Below is part 4 of 5 of the Chicago Brand Advocacy Series panel discussion on “How to Turn Word of Mouth and Social Media into Sales.”

You can find key takeaways, photos, and more videos from the Chicago Brand Advocacy Series here.

Below is part 3 of 5 of the Chicago Brand Advocacy Series panel discussion on “How to Turn Word of Mouth and Social Media into Sales.”

You can find key takeaways, photos, and more videos from the Chicago Brand Advocacy Series here.

Below is part 2 of 5 of the Chicago Brand Advocacy Series panel discussion on “How to Turn Word of Mouth and Social Media into Sales.”

You can find key takeaways, photos, and more videos from the Chicago Brand Advocacy Series here.

Below is part 5 of 5 of the Chicago Brand Advocacy Series panel discussion on “How to Turn Word of Mouth and Social Media into Sales.”

You can find key takeaways, photos, and more videos from the Chicago Brand Advocacy Series here.

Below is part 1 of 5 of the Chicago Brand Advocacy Series panel discussion on “How to Turn Word of Mouth and Social Media into Sales.”

You can find key takeaways, photos, and more videos from the Chicago Brand Advocacy Series here.

Last week, we brought the Brand Advocacy Series to Chicago where top marketers discussed “How to Turn Word of Mouth and Social Media into Sales.” The panel provided attendees with valuable insights on how social media has changed the marketing landscape and what brands like CDW, Treseme, and Ooma are doing to energize advocacy.

Featured panel:

• Moderated by: Brian Quinton, Editor, Chief Marketer, Promo Magazine
• Lauren McCadney, Senior Segment Marketing Manager, CDW
• Stephen Strong, Global Director of Interactive, Alberto Culver
• Mark Kurtz, Partner & Chief Growth Officer, Gage Marketing
• Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance

Take a look at the video clips from the panel:

• The marketing power of Brand Advocates (Clip 1 of 5)
• How has social media changed the way you market? (Clip 2 of 5)
• How are you leveraging Brand Advocates? (Clip 3 of 5)
• How are you measuring social media? (Clip 4 of 5)
• Q&A with audience (Clip 5 of 5)

View photos from the event on the Zuberance Facebook page.

Key Takeaways from the panel:

• The more you try and control the brand, the more you lose it. Everybody has a voice now. You have to be in the game and if you’re sitting in the sidelines right now, you’re in trouble.
• We’re living in an era of engagement and dialogue. Case in point: Gap changed their logo which caused an uproar from Gap customers whose dissatisfaction was amplified by social media. Don’t even try and change your logo without engaging with your customers.
• 3 out of 4 people no longer trust what advertisers have to say. But 9 out of 10 trust what a peer says.
• Advocates are people who highly recommend brands or products without being paid to do so. Identify Advocates by asking them “The Ultimate Question,” “On a scale from 1-10, how likely are you to recommend our product or service to your friends/colleagues?” Those who answer a 9 or 10 are Advocates.
  
• Advocates tell the CDW story better than any copywriter could. CDW is leveraging advocate-generated content in their catalog, direct mail, and various places on their website to help explain what CDW does.
• Nexxus’ Promend product (which replenishes split ends) approached Advocates in a pre-launch campaign to get feedback on their new product. They were able to create 150 reviews before launch, so prospects could read about the effectiveness of the product once it officially launched.
• Ooma (a Voip device provider) who competes against Vonage, decreased their customer acquisition costs by 54% by energizing their Advocates.
• Thousands of Facebook fans or Twitter followers won’t shift sales. Energize Advocates by making it easy for them to write reviews and testimonials, share offers, or provide feedback on a new product. Then leverage Advocate-generated content throughout your marketing campaigns.
• It’s not authentic if everyone loves you. People will become skeptical of product reviews if all of them are perfect, so don’t get people to write inauthentic reviews.
• One of TiVo’s mantras: Don’t be afraid to fail, but fail fast. When you find something that works, move it from to experimentation to optimization and push down on the accelerator.
• There is not a one size fits all approach to social media. Use your common sense about where to grow your community.
• Measuring the ROI of social media depends on what you are trying to achieve through social media whether it’s increasing purchase intent, content generation, traffic, or sales.

-Cara Fuggetta, Marketing Manager, Zuberance

Zuberance is hosting an exclusive social media panel and cocktail party on Wednesday, May 11 in Chicago, the last night of WOMMA’s School of WOM, called “How to Turn Word of Mouth and Social Media into Sales.” As part of our Brand Advocacy Series, the event will bring together leading brands, marketers, and influencers to discuss real-world case studies, best practices and steps brands can take now to draw the line from social media marketing to ROI.

To request an invitation, click here. (Note: This event is not limited to School of WOM attendees.)

Event Details

• Date: Wednesday May 11, 2011
• Time: 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM
• Location: River East Arts Center, 435 East Illinois Street, Chicago
• Twitter hashtag: #CHIBAS

Featured Panel:

• Stephen Strong, Global Director of Interactive, Alberto Culver
• Lauren McCadney, Senior Segment Marketing Manager, CDW
• Mark Kurtz, Partner & Chief Growth Officer, Gage Marketing
• Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance
• Moderated by: Brian Quinton, Editor, Chief Marketer, Promo Magazine, eMarketer

It’s the $64,000 question: “Can social media and Word of Mouth marketing make me money?” We see examples of it happening all the time, but no one seems to be offering up any prescriptive solutions. Is there a formula for employing social media to drive measurable increases in qualified leads, traffic, and sales? The good news is that there are answers!

Join us and learn about:

• Energizing Brand Advocates: How to harness your brand’s fans into a powerful marketing channel
• Real-World Case Studies: How leading brands are leveraging WOM and social media to drive customer acquisition
• Measuring ROI: How to measure the ROI of WOM and social media
• Best Practices: The do’s and don’ts of effective WOM and social media marketing

To request an invitation, click here.

Join the conversation on Twitter now using #CHIBAS.

Take a look at the recap of our San Francisco Brand Advocacy Series event featuring marketers from TiVo, Intel, and Edelman Digital.

We hope to see you there!

-Cara Fuggetta, Marketing Manger, Zuberance