MediaPost News
Marketing Daily

May 6, 2009
by Karlene Lukovitz

Social media conversation is not only a subset of total word of mouth (WOM); it also differs substantially in content, according to research conducted by WOM research and consulting firm Keller Fay Group.

The group compared the 50 most talked about brands on social media last year as measured by social media consultancy Vitrue’s Social Media Index, with “all” WOM - both offline and online - as measured by Keller Fay’s own TalkTrack(R) system.

Some of the results:

• Only two brands - Sony and Dell - were within the top 10 on both lists.
• The all-WOM/TalkTrack top 10 were (in descending order):  Coca-Cola, AT&T, Verizon, Walmart, Pepsi, Ford, Sony, Dell, McDonald’s and Sprint/Nextel.  The Vitrue social media top 10 were:  iPhone, CNN, Apple, Disney, Xbox, Starbucks, iPod, MTV, Sony and Dell.
• For the top 10 in social media, the average total WOM/TalkTrack ranking was 50.  For the top 10 in TalkTrack, the average social media ranking was 38.
• Nine brands are in the top 20 on both lists:  Apple, iPod, Sony, Dell, Microsoft, Ford, Nintendo, Target and Hewlett-Packard.
• Half are within the top 50 on both lists.
• Biggest disconnect:  MTV ranked #8 in Vitrue’s social media rankings, versus #190 in TalkTrack.

The results confirmed earlier Keller Fay findings that there is value in looking at both online and offline forms of WOM.  Social media-only analysis is “not a mirror” of all WOM, and one does not predict the other, says COO Brad Fay.  TalkTrack data indicates that 90% of WOM takes place offline, and 1% via social media such as blogs and chat rooms, he reports.

Differences, including the MTV disparity, may reflect that WOM via blogs skews young (50% of blog volume is generated by teens, according to TalkTrack findings).

Overall, about half of WOM is tied to marketing communications efforts, and more than 80% relates to the experiences that consumers have with brands, Fay adds.  Whatever media or channels are used, “today, the test of effective marketing is whether it drives conversation,” he says.