List of Posts

Posts Tagged ‘user-generated content’

Creator or consumer? Or both? Or something else? Friday, February 20th, 2009

Paul Verna has published an insightful article at eMarketer looking at user-generated content online. He says it’s important to understand what makes up content creation and consumption, as well as “appreciat(ing) the complexities of the content ecosystem, which means looking at gray areas between creation and consumption.

Forrester Research has broken down the user-generated content universe into several categories of users:

  • Creators
  • Critics
  • Collectors
  • Joiners
  • Spectators
  • Inactives

Verna asks: “Do critics and collectors create content by generating reviews, comments and lists, or are they simply reacting to content posted by others? Are joiners actually part of a content exchange if their main interest in social media is to use online networks for interaction and communication?

“These are the kinds of questions marketers should be asking as they dive into social media. The better marketers understand the habits of the various groups that make up the content spectrum, the better they will be able to use social media to further their campaigns.”

He writes that marketers need to ”accept a fluid exchange of marketing information across multiple media…. marketers must be prepared to share control with their customers and prospects…. (and) encourage and empower their customers to post feedback, even if those efforts put the marketer’s product in a harsh light. And it means marketers should tailor their campaigns to people who fall into gray areas along the user-generated content spectrum.

He concludes that ”rules that worked in previous generations need to be refreshed, and in some cases completely rewritten.”


What makes users create content? Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

Christine Beardsell has produced a thoughtful piece on ClickZ looking at what motivates people to participate online in brand-related user-generated content campaigns. Although money is a great external motivator, she says it can be over-used and diminish internal motivation factors. Based on her experience observing user-generated content communities at interactive agency Digitas in the US, she outlines 10 different ways companies can most successfully motivate user-generated content:

  • Make it easy
  • Make it fun
  • Give me cash
  • Give me access
  • Make me a star
  • Create something useful
  • Let me influence
  • Give me a challenge
  • Be altruistic
  • Surprise me

The key question companies need to ask themselves when considering a user-generated content campaign, Beardsell writes, is “Why would anyone want to participate in a brand-developed experience when there are endless unbranded community outlets for people to be a part of?” The answer to that question is to create “a balance between both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, passions and reward.”