The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) yesterday released a set of standards (its "Terminology Framework") for tracking and quantifying word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing. Some 30 analytics experts worked with the group to develop those standards, which address "the six critical questions that have a fundamental impact on the ROI of word of mouth campaigns," according to the group's news release.

"Word of mouth marketing has a direct impact on all other marketing initiatives," says WOMMA CEO Andy Sernovitz. "If you can't measure word of mouth, you can't effectively measure the rest of your marketing, either."

Those six questions for WOM campaigns are as follows: How do you track and measure word of mouth? How do you prove the ROI of WOM? How do you know which strategies work best? How do you optimize messages so they will go viral? Why do consumers become advocates or detractors? How does WOM fit into your media plan?

Also released Monday was "Measuring Word of Mouth, Volume 1," a collection of the latest thinking in WOM research.