The power of word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) is no secret. Though well-known, tapping into this marketing mega-power is a tricky business. But if the marketer masters this 6’5’’ 320 pound quarterback, they can win the game of influencing consumer decision-making. Let’s begin our journey to WOMM mastery by tackling what WOMM is and what it isn’t.

WOMM is not viral marketing (Gasp! Yes, I said it!). Though both fall under the umbrella of earned media, and many consider viral marketing to be a subcategory of WOMM, these marketing strategies may be easily distinguished based on the nature of their messages. Viral marketing is the rapid dissemination of an asset (e.g., a video created by a brand – Think Old Spice Guy) through social media in order to increase brand awareness. Conversely, WOMM begins with a consumer’s decision to recommend a place, product, or brand based on past positive experience. This piece of information (e.g., a restaurant recommendation from a friend) may be shared from person to person in the real world, or through digital avenues like a blog, Facebook, Tumblr, or Yelp. The fundamental difference lies in what is being shared: For viral marketing, it is an asset. For WOMM, it is a piece of information.

Now that we know that WOMM is not viral marketing, we can begin to focus on what it is. Just like any good coach would want to know more than just the height and weight of his star quarterback, let’s dive into the nitty-gritty details of WOMM. Ready? Here we go: +/- Spontaneity +/- Contagion =/≠ Unpredictable.

Let’s break that formula down. First, WOMM contains elements of contagious spontaneity that make it unpredictable. Take the rumored effects of the Green M&M. During a recent keynote address, Jim Cass, Mar’s Direct’s VP and GM, admitted that the buzz surrounding Green M&Ms was not generated by the brand, but by the consumer. The deliciously naughty reputation of the Green M&M grew its WOMM wings and flew. Spontaneity + Contagion = Money in the bank for Mars. Second, in order to generate WOMM, a product or service must make a strong impression on the consumer. This is where your muscular quarterback can either carry you to greatness or get sacked. If the consumer has an exceptional experience, and decides to talk about it, then BAM! – you’re golden. But if the experience is exceptionally bad, and the unhappy customer decides to talk about it, then BOOM! – you’re done; pack your things and go home.

Think about it this way: When you recommend or advise against visiting a particular restaurant or using a certain product, you’re staking your reputation on the accuracy of your recommendation. Therefore, when you decide to share a recommendation with friends, family, or coworkers, you’re fairly certain that your advice is correct. In fact, not only are you confident in your recommendation, but you’re also likely passionate about the product, service, or brand you’re evangelizing. Think about things you’re passionate about. I’m passionate about garden gnomes and Thai food from Marnee Thai Restaurant. What do I talk about a lot with a lot of different people? My extensive garden gnome collection and the best place to get Thai food in San Francisco, which is Marnee Thai; I’ll stake my reputation on it.

Now, consider the weight behind your decision to provide a recommendation; the front-end impact is three-fold. Forrester Research analyst Augie Ray laid out some interesting stats:

• 73 percent of online US adults trust recommendations provided by friends and family.
• 65 percent trust email recommendations from people they know.
• 62 percent trust consumer product reviews and ratings.
• 57 percent trust expert reviews and ratings.

Hopefully, at this point, the psychological fuel behind WOMM’s fire is becoming more transparent. Now it’s time to get muddy again. In WOMM, humans are your medium, your greatest most unreliable walking, talking ads. This third element of WOMM makes the second especially difficult to gauge. How strong does your impression on the consumer have to be? The answer: You’ll never know. In a nutshell, WOMM is exactly as I said: +/- Spontaneity +/- Contagion =/≠ Unpredictable. Clear as mud, right? With the odds so clearly stacked against you, how can you ever hope to harness the raw power of your super-human star quarterback and channel it towards scoring game-winning touchdowns? Thankfully, there are ways to leverage WOMM while minimizing risk to your brand. BUZZ WORD ALERT! Tap the keg of online influence (For more on the nature of influence, check out Robert Cialdini’s The Art of Persuasion and Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point).

Recently, influence has become “the new black,” and not just among digital marketers. Scores of influence measuring tools have popped up measuring online clout, especially on Twitter (e.g., Klout, Twitalyzer and Tweetlevel). So, when it comes to marketing, how does this whole influence thing work? Influence marketing centers on finding influential consumers within specific verticals, or categories, like travel, food, pets, fashion, or parenting. Influencers have the potential to achieve excellent online reach within their category by hosting a popular blog, boasting an impressive following on Twitter, or maintaining a freakin’ sweet presence on Facebook. Suppose one of these influencers, also known as demi-gods, decides to share a positive brand experience with his or her audience. BAM! The positive word about your brand spreads rapidly due to the sheer quantity of the influencer’s relationships. The impact of the message, however, is determined by the quality of the influencer’s relationships. With sizeable audiences who trust their advice, these thought leaders can make or break your brand. Ignore influencers at your brand’s peril!

Not shockingly, marketing activities are geared towards these influencers because they hold tremendous sway over the opinions of their audiences on everything from what skillet to use for cooking jambalaya to whether denim vests will, or will not, be making a comeback in the spring of 2011. Let’s run with this denim vest example for a moment. Suppose you subscribe to a popular fashion blog called Kate Knows Clothes, and Kate has just written a blog post about the inevitable comeback of the denim vest this spring. What do you do? First, you jump in your car and race to the nearest Goodwill to sift through neglected denim vests left over from the ‘80s, and then you…tell someone. Why? Because you trust the source and feel confident in reiterating Kate’s prediction to friends, family, or coworkers. And here’s the last piece that will really make your quarterback shine like the star he is: How you “tell” your friends, family, or coworkers about Kate’s prediction has changed dramatically since the last time denim vests were in, and lends itself quite nicely to the rapid perpetuation of Kate’s prediction. Ah, social media, we bask in your glory.

So, to sum it all up, influence marketing can help reduce the messiness and amplify the impact of your WOMM efforts, but it’s not easy. Brands must understand where influencers are coming from, they must form long-term, two-way lines of communication with them, and they must give them good reasons to advocate for the brand. If you go about influence marketing the wrong way, you could risk injuring your valuable quarterback during the first game of the season.