1. The document discusses trends in social media, word-of-mouth (WOM), and community building in Canada based on a survey of over 300 Canadian marketing leaders. 2. It finds that forms of social media like social networks, mobile marketing, and user-generated content will experience strong growth in the next few years. 3. The biggest challenges in implementing social media are the inability to measure its impact, lack of budgets, and lack of accepted standards and benchmarks.

1. brought to you by: Sean Moffitt, Agent Wildfire What’s Next in Canadian Social Media, WOM & Community Building

7. Your company’s current position on social media/WOM building value for your organization? Strongly Optimistic 47% Somewhat optimistic 33% Neutral 14% Pessimistic 5% Strongly Pessimistic 1%

8. Your company’s current position on spending more time, resources and money on social media/WOM in 2009? Substantial growth 20% Moderately growth 47% Same 32% Moderately decline 0.4% Strongly decline 0%

9. WHAT’s NEXT IN SOCIAL MEDIA, WORD OF MOUTH & COMMUNITY BUILDING PODCAMP

10. WHAT’s NEXT IN SOCIAL MEDIA, WORD OF MOUTH & COMMUNITY BUILDING

11. 1. What forms of social media/WOM will experience the biggest growth in the next few years?

12. 1. What forms of social media/WOM will experience the biggest growth in the next few years? 1. Social Network Marketing 36% 2. Social Media (blogs/podcasts) 35% 3. Mobile Marketing 34%* 4. Customer/User Generated Content 30%* 5. Influencer marketing 27% 6. Brand communities/networks 21%* 7. Brand entertainment/advergaming 16% Source: Agent Wildfire Buzz Report 2009

13. 2. The biggest changes in culture, media and the marketplace causing a rise in social media/WOM?

14. 2. The biggest changes in culture, media and the marketplace causing a rise in social media/WOM? 1. Rise of Social Networks 36%* 2. Rise in New Tech./Media 29% 3. Web 2.0/Prosumer 27% 4. Media fragmentation/clutter 27% 5. Mass marketing effectiveness down 26% 6. Loss of trust/credibility 23% 7. Waning attention to media/messages 23% Source: Agent Wildfire Buzz Report 2009

15. 3. The biggest obstacles that continue to exist in implementing social media/WOM in your company/clients?

16. 3. The biggest obstacles that continue to exist in implementing social media/WOM in your company/clients? 1. Inability to measure 40% 2. Lack of budgets 31% 3. No accepted standards/benchmarks 29%* 4. Fear of loss of control 29% 5. Inability for culture to accept 25% 6. Technical skills/expertise not in place 23%* 7. Do not understand diff. bet. Mass marketing 21%* Source: Agent Wildfire Buzz Report 2009

17. Buzz Marketing Social Media/ New Media Customer Collaboration/ Crowdsourcing Brand Communities Influencer Marketing User Generated Content User Generated Content Social Networks Referral Programs Grassroots/Cause Marketing Experiential Marketing Viral Marketing Other Buzz Report Learnings On…

18. 1. Currently using/practising : 1. Blogs/Social network marketing 46% 2. Social media/forum participation 45%* 3. Blogger/social media outreach 45% 4. Corp./brand campaign/blogs/podcasts 42% 5. Social network pages/groups 42% 6. RSS-fed activity 40% 7. Cause/charity sponsorship 32% 8. Social network apps. 32% 9. Expert/customer advisory panels 30% 10. Corp. brand wiki forums 28%* 11. Corp. social responsibility 27% Source: Agent Wildfire Buzz Report 2009

19. 2. Biggest sins of a social media/WOM practitioner : 1. Lack of authenticity 65%* 2. Lieing about identity 51% 3. Not creating 2-way dialogue 47% 4. Not having a strategy 38%* 5. Not measuring what happens 35%* 6. No link to business objectives 29% 7. Not changing company practice because of it 28% Source: Agent Wildfire Buzz Report 2009

20. 3. Most important Word of mouth attribute (in order of priority): 1. Conversation worthy idea/concept* 2. Great product/brand 3. Customer/member experience provided 4. The People who Participate* 5. The Culture of a company* 6. A strong word of mouth generation process 7. Research/analysis/learning Source: Agent Wildfire Buzz Report 2009

21. 4. Most frequently stated objective for launching a social media/WOM initiative: 1. Awareness/buzz/publicity 39%* 2. Leads/referrals/members 33% 3. Loyalty/affinity/lifetime value 29% 4. Participate in dialogue/conversation 28%* 5. Seed influencers/incubate ambassadors 24% 6. Launch products/services/ideas/news 22% 7. Build better customer experiences 21% 8. Accelerate sales/revenue 18%* 9. Target specific tough to reach audiences 18% Source: Agent Wildfire Buzz Report 2009

22. 5. Biggest gaps between currently practising and piloting/testing – potential future opportunities: 1. Crowdsourced networks 2. Not-traditional ads designed to attract talk value 3. Virtual worlds 4. Mobile initiatives 5. Fan Clubs 6. Testimonial/challenge programs Source: Agent Wildfire Buzz Report 2009

24. 7. Beliefs: Source: Agent Wildfire Buzz Report 2009 Beliefs Strongly Agree Agree Agencies need to radically reinvent themselves to stay competitive 39% 44% Managing the customer experience is the key battleground for business 32% 50% We will be able to track conversations much more accurately over the next decade 28% 48% The marketing will become much more important to their org. by leveraging SM/WOM 20% 54% Radically new social media and word of mouth tactics will be adopted in the next few years 20% 51%

25. 8. Disbeliefs: Source: Agent Wildfire Buzz Report 2009 Beliefs Strongly Agree Agree Facebook will still be the most dominant network in 3 years 5% 24% Word of mouth and peer generated content is a bigger threat than benefit 6% 19% Canadian organizations are naturally better than Americans to harness social media and WOM 6% 16%

26. The ABC’s of What’s Next in Marketing, Media & Research – The Trends that are Going to Drive Business …. and Your Career Forward - Slideshare Agent Wildfire Presentation

28. The Kickass Offer

29. Let’s Start The Conversation… Inquire: smoffitt (at) agentwildfire.com Phone: 416-255-4500 URL: www.AgentWildfire.com Join: www.TheInfluencers.ca Blog: http://BuzzCanuck.typepad.com/ www.spreadslikewildfire.com Explore: The Buzz Report (e-newsletter) Signup at www.AgentWildfire.com Learn: Executive WOM Seminars