”Consumer Generated Media” (or CGM) is the buzzword these days for companies seeking trust, attention, and repeat sales, especially through the Internet. Intelliseek, one service company that’s mining the trend, defines it this way:
”Consumer-Generated Media” (CGM) encompasses the millions of consumer-generated comments, opinions and personal experiences posted in publicly available online sources on a wide range of issues, topics, products and brands. CGM is also referred to as Online Consumer Word-of-Mouth or Online Consumer Buzz.
Essentially CGM is just word-of-mouth on steroids, where those words are now multicast in media form on weblogs, chat rooms, web forums, consumer review sites, and the like. But according to Intelliseek and Forrester Research, the trust and power of consumer and peer opinion is still as powerful on-line.
In one study, consumers asked to signify their ”overall level of trust” in various forms of advertising ranked among the top four: recommendations from consumers, brand web sites, e-mail they signed up for, and consumer opinions posted online.
The question then comes: So what do you do about it. You could cross your fingers and hope the world says nice things. You could foster consumer feedback on your site or elsewhere (and either filter the results, or not). You could buy nice words, as some corporations have, by hiring seemingly independent bloggers to rave about your work. But odds are you don’t have the cash, and smart consumers see right through it.
Ultimately, the on-line quest for positive buzz is just a faster and higher-stakes version of the off-line game: finding thought-leaders, mavens, and connectors; working to engage them in your work and mission; and giving them the tools or information to say nice things when they’re ready to do so.
Is anyone out there working this turf? If so, post a comment.
See
http://www.lovemarks.com
(note also the rare inlcusion of arts and culture figures, institutions, and events on the List)
http://www.lovemarks.com/list.php
For the first time web marketer, I can suggest the tried and true method of beating the pavement. Join some sites where discussion goes on in regards to your type of product or service. Really talk to people and sell yourself by being yourself. All the better if you’re haunting the message boards of the auction sites you sell through! Buyers will know you, trust you, and tell their friends. That’s the place to find out what goes on at that particular site and get your word out. It’s a time consuming but effective method, especially for the novice or individual. And it’s free of cost, except for the time required. Go to the places your consumers go, visit the sites that pertain to your particular product or service. See what your consumer sees.
Would you like an example? Please see my included link. Thank you! 😉
You said it, “buy nice words”, human generated, mirrored or computer generated… Does it matter if the ads are more appealing than the content? One of the challenges will be to differentiate “buzz” from noise.
http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank.html
Keywords are still king, especially right now and Google is having a joyful time sorting it out, especially when there are so many keywords out there–this is the ideology that’s hot right now due to the Adsense craze, and now Yahoo is joining in (by invite only at this point).