User Generated Content
Giving Your Customers a Voice Through Social Media Marketing
Bet you never thought your customers could have such an impact on your bottom line just by writing a quick blog entry or commenting in a forum. Bet again.
The days of relying on television, radio and print advertising are almost over. No they won't go away completely, but they will cease to become the predominant approach for marketing most businesses -- if they haven't already.
What has replaced them? Online marketing absolutely. Organizations market through online ads and their own websites. They also create blogs to talk directly to their customers. But even more common these days is the idea that user generated content can create revenue for an organization. And if you don't think that's true, there's news for you.
User Generated Content DefinedBasically, user generated content is any content on the web created by a user directly. This includes comments in blogs, forums, social networking sites, reviews on Amazon and other retail sites and more.
Can UGC Generate Revenue?
According to a recent study by eMarketer - maybe. In the report, the project that the number of UGC creators will rise to 108 million in 2012 from 77 million in 2007. That's a lot of people out there on the web talking - maybe even about you! Although these numbers are huge, eMarketer says advertising revenues will not necessarily be high as a result. However, they indicate that they expect these revenues will climb to US$ 824 million by 2012. Last year it was only US$ 162 million.
How Can You Take Advantage of UGC?
Bryant Shea, Director of Content Management at Molecular held a seminar last year called Building Online Communities. In it he talked about how users love to talk and listen to each other. He also indicated that users have more influence on advertising than ever before.
As an organization you have two choices, you can either be part of the exchange or you can sit on the outside and watch as users take a strong hold on how your product / service is perceived.
Companies that choose to be part of the exchange do so in different ways. Some contribute to blogs and respond to comments from readers, others create or participate in social network communities. In both approaches, they have the ability to see and hear the positive and negative discussions that may be occurring about them. This enables them to quickly respond to the issue instead of ignore it.
Other companies create websites that enable users to create their own content via videos or text and see it housed alongside official publications for the organizations. This is the environment that Reality Digital provides to it's clients. It offers an SaaS social media platform for companies who want to take advantage of user-generated content in a controlled environment.
In an interview with Cynthia Francis, CEO of Reality Digital, she explained that what's important for an organization to do when hosting user generated content on their own websites is to inform users of the rules of the game. Communicate clearly how people can add content and how that content will be monitored. This way the user knows up front what's happening.
By not telling them upfront, an organization opens itself to a lot more negative user generated content on other sites where they have no control.
Cynthia believes that the extremes of user generated content are unrealistic. Meaning that it will not be all about UGC, nor will it this type of content that looses impact as time wears on. Organizations need to take advantage of these voices and become part of the exchange. People expect to be invite to contribute today and when they aren't -- well you don't what they'll say or where.
If you have been ignoring your users - beware. Think about who they talk to, where and when. Think about what they might be saying about you. Then decide how you want to become part of the exchange. Because eventually you will have to, one way or another.
