Pete Blackshaw’s New Book

In “Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000,” (buy it here) through what interactive marke­ting ­expert Pete Bla­ckshaw­ calls “consumer-­generated media”—blogs, s­oci­al networking pages, message boards, product review site­s—ev­en a single disgruntled cus­tomer can broadc­ast his complaints to an audience of millions. This provides both challenges and opportunities – unprecedented in both directions; by not listening to online brand or company conversation, this can create enormous liabilities, while by listening to and acting upon conversation, this can create a distinct competitive advantage. The more time that passes that companies do not realize the duality of the situation, the more opportunity is lost, and the more the potential liability builds.

Pete outlines upfront three truths that inform the entire book:

• Businesses no longer hold absolute sway over the decisions and behavior of consumers
• The longer companies refuse to accept the influence of consumer-to-consumer communication a­nd perpetuate old ways of doing business, the more they will alienate and drive away their customers
• To succeed in a world where consumers now control the conversation, and w­here satisfied customers tell three friends, while angry customers tell 3000, companies must achieve credibility on every front.

How do you create authentic messages, maintain credibility, and synthesize the fact that businesses no longer have absolute sway over decisions? By listening to, and acting on conversations that are happening on the web, businesses can accomplish all three. Companies that chose to ignore this important raw conversation will be left in the dust by more progressive firms who capitalize on the opportunities presented to them by simply paying attention to how the online space perceives their brand or company.

The important aspect of this conversation is that it is often “unfiltered.” It is not subject to biases that may be present in formal focus groups – it is simply raw perception. If there seems to be a disconnect between what execs believe their message is and what the online space is saying their message is – companies better listen. Unfortunately, (or fortunately for companies that use it to it’s advantage), perception is reality.

-Mike

Leveraging the Power of Crowdsourcing

In the past couple of years, the term crowdsourcing has been thrown around quite a bit. Crowdsourcing, which was coined by Jeff Howe in 2006 Wired magazine article, refers to the act of taking an everyday task and outsourcing it to the masses in the form of an open call, hence crowd-sourcing. The idea here is that the voice and actions of many is ultimately better, or more efficient, than that of one person or company.

Recently, there have been several very public demonstrations of crowdsourcing within the corporate world. Powerhouses such as Kraft, Sony, Starbucks, Pepsi, and MasterCard have all utilized the public voice to drive their marketing campaigns. Even Apple recently purchased a consumer-generated advertisement from a college student (you may recall the “Music is my Boyfriend” iPhone commercial). The reality of today’s situation is this – traditional marketing outlets (i.e. Television, print, billboards) are becoming less effective on the generation that truly matters – Generation Y.  Gen Y is a tech savvy, Web 2.0, real-time answers needed group of individuals. They command their voices to be heard and lately many companies have been listening. So, as the number of crowdsourced tasks continue to increase, it will be very interesting to see how the voices of the corporations will echo the voices of the masses. More to come later…

-Paul B.

First Post

Hello!

We are three young professionals trying to understand, learn more, and further develop the concepts concerning consumer generated media, crowdsourcing, consumer defined brand messages, bottom-up marketing, and other relevant topics concerning “new media” (for lack of a more all-encompassing word).

We hope to use this as a forum to post news, thoughts, original articles, and most importantly, share and observe others opinions about this very relevant societal phenomenon.

What do these new trends mean? Do they mean anything, and to whom? Who will benefit, who will lose? Can these trends be monetized? Where is the ROI for companies who use such methods?

We hope to address these, and many more questions as the dynamic trends surrounding CGM continue to evolve.

Thank you for reading,

-Mike