Here’s my latest article for iMedia Connection Asia on “6 reasons brands in China should listen to IWOM”.

I wrote this to offer the necessary counterbalance to those who focus on the seeding and censorship that exist within Chinese IWOM. If you only focus on these issues, then you will miss out on authentic, vibrant online consumer cultures and communities represented in massive numbers and making impact way beyond what any brand or agency could artificially create.

I recently presented on this topic in Amsterdam. You can see a video of part of the presentation here.

China’s media network makes internet word of mouth essential to any marketing communications strategy.

Recent internet-driven crises have once again put internet word of mouth (IWOM) into the spotlight. Just a few weeks ago, for example, Dior pulled advertisements featuring Sharon Stone from mainland China after the actress made comments that raised the ire of netizens.

While such events demonstrate the importance of listening to IWOM for reputation management, I would suggest that this is just one of many reasons to listen. IWOM should not just be viewed as a threat, but also an opportunity for better marketing and insight.

Below are six reasons (beyond monitoring for crisis) why brands in China should listen to IWOM

Netizens expressing opinion (by the millions)
China is unique in the world in that it has very mainstream, active online consumer community ecosystem. The very popular Bulletin Board System (BBS) is organised around industry verticals including automobile, mobile phone, notebook computers, cosmetics and many others. These communities can serve as sort of virtual focus group with participants in the millions expressing in very detailed, unsolicited, naturally occurring opinions every month.

Brands can read through key communities to take the pulse themselves, or they can use services which can systematically do this using text mining and analytical tools. Either way, brands can get plenty of powerful feedback on user experience that can lead to better communication.

Netizens providing customer service online
More than just a place for random conversations, BBS forums are organized communities with a culture and leaders who have defined roles. As we wrote about here, one of the key roles in product oriented communities is that of the “answer person.” For example, in one Motorola E2 music phone community tracked by CIC, we used our technology to determine that one “answer person” wrote over 1,000 messages in one month mentioning the E2. The vast majority of these messages were answers for “newbie” questions. Such active communities with “crowd-sourced” customer service remove a potential purchase barrier for those considering buying the phone. It also provides a window for brands to see the types of problems that plague netizens, and new ways to fine-tune their online customer service.

This community power is the core of the trend of services in the West, such as GetSatisfaction, that build crowd-sourcing communities for brands.

Netizens expecting brands to be online
Considering that 91 per cent of netizens cite the internet as the preferred medium to stay informed about a brand post-purchase (see here), it is not surprising that brands are beefing up online support. As I predicted earlier this year, some community platforms are enabling brands to offer support via IWOM. PCAuto for example, enables auto brands to set up expert communities where official brand representatives answer netizen’s car questions; the answers are then rated by netizens based on their usefulness. With IWOM, customer service becomes marketing.

Netizens inspiring marketing ideas
As I wrote last year, IWOM serves as a window to net culture which can inspire marketing by tapping into youth trends. For example, when Moto launched its Q phone at the end of last year, instead of looking to traditional spokespersons like Jay Zhou, or even net star spokespersons like the Backdorm Boys, Moto chose net cartoon star Tuzki.

Tuzki is a Hello-Kittyish rabbit icon that became popular as an avatar in IM programs like MSN. Since Moto was pushing using the MS Mobile OS, QWERTY keyboard phone as unique selling point, Tuzki was a natural fit and spread quickly throughout the internet. For example, when we put “MOTO+??? (Tuzki) ” into a Baidu search, it yielded over 50,100 results. This is a good example of how a brand was not only able to integrate its product into internet culture, but was also able to successfully PARTICIPATE in online culture.

Netizens inspiring products
Vertical oriented online communities are filled with the most passionate, most informed and most opinionated netizens which come together to discuss products. These prosumers of course have ideas about how to improve products, which is why some brands systematically track and analyze IWOM for R&D and product development.

Recently, we found an example of Toyota Camry owners who were unhappy with the design of the standard issue key and separate key chain with remote control alarm and lock buttons. Instead of just complaining, they organized online to redesign the key and buttons all in one unit. Brands can mine for such inspiration, or they can identify the key communities and opinion leaders and formally activate them.

Netizens influencing purchase decisions
An iResearch study shows that more than 80 per cent of netizens use BBS to search for information on the product they plan to buy, and 62 per cent of users ask other BBS users for opinions before making purchases.

Traditional advertising is essential to develop awareness, but does little to really inform and influence purchase decisions. These consumer recommendations (and complaints) are published for millions of netizens to see, are archived by search engines, and are therefore an increasingly important “media” for brands to track and understand.

In short, brands can view IWOM platforms like BBS in three ways.

First, they are consumers talking about brands, products and services which can serve as a source of consumer insight.

Second, since this “talk” is published, it is a media which should be further understood in the way it influences consumers.

Finally, they are communities which, as we see with the PCAuto Expert Communities and Moto Tuzki examples, offer an opportunity for brands to participate as a form of communications.

Brands may be drawn to IWOM initially by one particular angle regarding IWOM (i.e., crisis), but clearly IWOM can be a key element of a broader marketing communications strategy.