• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, May 6, 2009

Social media conversation is not only a subset of total word of mouth (WOM); it also differs substantially in content, according to research conducted by WOM research and consulting firm Keller Fay Group.

The group compared the 50 most talked-about brands on social media last year as measured by social media consultancy Vitrue's Social Media Index, with "all" WOM -- both offline and online -- as measured by Keller Fay's own TalkTrack system.

Some of the results

* Only two brands -- Sony and Dell -- were within the top 10 on both lists.

*The all-WOM/TalkTrack top 10 were (in descending order): Coca-Cola, AT&T, Verizon, Walmart, Pepsi, Ford, Sony, Dell, McDonald's and Sprint/Nextel. The Vitrue social media top 10 were: iPhone, CNN, Apple, Disney, Xbox, Starbucks, i Pod, MTV, Sony and Dell

* For the top 10 in social media, the average total WOM/TalkTrack ranking was 50. For the top 10 in TalkTrack, the average social media ranking was 38

* Nine brands are in the top 20 on both lists: Apple, iPod, Sony, Dell, Microsoft, Ford, Nintendo, Target and Hewlett-Packard

* Half are within the top 50 on both lists.

* Biggest disconnect: MTV ranked # 8 in Vitrue's social media rankings, versus # 190 in TalkTrack.

The results confirmed earlier Keller Fay findings that there is value in looking at both online and offline forms of WOM. Social media-only analysis is "not a mirror" of all WOM, and one does not predict the other, says COO Brad Fay. TalkTrack data indicates that 90% of WOM takes place offline, and 1% via social media such as blogs and chat rooms, he reports.

Differences, including the MTV disparity, may reflect that WOM via blogs skews young (50% of blog volume is generated by teens, according to TalkTrack findings).

Overall, about half of WOM is tied to marketing communications efforts, and more than 80% relates to the experiences that consumers have with brands, Fay adds. Whatever media or channels are used, "today, the test of effective marketing is whether it drives conversation," he says.