As December comes to a close and New Year approaches, it is time to take a look back as I did in October and November. Unlike many of my expat "brothers," I spent Christmas at my China home. Thanks to Taobao, my family got a Christmas tree (a "real" tree, by the way) with a bunch of presents ready for my son Leo to dive into Christmas morning (see below).

Speaking to International Educators

After 2 weeks in the US at the end of November, I continued an insane travel schedule that took me to London to speak on "Capitalizing on China's Digital Explosion" at the British Council's "Going Global 3", the UK's largest international education conference. Jazreel Goh, Director of Education Marketing at the British Council, saw me speak in July at a China Economic Review forum, and quickly saw that education marketers who were trying to attract students to the UK should understand how IWOM influences how Chinese students make decisions to study overseas. We have received much interest from educators after the conference—nice to find new markets for our services.

Social Media Analytics World Tour Continued

While in London, I continued a sort of "world tour" of social media analytics firms that built on my meetings in Las Vegas with leading North American firms like Nielsen Online and Visible Technologies. Along with Violet, I met 5 companies in 2 days, each with a slightly different take on Social Media Analytics. It was very cool to "talk shop" with those with the same, super niche interest as we have at CIC.

CIC Birthday Bash

I flew to Beijing one day after coming back to London for a couple of meetings, and then back to Shanghai CIC's 4th birthday party. We rented out a bar on the Huang Pu River (thanks to Phoebe's great arrangement) where the different classes (i.e. 1st year, 2nd year etc.) of team members provided various performances. Also, different departments put together different videos which were, to put it mildly, entertaining.

White Paper Parts 3 & 4

Our massive white paper undertaking for Q3 finally came to a close with our release of Topic Three-The Diversity of Chinese Net Language and Topic Four-Reshaping the Relationship between Brands and Consumers. We put out a Net Language test as well (in Chinese) here. Adam has a sort of text version of the slide share deck here and a quick overview of the series here (thanks, Adam). As I wrote last month, thanks to the intelligence team for their tireless efforts at making this happen.

IWOM summit Completed

Finally, on Friday the 19th, I wrapped up all of my IWOM summit meetings with one final presentation in Guangzhou. After 15 or so meetings with top level marketing execs from our retainer client list, coupled with my meetings with global social media analytics firms, I think we have a good handle on what 2009 is going to look like for social media in China. More on this in January!

As follow up to our release of Topics One and Two, we are releasing parts 3 and 4 of our “the Internet is THE Community” IWOM white paper series today. In Topic Three we talk about net language (lots and lots of good examples) and for those of you who speak Chinese, I recommend you check out our net language “test” here. In Topic Four we provide some case studies of how Internet Community is reshaping the relationship between brands and consumers. Below is a screenshot from Topic Three: The Diversity of Chinese Net Language.

Next up: CIC’s birthday. As of today, December 11, CIC has been in the IWOM space now for 4 years. To celebrate we are hosting our annual IWOM gathering for CIC staff and friends with a huge cake, performances from the different “years” of classmates (freshmen, sophomores etc.), and probably an ill-advised singing performance from me that is will be much worse than this one done in 1992.

Of course, we are watching the various collapses of financial systems around the world with concern. In spite of this, I’m still encouraged about next year’s prospects—we haven’t seen a downturn in our business…at least not yet.

However, looking back, it’s been a great year and we have accomplished much. Some of the highlights include (in no particular order):

- Nearly doubling our staff, busting out of our office (twice)
- Keeping all of the retainer clients we want to keep
- Getting some awesome new retainer clients
- Launching a bunch of white papers (sports, Chinese translations of older white papers, The Internet is THE Community)
- Speaking around the APAC region and around the world about Chinese social media; I especially loved speaking at OpenWebAsia in Seoul
- Having this blog listed as a “model worker” by Danwei (for the 2nd year in a row)

I also really want to say thanks to everyone on the CIC team for making us what we are today. Our tech, analyst, intelligence, finance/admin,HR and marketing/BD teams all work so hard and are so smart with such passion for CIC and the industry. They are truly amazing.

To download Topic Three and Topic Four in English or Chinese, see below:

Topic Three: The Diversity of Chinese Net Language - "The Internet is THE Community" IWOM White Paper series report, 2008 Q3

Topic Four: Reshaping the Relationship between Brands and Consumers - "The Internet is THE Community" IWOM White Paper series report, 2008 Q3

2008第三季度中国网络口碑发展系列“网络即社区”主题三：多彩纷呈的中文网络语言

2008第三季度中国网络口碑发展系列“网络即社区”主题四：网络口碑重塑品牌与消费者的关系

Below is my latest article for iMedia Connection Asia.

It is important for brands to know how and why netizens connect with each other if they want to jump in and participate.

In a previous article here, I described the architecture of internet word-of-mouth (IWOM) in China, i.e. bulletin board systems (BBS), blogs and social networking sites (SNS), among others, where netizens connect with each other. However, more than just knowing where, it is important for brands to know how and why netizens connect in each of these different spaces if they want to jump in and participate.

In answering the how and the why, let's focus on the three most popular places for participation, namely blogs, BBS and SNS, and identify what makes each of them unique from a netizen participation standpoint. In other words, let's take a look at the DNA of each of these platforms.

Blogs: Content driven by personal expression
In blogs, participation is "me" centered. Why do bloggers create content? They create in order to express themselves as a person or at least a persona. Even with all the different types of blogs such as celebrity blogs, individual industry blogs and personal "diary" blogs, the content is written to reflect "me". Yes, you can comment on my articles, but I can moderate or even block comments at my discretion.

If brands want to "participate" in the blogosphere, it is important to recognize and leverage this "personal" attribute found in blogging. For example, on a personal blog, Lancôme last year found a brand fan who composed a powerful poem about the iconic Lancôme Rose. The moving poem serves as a good example of the very personal brand advocacy and "love" that can be found on blogs. This poem inspired Lancôme's "Rose Beauty" poetry campaign which invited others to write their own poems. The campaign in turn inspired netizens to compose their own couplets about the Lancôme Rose.

BBS: Content driven by information
In BBS, the discussions are all about information -- information about areas of interest such as automobiles, mobile phones, cosmetics and just about any topic imaginable. Why do BBS forum members create content? In order to solicit and share information about the designated topic for which the community has a shared interest. In BBS, it is a shared passion for particular topics that drives the community. This is backed up by a survey of efluencers, or online opinion leaders, conducted by my firm CIC, which found that the top three motivations for participating on BBS are sharing opinions (73 percent), seeking help (50 percent) and helping others (43 percent).

In participating in BBS, brands should then realize that the asset they bring is information that netizens are seeking. In automobile BBS forums, for example, questions about problems owners are having make up a large percentage of the content. In the popular PCauto community, brands can officially answer questions posed by netizens in designated, branded "expert centers". Most important to realize here is that the information provided is what is actually wanted and needed by netizens. It is real, two-way communication, NOT seeded marketing messages that are only serving the interest of the brand.

SNS: Content driven by relationships
Sites like Xiaonei and Kaixin001 combine the community aspect of BBS with the personal expression aspect of blogging using "real name" identities. Why have netizens come to SNS? To more efficiently connect, share and play with the people they know. Networking games like "Parking Wars" perfectly display the two key drivers of the internet community: gaming and socializing.

When participating in SNS, brands should consider how they can leverage the "network" effect found within SNS. For example, in Apple's "Campus" community on Xiaonei, whenever Campus members share content, all of their contacts will see that they have participated. Apple has provided a platform where netizens genuinely wish to share information about its products and which utilizes an SNS viral effect unfound on BBS sites.

The DNA of participation: A necessary sixth sense for marketers
A common mistake by brands is to assume that IWOM is a media, and only a media. In fact, it IS a media, but this is a by-product of IWOM community and conversations being published. Brands cannot selfishly assume what they want to say is what netizens want to hear in this particular context. Like any good conversationalist or community member, brands need to shape their communication approach based on understanding the motivations and purpose of each communication space.

As November comes to a close, I want to share a somewhat random, but hopefully interesting update of what I have been doing around IWOM, especially the flow of my thoughts. I write this as a follow up to my previous "update" for September and October.

WOMMA

I had the pleasure of attending the Word of Mouth Marketing Association's (WOMMA) annual Research and Marketing Summit in Las Vegas November 12-14. This is sort of the Mecca for those in our industry. Among the highlights included having dinner with Pete Blackshaw (the guy who coined "CGM" and overall brilliant IWOM strategist at Nielsen Online), as well as dinner with leading firms in our space in the US, including MotiveQuest, Radian6 and Visible Technologies. One of the hottest topics was the use of dedicated, branded communities such as those being done by Communispace. My overall take away from WOMMA was that in the West, IWOM itself (in terms of levels of participation and passion) is NOT as developed as China (or Korea and Japan), but IWOM marketing is MORE developed than China, i.e. sophistication and measurement of marking programs is more sophisticated.

IWOM summit

As I mentioned here, CIC is hosting its 2nd annual IWOM summit Roundtable event and it has been keeping me extremely busy throughout the past two months. I met with 15 or so director level executives from our clients to discuss our latest thoughts, including those we are outlining in our The Internet is THE community IWOM White paper series. Whereas last year, the talk was more on “nice to have” vs. “must have” for IWOM, this year it is assumed that IWOM is a “must have” and questions are leading to “what can we REALLY do.” We discussed the tension between the temptation to choose short term execution tactics vs. taking the longer term approach to developing a richer, deeper understanding of IWOM as strategic intelligence. In this regard, the West again is more sophisticated in its understanding of IWOM (detailed research presented at the Research Symposium is perfect proof of this) and therefore has more effective marketing.

IWOM white paper

I mentioned in my last update about reading Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody and how this confirmed our belief in CIC's concept of "The Internet is THE Community". So inspired are we by this concept that we are launching a white paper on the topic in four parts. The core concept is that the Internet Community is able to accomplish things that traditional institutions, like brands or agencies, are unable to accomplish and that the Internet Community is redefining the relationship between brands and consumers. Recognizing that the Internet IS a community (and not just a media) leads to an understanding that having an objective, strategic understanding of IWOM as intelligence can lead to much more effective participation in the community where brands can be fellow "netizens". Of course, these are some high level ideas, but I have to thank our Intelligence Team for "putting the rubber to the road" and turning such academic thoughts into practical explanations and case studies. They have been tireless in working on the paper, and I am very proud of the results. We don't charge for these papers…which as CEO sometimes pains me, but I see it as important to share our thoughts with the community to grow a deeper understanding of the power of IWOM and of course to receive feedback. For those of you interested, the full white paper is available on slideshare here and our website here.

AdTech

As I wrote about here, I was thrilled to host some impressive industry leaders in Chinese IWOM on my adtech panel "Internet Word of Mouth in China: Brands Engaging with Real People, Real Talk and Real Community". It is my 4th time participating in Adtech, and 3rd time hosting a panel on IWOM. Of course, I was not the only one talking about IWOM or related topics as there were topics on social media effectiveness, user generated content etc.

I look forward to sharing more thoughts again next month.

Throughout the past couple of months, CIC has been hosting its 2nd Annual IWOM summit series. The IWOM summit is part of our IWOM roundtable series of PR and marketing events that CIC holds several times each year, which include IWOM gathering, IWOM roundtable and IWOM classroom. For the IWOM summit, we have been meeting with high level executives from CIC's key clients and agency partners to discuss recent developments in the IWOM industry and our strategic thoughts for CIC and the industry in 2009. While we are still in the process of meeting with clients, we'd like to share some preliminary highlights from the IWOM summit conversations we have had so far.

Last year's IWOM summit focused on the importance of IWOM and its role in marketing communications. According to our client feedback, in 2007, IWOM was moving from a "nice to have" to a "must have". For further findings, check out our review post here.

This year's discussion focused more on recent developments in the IWOM industry and the sharing of best practices on how to integrate IWOM findings across the marketing organization. In particular we looked at ways to work together to expand the use of IWOM beyond PR, and integrate it into marketing insight, campaign strategy, research and development, among other areas.

We found our clients were interested in learning how to organize client internal resources to take action on IWOM findings. For example, some clients wanted advice on how many people to hire and which department should take lead on IWOM strategy.

Another key area of interest was the difference between having tactics and having a strategy behind the tactics. The purpose of the IWOM summit is to exchange ideas at a strategic level to ensure we are implementing a strategy over the long term and not simply "putting out fires" or utilizing quick-fix solutions.

It's quite exciting to see IWOM becoming more and more strategic and to see more emphasis being put onto IWOM. I will wriite a follow up next month with more IWOM Summit findings and client feedback.

For more on our events see here.

I am pleased to announce the release of CIC's Q3 white paper, "The Internet is THE Community": IWOM White Paper Series on Internet Word of Mouth (IWOM) Development in China. The white paper reviews the rapid growth of China's Internet population and diverse Internet platforms as well as explores the creativity and passion of Chinese netizens and the Internet community. As I mentioned last week, the report will cover four topics. Today, we are releasing Topics One, "The Chinese IWOM Landscape" and Two, "Alternative Ways to Measure Internet Community Dynamics" to coincide with my hosting of a panel at AdTech Shanghai. Topics Three and Four will be released in early December.

To give you a taste of the first topic, "The Chinese IWOM Landscape," check out the Chinese Conversation Prism above. The purpose of the prism, inspired by Jesse Thomas and Brian Solis' Conversation Prism (which in turn was inspired by Robert Scoble's Social Media Starfish, as Robert reminded me when he visited us earlier this month), is to show that, just as in the West, the Chinese Internet Community conversation and sharing is filtered through many types of participation architecture. However, the Chinese landscape is filled largely with local players which have localized the applications and platforms. The rest of the paper reviews some of the main platforms, including BBS, Blogs, SNS, and IM.

For more on the full white paper, you can check out our press release here.

To download Topic One and Topic Two in English or Chinese, see below:

Topic One: The Chinese IWOM Landscape - "The Internet is THE Community" IWOM White Paper series report, 2008 Q3

Topic Two: Alternative Ways to Measure Internet Community Dynamics - "The Internet is THE Community" IWOM White Paper series report, 2008 Q3

2008第三季度中国网络口碑发展系列“网络即社区”主题一：中国网络口碑发展格局概览

2008第三季度中国网络口碑发展系列“网络即社区”主题二：多角度衡量网络社区动态

The day after I come back from 2 weeks in the US where I attended WOMMA and where I had some R&R (kind of) at home in Alabama, I will be moderating a panel on IWOM at this year's ad:tech in Shanghai. I will be jet lagged, but I am sure the panel will keep it lively. I hope to see a lot of people there.

I was on the first IWOM panel for ad:tech China in 2005, and have moderated the panel since 2006. This time, we will be focusing on the "real" aspects of online community and what it all means for brands.

Here are the details:

Tuesday, November 25, 4:45pm - 5:30pm

Internet Word of Mouth in China: Brands Engaging with Real People, Real Talk and Real Community

In this panel, we move beyond the simplistic understanding of IWOM as crisis and fake blogs to see progressive examples of brands engaging the power of real people, real talk and real community. The session will highlight examples of organic community culture and movements that impact and can serve as inspiration for brands. The panelists, which include China digital directors from Nike and Johnson Baby, will highlight case studies of working with and building online community relationships for effective “co-piloting” marketing.

MODERATOR:
Sam Flemming, CEO/Founder, CIC

PANELIST:
Nicolas Zurstrassen, Nike Digital Director

Portia Chen, Marketing Manager, Johnson’s Baby Franchise

Bob Ding, CEO, Nanamimi

Tangos Chan, Internet Analyst, China Web 2.0 Review