In our ongoing online research, we asked CM industry luminaries to submit their views about CM Prediction 3 which stated: Word-of-mouth tracking will become a key metric in brand tracking market research. Here are the main points they have made to date.

Monitoring how much and what is being said about a brand is certainly happening, particularly in certain business categories such as consumer packaged goods. However, generating buzz shouldn’t be seen as an end in itself. Measurement needs to cover not just how much is being said, but also what, by whom and what impact it is having on the business.

Listening to your customers and their conversations is a good place for brands to start when first adopting connected marketing techniques. There are also an increasing number of free tools (e.g. Google Blog Search, Technorati, Ice Rocket, etc,) you can use to monitor consumer conversations online.

Detailed customer feedback can be monitored from various customer touchpoints, such as call centres, market research, online feedback forms, and even the comments made on corporate blogs. The point is to gain an integrated holistic view. This is particularly important when it comes to monitoring negative word of mouth, because people are more likely you tell you about their negative experiences than their positive ones, and it’s negative word of mouth that has a greater impact on your bottom line by spreading furthest and widest.

Of course, high-quality analysis of word-of-mouth data is needed to sort the valuable insight from the chatter. The quantity of conversations is not as important as the quality. Ultimately, the value of WOM tracking is then dependent on what you do with the knowledge you glean, how you use it to inform your ongoing business operations and communications - in areas such as influencer outreach, online PR, online visibility (search engine optimisation), brand protection/reputation management and more.

Submit your own thoughts about Prediction 3 and the other predictions here.

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