As part of our recent IWOM summit activity, over the course of about 4 weeks in October and November, I had the opportunity to meet with 15 marketing communications directors, managers and CxO's from some of the most important and innovative companies in China, many of whom are from the Fortune 500 and are our clients and partners.

The purpose of the meetings was to provide an update on our experience and understanding of IWOM in China as well as to receive ideas and feedback from our clients and partners on their experiences. The IWOM summit is part of our IWOM roundtable series of events we hold several times a year (see our IWOM expert panel event from April this year here).

Background for IWOM's positioning

* There's a huge noise of advertising messages, especially in big cities like Shanghai (video screens in taxi's, advertising on escalator handrails to name a few)--WOM and IWOM are messages which can stand out from the noise
* IWOM is more credible (see here)
* IWOM is being recognized by the market research industry as a key source of consumer insight (see Nielsen and TNS purchase of Buzzmetrics and Cymfony here and here).
* IWOM is becoming a key part of the communications industry (see the growing trend of IWOM managers in PR/communication jobs here)

IWOM for Marketing Communications

Like McKinsey, we encourage clients to view IWOM from a top-down, strategic standpoint as IWOM impacts many different aspects of marketing communications. In short, IWOM is:
* Product feedback: see our IWOM whitepapers here and here
* Reputation monitor: see Dell Processor Gate here and Ford Focus oil pump recall here
* "Public" Relations (i.e. relating to the public, which is now the media): see in depth explanation of efluencer relationships here)
* Marketing: see Pepsi Creative Challenge here

Highlights of our learnings

* IWOM is shifting from a "nice to have" to a "must have": This is true for most of the clients and partners we met with. After working with us for one year, one of our clients has established a head count for an IWOM manager for 2008. Another one of our clients is using our services for PR, research and development as well as a key component of their marketing strategy for 6-8 brands next year.

* Still not sure who owns IWOM: those in the west are familiar with this issue (see here). In China, everyone is fighting for it, but it seems as if digital marketing/agencies have the edge over PR, advertising and market research.

* Systematic measurement wanted, but how to fit into existing KPI's?: All want effective measurement of IWOM marketing programs, but getting beyond simple measures like page views/unique visitors and looking at more "quality" metrics like engagement is still a challenge.

* How to manage China's complex and somewhat "managed" IWOM landscape: We would be very naive to say that seeding or fake messages and astroturfing does not exist in China. Also, we have seen the nasty extortion that can occur in mainstream media (i.e. if you advertise with us, you will see less negative coverage) extend to IWOM media (especially since most IWOM communities are owned by commercial entities). The scope of the IWOM manager role should include dealing with such unpleasantries in addition to the core of the role (understanding and building relationships with online communities).