User Generated Content is the new Black
As Internet users, many of us today are multimedia-tasking, surfing the Web at the same time as we watch TV or listen to the radio. The Internet and the various forms of marketing and advertising it enables are encouraging changes in ways that traditional advertising has not seen. More people are getting online and spending an increasing amount of time on the Web; in the home and office, on the PC and over mobile phones. People are more dependent and empowered by digital media, the Internet offers companies new opportunities to interact with consumers in various unique ways. Its pure convenience is helping them save time and money and gain access to more inventory online.
As a consumer, there is an endless array of entertainment choices available. You can watch movies online, listen to music, play games, catch up with friends and so on. The new buzz these days seems to be Consumer Generated Content or User Generated Content. We see a growing wave of consumers online – creating, uploading and sharing content like never before. No longer are they ‘accepting’ ad messages ‘ordered’ by advertisers and produced by ad agencies. Consumers are playing at being art directors and copywriters themselves. Go to youtube.com and you can see thousands of videos shot by consumers for everything under the sun. Or take a look at flickr.com; again thousands of photos being shared by consumers all over the world.
So what is the implication for marketers? Because every minute consumers take to create and share their own content is time taken away from consuming the traditional ad messages advertisers are spending lots of money on. We’ve now come to a point to an epoch which is not just about interactive marketing, but about participation marketing. Capitalise on your core brand loyalists who love your brand so much that they are passionate enough to create your communication for you. And when that happens, sit back and ride the magic!
