With 40 brands, we rely on trusted agency partners for moderation and engagement.

1:30 Town Hall Meeting: So You Think You Can Manage a Community
Marcy Massura @MarcyMassura @WeberShandwick Digital Strategist & Community Manager, Weber Shandwick

• -Community are a gathering of peeps around common interests.
• -Identify your advocates and you round them up, giving them a place to play.
• -Give them a reason to interact with you.
• -Define scope, ideal outcomes and boundaries.


Marcy Massura

• -Ensure participants get more value than they contribute.
• -Using someone inside the company who already has a job as your CM is a big mistake.
• -Using too many CM’s all with different voices is a big mistake.
• -A good CM adds value to the conversation.
• -A good CM observes the audience.
• -A good CM provides a reason to socialize.
• -A good CM knows what makes good bait.
• -A good CM leads from the back and let the most passionate fans be up front.
• -A good CM can spot a good content wave and ride it.
• -Hire for passion.  Everything else can be taught.
• -Good CM’s have to have endurance.  It ain’t 9 to 5.
• -Response time is the best and easiest way to win with a community.
• -Oscar Meyer has a 4-hour maximum response time.
• -They never mention Lunchables on the Lunchables Page.  The content is lifestyle focused.
• -They prep content 1-2 months ahead of time, then create the illusion of spontaneity.
• -People expect a constant presence.
• -Build a response library.  The majority of the questions that come up are the same.
• -If something isn’t working, let it go.  Start over.
• -CM’s need access to every single part of your business.  They need to be trusted and in the know.
• -Give them the tools, like Vitrue, to do their jobs in the best, most efficient way.
• -Best is to have research, monitoring and reporting experts reporting up to the CM.

2:30 Social Commerce: The next stage in ecommerce
Chad Estes @chadestes @Vitrue Vitrue, VP Client Services

• -Mark Zuckerberg has predicted that social commerce is going to be the “next big thing.”
• -fCommerce is commerce on Facebook.  It started with virtual gifts.
• -People don’t want to leave Facebook.  Whatever they need to do, they want to be able to do it there.


Chad Estes - Vitrue

• -Facebook is still in a gray area whether commerce can be conducted on the wall.
• -Facebook credits has played out mostly in the gaming world, but it does represent the creation of a currency.
• -FB has mandated that all game purchases must occur using FB credits.
• -FB thinks about the user first, the brands second.
• -It must be a good user experience and be of value to the user.
• -A key value point is social discovery.  It’s acting on a recommendation vs. a search.
• -We’re seeing lots of sites incorporating social into their commerce, using things like open graph.
• -Social + mobile is going to be an enormous driver of hyper-targeted local commerce.
• -People connect with brands because they want special deals, preferably exclusive.
• -Flash sales work extremely well.
• -Don’t just stick your entire web site commerce experience on a Facebook Tab.

3:45 When Are Tweets Just Talk, and When Do They Amount to Dollars?
Jeff Simmermon (J) @jeffsimmermon, Director Digital Communications, Time Warner Cable @TWCable
Phil Blum (P) Director Twitter Care Team, Time Warner Cable @TWCable
Virginia Miracle (V) @virginiamiracle, EVP & NA Director, Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence

• -V: Customer care, PR and marketing all came together to develop their social strategy.
• -V: It was very rare that comments about a cable company were positive.
• -V: They found there wasn’t much understanding of how cable, Internet and wireless work.


Virginia Miracle, Phil Blum and Jeff Simmermon

• -P: We found frustrated tweeters and responded to them w/our @TWCableHelp presence.
• -P: Most of the time, complainers said they didn’t even know we were listening.
• -P: They handle anything a call center would handle, outages, connection problems, etc.
• -P: We see rage expressed online that you would not see if they were on the phone with someone.
• -P: When we resolve their issue, they give us credit for us in a post or tweet.
• -V: You can’t tell people where to be helped.  They go where they want to go.
• -P: People can get updates via Twitter when there’s an outage, so outages up the number of followers.
• -J: You can’t communicate anything else if a customer is mad about their service.
• -J: That’s what makes the Twitter presence for customer service such a valuable outlet.
• -J: They use their blog to help educate and increase understanding of how services get delivered.
• -J: Company cultural changes always come later and slower than you want them to.