BzzAgent's founder and CEO says marketing with, not at, online communities will better generate word of mouth-- and sales.

In August, WPP Chief Martin Sorrell was quoted as saying, "Social networking, in particular, is offering a new form of word-of-mouth 'advertising,' that is very effective." He's right. Mostly.

In reality, all that's managed to develop out of online social networks is a new type of advertising platform, one in which the number of eyeballs is all that matters. Stop by any social network today and you'll find yourself swarmed by salivating marketers trying to get your attention: Banners in all shapes, sizes and levels of interactivity; random contests; and a bevy of fake profiles for movies, celebrities and even brands hoping you'll make them your friend.

Word of mouth is defined as one person making a recommendation about a product or service to another. While social networking and media sites, such as MySpace and YouTube respectively, represent the potential to generate word of mouth, their ability to do so isn't quite there yet. I'm not sure how run-of-site ads became product recommendations, but something tells me it's a little bit of lipstick on the pig.

Sorrell's right in this case. It's just that today's marketers are still stuck in yesterday's mindset. They'll eventually come to the conclusion that generating word of mouth from a social network will require a very different type of engagement-- not advertising, but rather involvement and experience, which can only occur when companies stop marketing at social networkers and start marketing with them.

The full potential of social networking will be realized when real word-of-mouth marketing and social networking connect. That convergence, in essence, will become the future media form that may finally replace television as the dominant consumer medium. Over the last decade, word of mouth has evolved from a concept into an organized, measurable and repeatable marketing service. What you're about to see is the next evolution. Word of mouth will become a media form. 

Imagine you woke up tomorrow, logged onto your favorite social network, and didn't see a lick of advertising. No flashing interactive, enter-your-age-here banners or sliding personalized avatars. You zipped around talking with your friends, when one of them mentioned to you that they had just joined a word-of-mouth program offered on MySpace. There was room for only 100,000 people, and if you were lucky enough to be one, you would get to try Gizmo X, and tell your friends (both in MySpace as well as in the "real world," by the way). 

The best part: You're going to be truly engaged with the brand. Marketers will use your word-of-mouth reports to identify which of their TV ads are making people laugh, which product features customers really want and how much their Net Promoter score is increasing. They'll also talk to you -- directly, individually, as a real person -- and finally provide you the appreciation you deserve. 

Seem simple? Wonderfully so.

The future? Without a doubt. 

And it's not just social networks, but specific communities that can be developed into these media channels. Jeff Taylor's Eons network of age 50-plus, live-life-to-its-fullest elders could have the opportunity to sample new running shoes or experience boomer-friendly trips to Europe. Sports Illustrated readers will be able to join a sports-focused word-of-mouth network where they can try out Jeff Gordon's new cologne (which will be called Tireburn, of course). These new social media/word-of-mouth hybrids might simply be called People Networks. 

And how will People Networks be measured? Impressions will be irrelevant to this type of medium, as the real metrics aren't focused on the first person who experiences a product, but how often a recommendation about it is passed along -- honestly and credibly -- from one consumer to another. In essence, it's not the rock dropping into the pond that matters, but rather the reach of the ripples it creates. 

It has been proven that 100,000 engaged evangelists will influence nearly 4,700,000 people over a 12-week period. At an average of eight minutes each, these conversations represent a different type of marketing class. The intangible nature of people's conversations, which occur both online and offline, is precisely what makes them so powerful, and also what necessitates a different type of measurement metric. So, People Networks will be measured by the much more valuable metric of pass-along rate or "Generational Ripples." Impressions versus generations? The choice for the savvy and measurement-focused marketer will be easy.

Seems like the pig is about to get a visit from Extreme Makeover. Who needs lipstick anyway?

Dave Balter is the founder and CEO of BzzAgent, Inc., one of the advertising industry's most recognized word-of-mouth marketing and media firms. He launched BzzAgent in 2002, and since that time the company has established itself as the leading provider of word-of-mouth services for the world's most esteemed brands, including Anheuser-Busch, Levi Strauss and Ralph Lauren. Under Balter's leadership, BzzAgent has been featured in The New York Times Sunday Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. In January of 2006, the company closed a groundbreaking $14MM round of institutional financing.

Balter is an international speaker on the topic of word-of-mouth marketing. He has presented for corporations, associations and non-profit groups throughout the United States and Europe. He co-authored Grapevine: The New Art of Word-of-Mouth Marketing, which has become the industry's seminal business title. Dubbed a "serial entrepreneur" by The Boston Globe, Balter built and sold two promotional agencies prior to forming BzzAgent. He was named to the "40 under 40" by the Advertising Specialty Institute in 2001 and "Top 7 Individuals Changing the Face of Beauty" by Women's Wear Daily.  Balter earned a B.A. in Psychology from Skidmore College.