The 2010 Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) School of WOM wrapped up Wednesday afternoon here in Chicago, and the social media community has been abuzz with conversation about the wisdom that was shared.

The School of WOM conference is designed to help marketers "move beyond tactics" and gain the knowledge necessary to "engage the social consumer across business disciplines." The three day event featured best practices and case studies from some of the world's top brands, including Coca-Cola, Best Buy, Proctor & Gamble, Google, and Kraft Foods. The School of WOM is led by a "faculty" of distinguished industry experts from agencies (such as Zócalo Group's own Paul Rand and Emily Bader) and major corporations.

With hundreds of Tweets and a lot of active discussion circulating around the event, I thought it might be helpful to share some key insights shared by some of the biggest speakers.


 
Key Notes from the Keynote Speakers:

Jeffery Hayzlett - Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company

• Hayzlett asserted that moments lose their power if they are not shared. This, he said, is why Facebook and Twitter are so powerful. As a company that traffics in moments, Kodak realized it was in its best interest to make sharing moments as easy for consumers as possible. This is why the company will be adding a new "Share" button to all of its cameras.
  

Dan Heath, Co-author of Switch and Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

• Heath, whose newest book features the sub-head "How to Change Things When Change is Hard," connected with the audience by challenging them to "obsess about success." He made the case that people spend too much time concentrating on how to change what isn't working in a given situation, when their energy would be better spent focusing on replicating what is working.

Jeanne Bliss, Best-selling Author, Chief Customer Officer

• Bliss has spent years evangelizing for the importance of customer experience in driving positive word of mouth recommendations. A key point she drove home during her presentation was the idea that businesses need to truly think of their employees as partners, not just cogs performing a given task. "Beloved" companies, she said, trust their employees to do the right thing and eliminate excessive bureaucracy that creates barriers between employees and customers.

Andrew Mason, CEO - Groupon

• Groupon's colorful CEO, Andrew Mason (who gave his presentation in shorts and a faded shirt), preached about the importance of customer service. At one point he indicated that he's sometimes tempted to screw up on purpose, just so he has the chance to apologize -- because he sees just how powerful a heartfelt apology can be. He also perceives customer service to be a major differentiation opportunity for businesses, because, frankly, most companies are so bad at it that even being just a little bit better goes a long way.
  
  

Rob Morris, Co-Founder and President, Love146

• Morris, whose organization is dedicated to the abolition of child sex slavery through prevention and aftercare solutions, tugged on attendees' heartstrings while sharing his take on how online WOM (such as Love146's successful Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter programs) can be used to engage and mobilize individuals around a cause.
  

Jim Lecinski, Managing Director, Central Region, Google

• Although Google may be ubiquitous as a brand, the company still puts a great deal of emphasis on developing sound WOM strategies. For brands that aren't as well known, Lecinski offered these four tips: 1. Pose a challenge, 2. Hold a contest, 3. Give a gift, 4. Surprise people. He pointed to Google's recent integration of the classic Pac Man arcade game into its home page logo as an example of a surprise that sparked a tremendous amount of conversation across the web.

There's only so much of a three day conference that can be packed into one blog post, so we'd love to hear from you. Were you able to attend the School of WOM? What was the most valuable piece of advice you took away from the event?





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Brands and marketers using Facebook know the less clicks a user has to make to access their content, the better the chance they will engage with it. Of course, the fastest way for content to get in front of fans is for it to appear directly in their news feeds. This already happens with some types of shared content - like links and uploaded videos - but until recently, it wasn't possible for live streaming video. The company that has made this possible is the Sweden based Bambuser.

Now, say your brand has a major announcement or event approaching and you want to get a live video feed of said event in front of as many of your fans as possible. Unless your announcement happens to involve The Jonas Brothers, it may be difficult to convince your fans to set their watches and click over to the special tab on your Facebook page to watch it. But what if your stream appeared directly in their news feeds when they first logged in, allowing them to watch it and chat with the rest of the audience without ever leaving that page?  Think you might be able to attract a few more people who weren't planning on watching otherwise?

This is the definitive feature setting Bambuser apart from its competitors (namely UStream). The service allows users to broadcast live from their webcam or smartphone directly to a Facebook page, blog, or Web site (or all three simultaneously). To top it off, the service is currently free for personal or commercial use.
While Bambuser's Facebook integration is definitely a major step forward, the service isn't perfect. Although you can technically broadcast from your phone, video can be choppy or delayed unless you have a steady, perfect 3G connection. For this reason, if it is at all possible, I'd highly recommend connecting to a Wi-Fi network.
 
Currently, Bambuser is used primarily by individuals, but the opportunity it offers to brands is too significant for that to last much longer. As brands continue to expand the scope of their presence on Facebook, what role do you see live streaming video playing?




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