Darn it. Dave and I were just talking about this idea the other day and wham, it's out there already. We were wondering out loud, as we do everyday, what the next cool social media site could be and one of us mentioned Jay Leno's street interviews of ordinary people suffering, in some instances from extraordinary ignorance.

But now from South Africa, as reported here on BIZCOMMUNITY.com comes this news:

South Africa's online video and photo sharing social network, Zoopy.com, has added another new channel to its varied selection of content categories… Called Zoopy Street Cam, the new internet channel is dedicated to capturing public opinion on a daily basis, across a spectrum of issues…

This link will take you to the Zoopy Street Cam channel.

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Couple of things. First, here's a definition of conversational marketing from Joe Marchese on the OnlineSpin blog. Take the time to note what he's saying as well about best practices, scaling and measurement. One of my favorite lines in this column, attributed to Rishad Tobaccowala:

…if your product sucks, don’t bother trying to create conversations.

While you're a it, consider checking out MediaPost Communications. It is, in their own words, an integrated publishing and content company whose mission is to provide an array of resources to super-serve media planners and buyers. Since 1996, Mediapost.com has been the leading advertising and media Internet portal providing free tools, news, and directories to help our more than 50,000 members better plan and buy both traditional and online advertising.

This is the vey first time we've used the "s" word here on the AgencyNext blog. It won't happen again any time soon, btw.

Just this once, with apologies to Dave's mom who reads this thing from time to time, I couldn't resist. I'm in that kind of mood today. Why? Because I'm disappointed in myself that I can't always write and talk about this stuff in a mature and measured way like Mr. Marchese and others. I get so frustrated by people who don't get it, or refuse to get it, or won't take the risk to get it – to get the difference between a uni-directional, one-dimensional broadcast message and a conversation – that my eyes practically want to pop right out of my head.

There, I feel better now. Maybe next April when I turn 100 I'll calm down?

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No, WOM is not a dreaded disease. It's short for Word of Mouth.

More likely, you don't know if you have it or not, and that can be a source of dis-ease! Or, alternatively, you could have it, not know it, and you have a very bad case of it… i.e., word is travelling without your knowledge among people who are saying your product or service isn't so hot. A lot of people use stronger language than that, of course.

Want to find out if your organization is getting WOM and whether it is good or bad? On some level that's easy. Go to Google, click on More, click on Blogs, click on Advanced Search, and plug in your company's name, brand, product name, service offering or leadership team names.

Nothing there? That would mean all the time and money you're spending now on traditional, establishment messaging is falling into a black hole. Nobody's interested enough to be talking about you at all. Luckily it's a big hole. Fortunately, you'll have a lot of company.

Don't want to know? That's fine, too. Eventually if you're getting WOM, good or bad, word will get around to you one way or another, sooner or later. Unfortunately, by that time, bad WOM can have achieved a lethal stage of development.

Got a good case of WOM? Great. I invite you to tell us about it, how you achieved it, and whether or not you think it is making a difference in your marketing.

Want to know more about some WOM success stories? Here is a press release from an agency in Pennsylvania that has just added WOM to its strategic offerings. Here's the part of it I like the most:

Just one commercial for the iPhone appeared between January and June, 2007. During the interim, buzz for the product built to such a fever pitch that even the mayor of Philadelphia was in line at dawn to get his hands on one.

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