New Media: Consumer Generated Content

Matt Papendorf

 

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It's a fact now that the average consumer is more knowledgeable about the products they are purchasing.  They understand their desires and wants from a product and have formed an opinion based off of the products that they frequently purchase.  Because of this increased intelligence in the consumer, traditional advertising techniques no longer work.  People have become almost immune to the effects of mass advertising and the advertising industry is going crazy trying to figure out what the next big thing is going to be.  How can Nike hope to bring sales up if all of their commercials have lost their “spark?”  How can Tide laundry detergent hope to distinguish between the many other brands that share the same market as they do?  Now has come the time where the advertisers stop telling consumers what to think.  The consumers are now speaking up and offering a new way of promotion.  This new movement is called consumer generated content and many believe this is the new direction of advertising.

Consumer generated content, or CGC, is a behavior that extends from the usage of Internet technology.  The network that the Internet provides has allowed many people to share opinions, experiences, and advice regarding companies, services, and brands.  The driving force behind consumer generated content is through word of mouth.  This is a marketing practice that many large brands and services hope to achieve because of the large buzz it can generate between consumers.  This marketing effort exists through person-to-person conversations rather than mass media advertising, including TV, publications, and radio.  With Internet communication extending all over the world, people now communicate through blogs, text messages, and online page profiles.  Word of mouth marketing has really picked up steam and is leading the way in the world of advertising today.

Joseph Jaffe, a leader in new advertising communication techniques believes that consumer generated content is the next big thing.  He makes a statement to say that brands have become part of everyone’s lives.  The average consumer is loyal to specific foods, cleaners, and even automobiles.  Through these loyalties, consumers have started to become vocal regarding their brands.  For example, many believe Coca-Cola is better than Pepsi.  (link to coke vs pepsi youtube link?) But why?  It is because people have fallen in love with their brands.  They have developed emotional ties to these brands and are more willing to voice their opinions regarding them.  Consumers now have the desire to interact and participate with what is associated with these brands.  Whether it is hatred or a love for a particular brand, consumers now have the voice to speak up and be heard.  Technology leads the way, and now, advertising agencies are listening to what consumers have to say.

In this e-paper, we will examine the technologies available that give the consumers the ability to create CGC.  This paper will also focus on the current trends of CGC, the future of CGC, and how marketers today take advantage of the CGC that is created from their loyal consumers.  If consumer generated content really is the next wave in advertising, there is no better time than now to prepare for what is sure to be the future.

Technologies

The technologies of today have put many consumers in the driver’s seat with what they are allowed to create.  As mentioned earlier, this new social media of CGC folds in with online technologies and practices that allow people to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives regarding products and brands with one another.  A few prominent technologies include blogs, message boards, podcasts, wikis, and vlogs.

Blogs:

A blog is best described as an online diary where people can keep a running account of their daily lives.  Major topics for blogs include commentary on news and politics.  Many times, a blog page will contain links, images, and other media topics.  The major draw is that blog readers have the ability to leave feedback and comments on what the author has written about.

Currently, the roles of blogs have become very mainstream and very popular.  The conception of the blog has given many Internet users an outlet where they share their voice amongst others regarding what is on their mind.  Blogs have become so user friendly that anyone and everyone can do it.  In 2006, Time magazine named the 2006 person of the year as “you” in reference to all of the contributors to user generated content.  When you think of a “blogger,” you get a mental image of a person sitting in front of their computer and hacking away at the keyboard relentlessly spitting their views onto a computer screen.  However, it has become more complex and in-depth than that.  Bloggers these days communicate with one another directly and in many cases create even larger forums where they can meet and share their opinions.  This is where the word of mouth marketing takes place.

For example, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications has recently created a mobile technology feature in their new line of cell phones that combines mobile internet capabilities with Cybershot camera technology, all with in the hope to progress more instantaneous blogging.  They call it “picture blogging” where the phone user can take digital photographs and immediately upload them to their blog and receive instant feedback from their blog readers.

The possibilities of this are endless for blog technology.  Consider this, a consumer tastes a certain food, or restaurant, or even experiences a service. They can share that experience through CGC.  Let us say for the sake of argument that a couple visits a fancy Italian restaurant that is relatively unknown.  The couple has a great meal and loves the atmosphere.  Before they leave, they take photographs and digital video via their camera phone and post their experience on their blog.  Within days, their friends and family members have all seen the experience on the blog and are now going to go experience this restaurant for themselves.  The Italian restaurant didn’t even have to create a print advertisement to get those customers.  That’s the magic of word of mouth marketing through CGC.  With mobile technology and blogging, a local restaurant can now become a dinner hotspot.

Compared to other mainstream media tools, blogs have grown in popularity. The topics discussed over mainstream media topics are very similar to the breakdown of topics discussed over blogs.

 

Podcasts:

A podcast can described as a media file, usually a video or sound broadcast, which is distributed over the internet.  The major draw for podcasting is that these broadcasts can be accessible through mobile technology.  And once again, like blogs, can be created through low budget means by the average person. It should be noted that podcasting originated with the invention and usage of the iPod.

Similar to blogs, podcasts have become very popular in the last few years.  The initial appeal of podcasting was to allow individual people to create and distribute their own radio or videos.  However, the application quickly became used for other thing such as distributing meetings, safety messages, and of course product commercials.  Now with the ability to target the individual consumer through iPods or cell phones, podcasts have become a method of communication for advertising.

Toyota has a podcast all of its own where it discusses information from auto shows to a discussion about their Prius line with an expert.  They call it Toyota Live Web and it can be accessed by anyone who is interested in Toyota cars.  The hope of Toyota is that through podcast technology they can target individuals out of their home through mobile technology to inform them of their cars and services.  What is great about CGC, is that a Toyota consumer can respond back with a podcast of their own showing how much they enjoy their car.  Or if they have had a negative experience, they can create a podcast showing that. 

The podcast is similar to a blog, however the consumer now has the ability to do more than write about their experience.  The consumer now has the ability create video or sound regarding that.  For this example, if a Toyota consumer has fallen in love with that particular brand of car, the podcast CGC allows them to share that experience which in turn could lead to more potential Toyota customers.

To the left is a sample of a podcast page. Users of the podcast can select the podcasts from a database of previous podcasts or have them streamed live to them when they become accessable.

 

MySpace/Facebook:

Facebook and MySpace originated as social networking tools that allowed the users to create an online profile for themselves.  Users can upload pictures and like/dislikes.  Users of the social networking site can link to one another by becoming “friends” where each person can view and explore the others page.  These social networking sites are very popular with the younger generations, such as high school and college students.  These students use these social networking tools to keep tabs on their friends, and now more recently, share content.

The role of the social networking tool, is a definition of itself.  The hope for these site are to attract users and then give them an area online for them to share ideas with one another.  Specifically in MySpace, a user can download a song or movie and imbed it into their page.  Everyone who visits can listen to the song, comment on it, or pass it along to another friend of theirs.  They are, in essence creating buzz around those things that they post.  In Facebook, the users can upload pictures and write notes regarding what they are thinking about.  Basically it’s a blog contained within a social networking tool.

Marketers would like to use these internet zones as places to submit commercials or links for.  MySpace and Facebook have grown leaps and bounds in the last few years and has become a spot where all the major consumers that marketers want to advertise to, ages 18-26, frequent.  But what marketers and companies hope will happen is that the users of these social networking tools will create buzz around their business for them.  For example, a group on MySpace has been created for employees who have worked at the Gap Inc. business chain. Without even trying, major corporations have found themselves being link through these social networks without having to try.  With CGC, people use their voice to share their love for products and services.  In many ways, this is positive for business.

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YouTube:

The most talked about phenomenon that has erupted recently is YouTube.  YouTube is a free video sharing website which allows users to upload and view videos from around the world.  This has become the most recent and interesting topic of discussion for CGC.  Time magazine has even dubbed it Time’s Invention of the Year for 2006.  So what does YouTube have that creates such a buzz?

What YouTube offers is a wealth of multimedia information that can be shared around the world by computers users.  One can assess old television shows through their video database.  More specifically, old commercials from different advertising agencies can be viewed.  What makes YouTube interesting is that users can comment and critique the videos that have been uploaded for sharing.  Everyone is a critic and everyone is an author.  This is the ultimate consumer generated content experience.

YouTube has recently become a standard for looking up old video multimedia.  What is even more amazing is that popularity has been growing among certain individuals who post on YouTube.  One could describe these individuals as “Internet celebrities.”  These people have attracted significant publicity through their posts and from their videos.  Most notably, “lonelygirl15” or actress Jessica Rose.  Jessica Rose poses as fictional teenage girl named Bree, whose YouTube username is “lonelygirl15.”  The YouTube series is a drama-like series that follows around this girl’s life. 

 

This series has created such a following and buzz that an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent was inspired off of the “lonelygirl15” phenomenon.  Besides numerous Wired magazine articles, the “lonelygirl15” buzz has paved the way for many users to become famous in the CGC universe.

The YouTube growth can be used by marketers as a way to see what is being talked about out there.  Instead of creating content for sale, marketers and business can view what their consumers are saying and gain insight into their minds. 

In this link, a fan of the car Subaru WRX shows off how he likes to drive his car around.  This in essence could be used to show the insights to what a Subaru driver feels about his car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPKsmgm4KpQ&eurl

 

In this link, a boy shows off how talented he is at dribbling a soccer ball.  Sports marketers could use this footage to gain insight into the passion that some people have for the game of soccer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8t7iSGAKik&eurl

If the marketers can understand their consumers better, they can reach them better for product sales and advertisements.  Such was the thinking when Google purchased YouTube for 1.65 billion dollars.

 

Current Trends

In the business of advertising, there is a constant need and want to find the best medium possible to get your message to the consumer.  Unfortunately, most consumers now don’t listen to the radio as often as they used to.  Consumers would rather listen to their iPod at work or on the train.  Primetime television has lost some of its luster now that television shows are viewable commercial free on the Internet.  Don’t be misunderstood, people still listen to the radio, and people still watch primetime television.  However the advertisers are not able to just spend money on a network show or program and be certain that they will get a large number of viewers for their commercial.

Media has started to merge mediums.  Television is now accessible from the Internet.  Radio can be listened to via cell phones.  Even the Internet can be accessed via cell phones these days.  This is throwing advertising out of sync because the same idea for a 30 second television commercial does not work for an internet ad.  And an idea for a magazine spread doesn’t work for a radio spot.  Advertising is having to adapt.  This is the turmoil that is facing the advertising market today.  Marketers are looking for what comes after the 30 second spot.

However, there is hope on the horizon.  With the new technologies being born and new services being provided over the Internet, new opportunities have arisen.  Consumer generated content is one of them.

Have you become an M&M yet? The Mars Candy Corporations has taken viral marketing to the new level by allowing their consumers to take part in the M&M candy creation process.  Through consumer generated content programming, an average consumer can log onto their site and create an avatar of sorts that resemble themselves in M&M form.  What is interesting about this is that consumers are becoming a part of the candy making process.  They feel linked in a way to what M&M’s represents to them.  What is more interesting about this is that the created M&M avatars have found their way on to social networking sites, such as Facebook or MySpace.  This could be considered great publicity for M&Ms and an excellent example of word of mouth marketing.  People see the picture, ask about, and then finds themselves being driven to the website.  The word gets out, and the M&M website gets more consumer traffic.  Because who wouldn’t want to create a likeness of themselves in M&M form?

As mentioned earlier, YouTube's popularity has grown since its debut. The graph shows a six month popularity usage chart including the reach per million viewers. The significance is that with increased viewship, anything posted on YouTube has a significant chance of being seen by many people. This is a draw to marketers hoping to use YouTube as an advertising medium.

 

Most recently, the Geico insurance company has cashed in on their caveman commercials with their tag line “So Easy, A Caveman Could Do It.”  The caveman characters made such a splash with consumers on the television that Geico created an interactive website where consumers could go visit the apartment of the Geico caveman.

The joy of this is that it takes consumers deeper into the personality of the characters created by Geico.  Although there is never a point in this site that directly pushes the consumer to involve themselves with a Geico commercial or product, they still become immersed in the Geico caveman character.  What makes this interesting is that consumers will continue to relate cavemen with Geico Auto Insurance well after the commercials have stopped running.

However, not all consumer generated content is a good thing.  Search youTube Chevy Tahoe Parody

The Chevy Tahoe brand of cars created a website where car consumers were able to use the technology provided on the website to create a parody commercial for Chevy Tahoe.  What Chevy found was that not all of their consumers were as enthusiastic about driving an SUV as they thought.  What this proved was that consumers have a very powerful voice, and when given the opportunity to express themselves, they will make their voice heard.  Not all CGC regarding brand is positive.  Regardless of the reaction, companies and marketers are able to learn what the public is saying about their products.

 

Consumer-Generated Media Future Trends

The future of consumer generated content is a bit uncertain.  Analysts such as Bob Garfield claim that CGC is the next big thing.  Garfield claims that investing money into a 30 second television commercial is a waste of money.  As mentioned before, consumers are more intelligent about what is being advertised to them.  They have stronger opinions and are wise enough to know when they are being lead on.  Therefore, the future lies in listening to what the consumers are saying.  After all, if you listen to whom you are marketing to, you are bound to gather useful insight into how they think, feel, and believe in a brand.  Therefore making them an easier target to market to.

For this to happen though, new tools need to be created for consumers to use in order to create.  Tools such as YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook are all good mediums; however, what is next on the horizon?  Are consumers going to keep posting their blogs and be content with that?  There is going to eventually be a saturation point where the views stop viewing. Until that point is reached, trends show that there is going to continue to be an increase in CGC content. The following chart shows the increase in popularity of CGC websites in the year 2005. A few of the websites mentioned in this e-paper were ranked highly on the 2005 chart. Just think, if this stat were to be evaulated today, many of the same CGC websites would continue to be on top with some new ones, such as YouTube possibly being in the top ten.

More importantly, how does one track success of consumer driven content?  If one gets 150,000 click throughs on a YouTube link, how does that transpire into revenue?  The big question is, now that consumers are speaking out and giving the marketers the ability to hear what they have to say, what do we do with this information?  Can we really trust that the average person knows exactly what they want?  Are we assuming that the average consumer is smarter than we thought?  Are they even less intelligent than we thought?  After all, it is a proven fact that the majority of posts on YouTube are nonsensical crap.  These are of no use to marketers and advertisers at all.  However, within the thousands of useless posts, there may be one gem of information.  Is it worth the time filtering through all of the nonsense to get that gem?  Marketers are hoping to find that out.

Consumer generated content is fairly new idea.  The debate on whether this interactive movement is going help or hinder the advertising world is still up for debate.