cgm

Social Media Confessions & Choices (First Official Post of 2009)

And so this blog enters year five of its existence - hard to believe!  CGM has evolved from peripheral curiosity for companies and brands to major focus. True, the term "CGM" plays a big second fiddle to the all-encompassing term "social media," which includes media and brand initiated content (and beyond). That said, I still think the "consumer" side of the equation sets the pace in this new "age of participation." It's also what excites and energizes me!

In terms of 2008 recaps, I humbly (and introspectively) teed up both reflections and predictions.  In my latest Ad Age column, for instance, entitled "Consumers to Suffer from Social Media Indigestion in 2009," I offer a handful of predictions for the new year, many of them deeply grounded on my own personal experiences...and painpoints.  I write:

Many of us are going to wake up in 2009 wondering "what did we eat?" and "why did we devour it all so fast?" We impulsively adopted everything from hastily assembled Facebook friends and Twitter followers to groups, apps and widgets (usually while shadowing others, such as uber-early adopter Robert Scoble), yet rarely revisited them. Many of us will feel compelled to join the social media equivalent of Weight Watchers, eager to trim the excess and rediscover a modicum of don't-follow-everything discipline. Meanwhile, a new wave of "diet" apps and services from the still-revenue-hungry social media entrepreneurs will flood the market: "For $10 a month, we'll promise you a downsized, manageable, and authentic Friends list." In 2009, less may well become the new more.

On this point, I do worry we've all jumped into much of the "new" social media stuff too aggressively, often leading to an almost-compulsive need to post, twit, friend, link, and share every mundane detail of my life.  In many respects, it's hard to resist.  As an early leader and adopter -- even a published author on the topic of CGM & social media -- I almost feel an obligation and duty to "keep up with the crowd" and "walk my talk."  Despite all the Twitter banter about convenience, efficiency, empowerment, lower feedback barriers, at times it all feels a bit frenzied -- a perception perhaps biased by the fact that I now have three kids under four years.

Looking into 2009, I need to weigh in on a number of key choices:  

• Popularity versus Intimacy:  A huge friends list begets marketing opportunities (not unlike a good mailing list), and can obviously contribute to building a "personal brand," but is it really a "friends" list? It's hard to do both. Often, when I send a "Dude...let's catch up soon" blurb on Facebook I wonder whether I've cheapened or trivialized the relationship. (It feels that way on the receiving end.) Then again, I did send a wee small sign of life, right? 


• Short Form Versus Long Form:  My blog posts on ConsumerGeneratedMedia.com actually plummeted in 2008...mainly because I found myself perfecting short form messaging on Twitter, Facebook "what are you doing" forms, and Blackberry email.  I'm inclined to return to the longer format lest my Twitter-induced glorification of the "mundane" (e.g. "Hey, watched a movie tonight!") gets the better of me.  My blog played a huge role in laying foundation for my Tell 3000 book, and that's because it afforded me the opportunity to test hypotheses, write "pilot" chapters, take a big step back here and there, and the like.  I don't want to lose that discipline. Of course, like others, I can aim for that perfect symbiotic relationship between long and short form, but that also carries risks.

• Big Tent or Narrow Tent:  Social media now encompasses just about everything -- it's as much of an "organizing principle" as marketing strategy -- and that makes it more difficult to focus content choices.  I also hate the thought of simply reinterating what hundreds of others are already saying, a reality that hits me everytime I inventory the fire-hydrant of self-described "social media consultants" on my Twitter follower list.  Even on this blog, I've noticed no shortage of "topic creep." (Just look at all my categories.)  I'll need to think a bit harder about where I'd like to focus my best thinking. Since taking on my new role as Chair of the Better Busines Bureau, my obsession with the issue of marketplace Trust has jumped to the next level, and I'll likely focus attention in that area.  

Despite all this, I enter 2009 with a great sense of optimism about what's possible.  In a recent post for Nielsen's Newswire entitled "Social Media Comes of Age," I outlined a number of key developments from which I drew inspiration and motivation in 2008, from all aspects of the Obama campaign's web and voter-participation strategy and MyStarbuckIdea.com  to Intel Chairman Scott Cook's Harvard Business Review cover story on "User Contribution Systems."   I welcome any and all feedback.

Ad-Tech "Master Class" Panel: If You Had $5 to Spend Online?

Earlier this week at Ad-Tech NY I moderated a "master class" session on "Building Brands Online" which included the NY Times, Kraft, Intuit, Zappos.com, and 1800Flowers.com, My core question for the panel was very simple, and quite pertinent to this market environment.  If your goal is to sell management on the value of investing online, and you only had $5 to spend, where would you start!  The answers were telling, and provide critical context to how we think about framing our value proposition – across all Nielsen Online products.  Richard Cacciato, who blogged for Ad-Tech, offers an excellent summary of the panel, and here are a few of my topline notes. 

• Andy Markowitz, leader of digital efforts at Kraft, suggested he’s take a step back before tossing money at marketing tactics (e.g. online advertising, social media), and would invest the money in nailing key consumer insights around online behavior.  What’s the core unmet need; is there something about Kraft’s target consumer online that might ultimately push a higher level of investment. 
•  Zappos.com, recently ranked by Ad Age as one of 2008’s top marketers (after the Barack Obama campaign), took a different tack, suggesting the $5 would best be invested in customer service, call support, or even employee training.  Great experiences, user-experience director Brian Kalma explained, ultimately grow the brand on the strength of favorable word-of-mouth – evident across an expanding spectrum of CGM venues, from blogs to twitter.
• Scott Wilder, GM of Intuit’s Product Development/Online Communities, insisted the money would best be invested in product, although his definition of “product” encompassed Intuits half-a-million user strong online communities.  The big payout of getting that right, he explained, is that the users not online drive favorable word of mouth, but act as a de-facto customer support labor force.  Nine of ten questions posed by consumers about Intuit products and services are answered by other consumers, often the most connected and influential.  Scott also underscored the invaluable insights that emerge from such “user contribution systems”
•  Jeffrey Graham, head of customer insights for the NY Times talked more about some of the efficiencies of spending the $5 on online advertising on increasingly participatory platforms like the New York Times.  Importantly, Graham nicely articulated how advertising in areas rich with influencers can potentially increase odds of success.  Increasingly, consumers are looking to their peers for buying behavior guidance,  he noted, and online advertising models need to wrap around that reality.
• Lastly, Kevin Randford of 1800Flowers.com underscored that he’s use the $5 to feed his already aggressive “test and measure” learning plan, even in new areas such as mobile, where ecommerce players are increasingly breaking new ground.  1800Flowers, he explained, is learning in real-time based on user-interaction, feedback, and even spending patterns, and the key for them is to invest any incremental dollars into accelerating that learning curve in an increasingly competitive environment.

Lessons from Obama’s Digital Effort:  Lastly, we couldn’t resist the temptation to ponder whether the Obama campaign’s online/digital effort represented a breakthrough or milestone for online investment.  While there was broad consensus that the Obama campaign rewrote the script of successful online activity, each panelist viewed it slightly differently.   One point I underscored, consistent with earlier commentary on the subject. the Obama campaign created the ultimate participatory “ecosystem” between offline and online activity.  Their CRM system bordered on science (alerts were sent moments before major events or speeches…even before the celebrated Chicago victory speech and the website maximized participation and engagement…at just about every level.  If you wanted to walk the streets at knock on doors, you could download a kit, complete with numbers.  If you wanted to self-organize your own social network you could do that as well.  If you donated money, they’d often play a “victory lap” video to drive an even deeper emotional connection.  More on this later.

Is Our Personal Blogging a Road Map for Business/Brand Success?

Thoughtful read in Ad Age by David Armano entitled "Unconventional Times Calls for Unconventional Marketing."  Basically a call for more "sense and response" marketing, to wit:

Speaking from personal experience, I could not have predicted many of the outcomes I have had since launching a blog, but I believe following a much more "unconventional" path is a core reason behind everything that I've learned from it. For a couple of hundred dollars a year and a whole lot of dedication and effort it's priceless to me. So as I think about how times are becoming more unconventional -- with unpredictable financial markets and political change in the air -- I can't help but think that it's more important than ever to get serious about what it takes to do these types of initiatives right. It just doesn't look like conventional marketing -- it's different. And unconventional times call for unconventional tactics.

He's got the cred to the make the point. His blog is well-read, and it's nicely morphed and evolved over time.  He listens, engages, listens again, and so forth.  This is what it's all about.

BlogWorld Notebook: Re-Engaging With My Inner Blogger

I feel like a bit of an imposter here at BlogWorld.  I talk about blogs every day -- interpret them, offer strategy to companies about how to create and manage them - but in many respects I've lost touch a bit with "individual" blogging.  The reality is that I'm only updating my ConsumerGeneratedMedia site one every week or so (sometimes longer), and many of the issues or tips or "deep thoughts" I ordinarily would toss on my blog have been cannibalized by Twitter, Facebook, Yammer (internal twitter), and the bi-weekly "marketing meets service" column I now write for Advertising Age. I'm also increasingly self-conscious that if I don't stay diligent, and ever attentive, I'll continue getting lapped by far wiser and prescient marketing industry bloggers.  There are many, and they keep me on my toes.

Still, few experiences have so motivated me to think differently about consumer-generated media (or conversations, or social media...) as my own personal blogging (whether this one or my own family blogs like DosBebes or HybridBuzz) and I'm eager to rediscover some of the blog-love while here at the BlogWorld Expo in Las Vegas.  So in addition to participating on a panel dedicated to one of my favorite topics, Defensive Branding, which builds on my of the themes in my book, I hope to put on my consumer cap and soak in some fresh ideas and inspiration.  As I look across the hundreds of individuals intently listening to the keynote address here, delivered by TypePads Anil Dash and Chris Alden, there's an unmistakable level of passion, commitment, and personal pride in the development of the blogosphere. At times it borders on romantic "blogs will solve all" naivette, but that's overshadowed by the unmistakable reality that these are the new media creators and content curators of the marketspace. From traditional media companies who increasingly connect with readers using blog publishing tools to corporations seeking to dial up a greater sense of authenticity and transparency with consumers or customers, everyone, it seems, is borrowing lessons and insights from the folks in this room.  So perhaps this is where insight begins -- perhaps!  We'll see.  I'll keep taking notes. #bwe08

"Tell 3000" NYC Book Launch Notebook: I Love New York!

Time magazing just published a wonderfully positive review of my book, Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3000.  (The image to the left is from the article.) Notes reviewer Andrea Sachs: "This book deserves a spot on the desk of every executive who worries about his company's reputational risk."   Earlier in the week, CNBC wrote another flattering review in the "Bullish on Book" sections. 

“SATISFIED CUSTOMERS” is a great guide for business leaders and marketing officers who want to build a trusting, authentic and lasting relationship with today’s vocal consumer.

Launch Events: The reviews were just a couple highlights of an absolutely incredible week in NYC related to my book launch, and I'm just winding down. In addition to keeping up with my regular work flow, I participated in three successive book launch events: one by my classmates at HBS (thanks, Rick and Jen Lerner and Bill and Daphne Hildebolt or ExpoTV.com), another absolutely incredible of ("amazing" insists my wife Erika) hosted by Nielsen at the incredible Soho loft of Karen Watson (Nielsen's head of Corporate Communications), and the third hosted by the P&G Alumni Assocation NY chapter (big thanks to Tina Adolfsson) held at the breathtaking offices of Marina Maher communications (thanks, Marina). At each event I had a chance to catch up with old friends, talk briefly about the book themes, and answer a questions. 

Overall Engagement:  We're only a week into the book's official release, but I do sense a real and genuine level of engagement around its themes and issues. Everyone, it seems, is curious and engaged about the big questions: If consumers are in control, what does that mean for me as a business manager or stakeholder?   What is the proper and appropriate protocol for engaging with consumers in this environment?  And most importantly, how does my business stay credible in the process? 

Final Footnote: The ultimate irony of this amazing week is that it actually kicked off on Tuesday at at event entitled "How Should Research Leverage The Ability To Listen To Consumers In A Web 2.0 World?  Joel Rubinson, the new head of research of the Advertising Research Foundation, pulled together a dozen or so industry leaders in the field of market research to vet out this topic, especially around the power of the "unprompted consumer voice."  The discussion was deep, stimulating, uncomfortable and breakthrough -- one of the most gratifying sessions I've participated in all year.  (Huge thanks to Joel and ARF head Bob Barocci for leading this charge). 

If you want to stay engaged on the book or the book themes, here are a few options:

• The Tell 3000 Group on Facebook is almost up to 400 members.  I expect a host of superb conversation here.  The group draws in part from the Tell3000.com site.
• Twitter Feeds:  My personal feed or the Tell3000 feed (which tracks at the brands that actively use Twitter to engage companies: Dell, Southwest, JetBlue, Comcast, Virgin, Zappos, etc)
• Ad-Tech Chicago Keynote Panel 8/6 featuring Edelman, Nestle, Blogher, Dell, and Comcast.  I'm the moderator. 
• 8/30 Book Chat & Signing: Joseph Beth's Cincinnati

Tell 3000! My Book Just Launched! Keep Listening, Stay Credible!

I’m incredibly excited to announce today's release of my very first book, “Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3000: Running a Business in a Consumer-Driven World.”  Published by Doubleday Business, the book is now available in most major bookstores as well as Amazon.com and other online venues.   

The book’s core question is critically important, and one I’ve been thinking about since testing new feedback models in the California legislature back in the early 1990s (and all the way up through my tenure today at Nielsen Online):  how to establish and maintain credibility by being authentic, listening and responding to customers, and forming relationships built on openness, transparency, and trust.  The growth of the web, and the unprecedented power and leverage it provides consumers, puts this question in a unique, if not urgent, context.  This Q&A from Sunday's Edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer provides helpful background on the book themes.

Ongoing Participation: Beyond just reading the book, I also hope you will participate in a sustained conversation and debate about its themes.   Toward that end, I’ve created a website entitled Tell3000.com that provides key resources, open-forums, video reviews, and most importantly, a series of audio-based consumer interviews about brand experiences that I hope to update nearly every day.  Here’s the short list of ways you can stay involved.

• Participate (provide comments, even complain) on the Tell3000 blog

• Sign-Up for Tomorrow's Nielsen and Nielsen Online sponsored webinar

• Join a Discussion in the Tell3000 Open Forums

• Join a “Tell 3000” Facebook Group Dedicated to the “Service is Marketing” Theme

• Join Me at a New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, San Francisco, or Pasadena (My Home Town) Event.  All events will be posted here.

• Follow Me on Twitter or the Tell 3000 feed of brands that respond/engage

• Send ideas or suggestions for my new bi-weekly column in Ag Age about the symbiotic relationship between “service and marketing.”  Here's my last article. Send to the following.
  

• Share your candid (even critical) reviews, or join a discussion forum related to the book themes, on Amazon. 

A much longer list is cited in my book, but an enormous and grateful thanks to all of those who provided support and encouragement,  especially my wife Erika (who's featured in this "day before launch" commemorative photo along with my three kids: Liam, Leila, and Sophia.)

Must See TV: Twitter 1-2-3

This video below (which I discovered via the WSJ blog) captures the core essence of Twitter in simple animation.  I don't entirely agree with all the articulated "benefits" but it's well worth watching.  And while we're on the topic of Twitter, here's a link to my ClickZ column this week entitled "Customer Service Meets 'Lord of the Twitters.'"

Ad-Tech Diarist: Ten Questions on the "Art of Conversation"

This year's Ad-Tech, which I'm still attending, is very special.  Most importantly, the first "keynote panel" of industry experts focused on an issue that rarely gets top billing at industry confabs: the art of conversation. This is an important shift in our collective industry "attention" and "engagement," and while we're all far from finalizing the perfect white paper or case study about managing relationships with consumers in this age of consumer control, we're finally starting to talk about it, and at minimum, ask the right questions.  I was deeply honored to moderate this first diverse panel of industry experts, which included (right to left after me in the photo) Tom Asher of Levi-Strauss, Beth Thomas-Kim of Nestle, Jordan Warren of Agency.com, Todd Cunningham of MTV, and Rick Clancy of Sony Consumer Electronics.   I was also thrilled to debate, discuss, and vet out all the relevant issues in several spirited meetings and conference calls before the actual event.  (Key learning: the "conversation about the conversation"  as as important as the end result.) You can skim various blogs (or Twitter feeds or see a superb cNet News story summary) that recap the panel, but what I'd like to do here is simply list the key question we probed and discussed. I truly believe every marketer needs to hit the white-board sooner than later on these questions. 

1. In what ways does Web 2.0 or the digital space expand the boundaries and opportunities of having meaningful conversations with consumers? Does it reinforce or add value to what we are currently doing?
2. What makes conversations truly authentic and genuine?  Is blogging the answer, or is it just an entry strategy? What's the right way of setting expectations with consumers?
3. How do we keep conversation with consumers trusted and credible? In the age of consumer control, do we have a higher threshold to meet this torture test?   What is the relationship between search and brand reputation, and how is 'conversation' impacting what shows up on the shelf?  Can that be influenced?
4. If conversation is king, is customer service or consumer affairs the new marketing? What's the true value of listening and being responsive to issues consumers raise directly to the brand?  Nurturing loyalty and advocacy among enthusiasts? Garnering big insights?
5. If we agree consumer affairs is a new centerpiece of managing conversations with increasingly empowered consumers, why is this group so divorced from marketing or media planning? How do we change that?
6. How do we begin to train, or expand the wings, of customer service reps to embark upon these new conversations with consumers, even outside of the company's backyard?  Who else should be involved?  What's the right and appropriate way to enter a blog or online community and address or clarify an issue?  Or is that even appropriate?
7. Who should "own" the conversation among marketing stakeholders? Corporate Communications (Ricks' group), Consumer Affairs (Beth and Tom), the digital agency (Jordan), the research folks (Todd), or someone else?  Or is that the wrong question? How do we use conversation and social media to soften corporate boundaries and silos?
8. In what ways should employees be enrolled in conversational marketing?  In what ways can their passion and credibility be unleashed?  Are employees a more trusted ad channel? Can it go too far? 
9. What is the value of "internal" learning in this area? Can organizations become better primed to exploit the power of conversation, CGM, and social media through internal use of Web 2.0 tools, blogs, and beyond.  What can internal networks borrow from consumer innovation?
10. How does conversation impact the retail channel? What are Apple, Sony, and Levis retail store venues learning about the relationship between "service" and marketing. How does the consumer benefit from this mindset, both offline and online?
11. Bonus Question:  What can go wrong?  What if every marketer jumps into the conversation?  Nirvana or Spam 2.0?   What happens if we lose consumer trust?

Many of these themes will be tackled at many levels -- and with finer levels of granularity -- at the upcoming Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) conference entitled WOMM-U.  I provided background about this last week.  Here's more info.

Other Ad-Tech Notes:  Late last night, I was flattered to receive a special Ad-Tech industry achievement award.  I dedicated it to my recently deceased father, William Blackshaw, who taught me all that can be good in advertising -- provided we keep it trusted and credible.   Other industry achievement award winners included Rich Lefurgy and Kate Thorp, both of whom I deeply respect and admire.  My message to the audience was that if we continue to keep the consumer right smack in the center of our radar, everyone wins -- always. I still think there are so many important issues we need to pro-actively address -- privacy, word-of-mouth ethics, ad intrusion, and more -- so while awards are appreciated (even humbling), we still have so much more work to do.  But before we get too serious here, I'd be remiss not to direct folks to the full list of award winners, including "Elf Yourself," which swept three categories.

Interactive Marketing: "Yes We Can" (Postcard from the Ohio)

Dawn is breaking, and I'm hours away from heading to the polls for today's "make or break" Ohio primary.  (Yes, I live in Ohio - the hilltop community of Mt. Adams, Cincinnati to be exact.)  Like millions of other voters here, I've been subjected to a barrage of TV ads, media headlines, big events, small events -- you name it -- related to the primary.  I've also had the opportunity to dive fairly deep into all the candidates interactive strategies, especially the Democrats. This is the topic of this morning's Clickz Column entitled "10 Interactive Marketing Tips from Barack and Hillary."  I've been quite impressed at how all the campaigns have taken full advantage of the their websites, especially around what I like to refer to as the "Third Moment of Truth" -- enabling expression, participation, involvement.  Here's brief recap of some key takeaways:

• Win on the home (page) front. Both candidates do an excellent job providing enough well-organized content and "click to engage" choices to maximize relevance to as many visitors as possible. Even if you visit for half-a-second, you get a great feel for the things you can do on your second visit. This is important because most brands make consumers zip through multiple levels to get to what they need.
• Engage, enroll, and participate. Unlike most Super Bowl advertisers, candidates are constantly teeing up "things to do." Barack and Hillary both have similar home page utilities to "Be a Volunteer," "Vote Early in Ohio," "House a Volunteer," "Make Phone Calls" or "Find and Plan Events." This, my friends, is what's known as engagement and when millions of consumers are engaging at some level, you know it can work.
• Roll up the TV set. The political campaigns exploit TV wherever they can go, and if your consumers can get it customized, oon-demand, or tailored to specific needs or constituencies on their Web sites via video, so be it. Video persuades, and connects emotionally. Both Clinton and Obama do a superb just exploiting the power of online video on their Web sites, and this has evolved nicely in the past six months or so. They are also both getting much better and making video embeddable and sharable, and they use to power of cross-promotion to power videos hosted on YouTube such as Obama's five million views -- an growing -- "Yes We Can."
• Hablamos con todas audiencias. While most automated teller machines open their first interaction with consumers with question about English or Spanish preference, most big brands give this short shrift. "That's not the focus of our interactive strategy," they'll say. The candidates, by contrast, are doing a great job teeing up parallel content in Spanish, and it doesn't take Bill Richardson to explain why this is important. Both candidates have very strong Spanish language sites, and they've done a commendable job developing tailored content. Blog links also suggest key influencers are paying attention. Both sites also do a nice job appealing to the "long tail" of audiences out there, whether by state, ethnicity, unique need (e.g. hearing impaired) and they do this without the core site looking too all over the place.
• Win with emotion. Obama's site does a brilliant job playing consumer emotion -- even more so than Hillary's. I'm not sure if it amounts to what Chris Matthews described as a "thrill going up my leg," but close. In particular, the use of video during and after the contribution process is very effective, and it almost makes you feel like there's the "emotional wind" behind your back in the giving process. Hillary's site is a bit more functional and operational, but also scores points here and there on emotion.
• Make it simple; make it friendly. I still marvel at the impenetrable unfriendliness of typical brand feedback or survey forms. Obama and Clinton are hardly perfect here, but they at least make their forms feel inviting. Oh, and I don't feel rushed, or forced to write it down in 50 letters before the software caves in on me. It's like the folks who designed the forms have felt the pain and anger over rude employees, lame call-center scripts, and more.
• Reinforce the loyalty immediately. Both Clinton and Obama appear to have solid relationship marketing tools in place to respond immediately to feedback or financial contributions. Both are customized but I give the edge to Obama on personalization and including yet another call-to-action in the follow-up. In my follow-up e-mail, it just felt more personal. Hillary encourages pass-along (e.g. "Click here to send an email to friends and family).
• Customize the loyalty. The Obama campaign goes well beyind reinforcing the loyalty to customizing the loyalty by encouraging people who sign up or give contributions to create their own mini-portal or blog platform via mybarackobama.com. You can blog, check your Barack points, build a profile and more. In some respects, this amounts to user-controlled panel management. Hillary allows users to create their own "groups" but the Obama campaign in on to something in driving deeper, more involved action at the what I call the "Ex-Spot."
• Share the assets. Both campaigns do a nice job empowering enthusiasts to share "official" content in their own content areas. Obama has a robust and comprehensive download areas for everything from Buddy icons to button designs, while Hillary's campaign offers a host of assets to share, embed, and beyond. Key lesson here: If you want to drive buzz, provide currency.
• Blog and promote the content creators and advocates. Both sites do a great job "mashing up" content from external sources, including individual blogs. Some of these are touted in the campaign-sponsored blogs (also a smart idea), but others are featured in stand along areas like Hillary's Spotlight section

Is Customer Service the New Marketing? In CGM Land, You Bet!

Is customer service the new marketing?  That's certainly been a long-standing contention in the blog, and it's the theme of a one-day conference taking place in early February.  A firm called GetSatisfaction is the primary host, and it looks like a promising -- if not long overdue -- confab.  The timing is for this conversation is just right, and I frankly hope we'll see more of this in 2008.  My upcoming book (which I'll start previewing in future blog entries), Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3000, hits this very theme right smack in the strike zone.  In particular, it makes a forceful argument that marketing in the age of consumer control needs to be completely realigned around customer service and consumer affairs.  With millions upon millions of CGM comments across the web indicting (or complimenting) varying degrees of customer service, or brand listening, there's plenty of empirical evidence to support such a direction.  The key for brands is to draw specific linkages between key dimensions of the service experience and what I like to refer to as the "CGM echo effect."   Such analysis is critical to drive investment or media-mix reallocation.  In the wireless category, for example, customer service issues related to "billing" tends to have a higher word-of-mouth or viral impact that other issues.  This became obvious to me starting in 2000 while analyzing hundreds of thousands of letters on PlanetFeedback.com and more recently across thousands of online expression venues. Certain issue hit core emotions more than others, and customer service is at it heart consumer emotion. (See article: Attention! I Don't Want Your Freakin Attention!) Conversely, brands like Amazon and online shoe seller Zappos.com tend to be rewarded by great service delivery or shipping.  (See recent NY Times story entitled Put Buyers First, What a Concept.) What's needed is a new science of "cause and effect" around the service experience that heavily factors in advocacy and word-of-mouth.  Consumer affairs and customer service departments, in partnership with marketing, can help lead that charge, and that was my hold-no-punches challenge in my October keynote to the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals (SOCAP).  The CGM revolution and Web 2.0, I argued, is finally lending credence and strategic relevance to consumer affairs -- so it's time to lead and set the new agenda. We'll revisit this issue at Ad-Tech San Francisco in April, so stay tuned.  (I can't attend the February conference, but I'm jealous of anyone who can.) For more fun reading on this topic, see: 

• Consumer Affairs: The New Advertising Department

• The Conversational Divide

• Postcard from the Welcome Mat: Levi's Wall of Letters

• Servicing Search: A Better Ad Model

• Postcard from the Welcome Mat: Sheraton Solicits Photo Experiences

• The Science of Talk Value

• Listening Centered Marketing

• 2006 Agency of the Year: Nobody (Max Kalehoff)