I’ll admit it – I have been reading and exploring first-hand just about anything I can about Web 2.0, user generated content, tools, and social networking.
It’s not often we find ourselves right on the cusp of a revolution that not only changes business and marketing, but that does so by changing society at the same time.
Read this ClickZ article by Dave Evans – his most important words are right at the end of the article titled “User-Generated Content As A Marketing Medium” where he states:
As I’m writing, I’m watching “The Daily Show” on Slingbox. Ironically, I just skipped a commercial for The Shins album, proving it’s my objection to being interrupted rather than being marketed to that makes consumer-generated media so attractive. Consumer-generated content is gaining as a marketing channel and as a consumer medium because it transforms an interruptive ad embedded in mass-produced content into an integrated experience created by consumers, reflective of their life.
So far, that’s the best explanation I have heard about why user-generated content is such a powerful marketing weapon.
But, thinking back, word-of-mouth has always had a leg up because it is non-interrupting, from a trusted source, and and without intent to manipulate or sell.
So – we could then add to Dave’s explanation of why user-generated content is evolving into a significant marketing medium – to include trust and lack of obvious (or even subtle) manipulation which immediately causes chemicals in our brain to resist being fooled.
The biggest challenge we have as online or offline business owners is to 1) Understand it is this lack of manipulation that makes user-generated content work, and 2) That we continue to follow the non-interruption principle that has made user-generated content into the next generation marketing approach it has become.
Jeff
