iMedia: What prompted the move from Jupiter to BuzzMetrics?

Stein: Pretty simply, I got enthralled by the word-of-mouth space. It's growing extremely quickly, and it represents a very real way for marketers to gauge their success. I decided to move over, and really felt like my skills and philosophy were a good fit for BuzzMetrics.

iMedia: What will your position entail?

Stein: BuzzMetrics has a very strong consultative arm, and I'll be working with clients to help translate the buzz measurement into actionable insights. Also, I'll be in San Francisco, and hope to build up the West Coast presence for the company.

iMedia: You said that BuzzMetrics attracted you because it is taking the same approach (manually grabbing anecdotal consumer posts from message boards), but in a way that is "structured, scalable and complete. Being able to not only tune into what consumers are saying, but back it up with rigorous linguistic technologies and research methodologies is a powerful concept." Can you explain the process BuzzMetrics employs?

Stein: Well, the technology team can provide the greatest detail, but essentially BuzzMetrics works in a way similar to Google or any other search engine. Every day, it grabs tons and tons of consumer posts, all of which gets placed into an index. That index is then mined for mentions of brands or concepts that are important for a client. The software also helps to analyze the sentiment of the post-- whether it is favorable or not, as well as some more information on the poster. Ultimately, you get all of this content, as well as a sense of who wrote it and how they feel.

iMedia: Why are you passionate about word of mouth? What makes it compelling to you?

Stein: I think WOM is a part of a larger evolution in marketing, where brands (especially manufacturers) are looking to develop deeper relationships with consumers. By paying close attention to what consumers are actually saying, a company can begin to better understand the environment in which their products are living. With that relevance, they can create more compelling marketing, as well as just simply monitor their overall brand health in a way that is consistent and up to date.

iMedia: What type of research/analysis have you done on word of mouth at Jupiter that got you interested in the topic and prepared you for this role?

Stein: I wrote a couple of reports on companies like BuzzMetrics (including Intelliseek and Cymfony). I also did a bunch of research on consumers, looking into the motivations behind posting and consuming brand opinions online. I also did a number of research projects, talking to advertisers to understand what they believed would make them more successful.

I also covered our Consumer Packaged Goods practice, which gave me the opportunity to mix my experience working with CPGs (at an agency) with a lot of data on the issues that are most imperative to them.

iMedia: Some people say you can't create a word of mouth campaign-- it has to develop organically. What are your thoughts on that?

Stein: I think they're right. You can't force people to talk about something. But, you can certainly do things -- either with your product or with your marketing -- that are memorable and distinctive. Those are the sorts of things that catalyze word of mouth, and you most certainly can do those. I think the thing to remember is that word of mouth is an aspect of the environment. But the marketer can certainly pay attention to it and learn from it.

iMedia: Obviously, word of mouth has been around forever, but as an online marketing discipline, it's in its baby stages. What's its current significance? Where is it going? What needs to be done to get there?

Stein: The imperative for brands to establish relationships with consumers is the single most important strategic initiative driving companies today. Everyone is in the relationship business. Word of mouth is significant because companies are beginning to realize that it is natural brand communication. It's created by consumers because they perceive a need or an opportunity, and it is reflective of the relationship that he or she has with the brand.

That's all fine, of course, but marketing needs to have numbers behind it, and that is the big innovation that is making WOM significant right now. The technology behind BuzzMetrics and other companies is taking the very nebulous world of WOM and giving it structure. That structure is the most significant hurdle to cross, and it probably represents the biggest ongoing challenge. Right now, the technology is extremely robust, but the ability to do even better at discovering and understanding consumer posts will continue to drive this marketplace. It's some of the same technology that Google is chasing, but applied toward marketing ends.

Dawn Anfuso is senior editor at iMedia Communications.