How-To: Generating and Using CGM
5 Tips from Intelliseek's Pete Blackshaw
The most successful companies know how to influence consumers most likely to write or talk about the company via consumer generated media (CGM). Pete Blackshaw of Intelliseek shares his tips on making CGM happen and making the most of it when it does.
Tip #1. Be aware of all forms of CGM
Unless you know where CGM happens, you can't successfully track or understand it. The following are the major areas online consumer generated media takes place:
* Blogs
* Message boards/forums
* Ratings/review sites
* Clubs or groups
* Direct company feedback
* Third-party web sites
Tip #2. Give customer-centric service
The phrase "customer service" doesn't go far enough. Companies should focus on customer-centric service. Blackshaw cited a recent example in his blog: after a shaky and frustrating month of hosting service, Typepad offered him a choice of "recovery options". He could choose from 15 to 45 days of free service as compensation.
"I couldn't imagine a more consumer-centric and respectful model for managing a difficult customer service experience," he wrote. The cynics might assume that all consumers would grab the 45-day option, but Blackshaw chose 30 days. "That's fair as far as I'm concerned, and I have little interest in gaming a service that is so openly showing respect for me."
Tip #3. Use CGM to inform search engine ad buys
"Half the game in buying targeted ads on search engines is to figure out what's relevant, hot, and timely in the long tail of consumer curiosity and conversation," Blackshaw wrote in a recent ClickZ article. "Use CGM to identify and place relevant keyword buys for Google or Yahoo. We constantly anchor our keyword buys for our site to emerging buzz topics. CGM can be your best friend in ensuring relevancy."
Tip #4. Use parents when possible
Blackshaw, who recently became a parent of twins, conducted a study which proves that people in parenting mode create a disproportionate amount of CGM. In fact, "engaged" parents outpace typical online consumers across a host of CGM factors, including propensity to share content with others. Get a parent involved in, and happy with, your brand, and he/she may shout your praises from a rooftop.
Tip #5. Use CGM to reach a hard-to-reach demographic
Consumers who regularly skip over or delete television or online ads are often those who shape, create, and absorb consumer-generated media. "Active ad skippers" are 25 percent more likely to create and respond to CGM on Internet message boards, forums and blogs than non ad-skippers. In other words, these consumers are not only increasingly elusive from an advertising perspective, but they are now taking control of the messaging. Use them to reach each other rather than trying to reach them directly.
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Comments
Great insights, Pete.
I'd like to point out that the CGM formula can play out just as well in the offline space. Harnessing the positive customer experience can have a tremendous impact in awareness. Here are a few examples:
- Customers create the ad copy: Invite customers to share their experiences via voice mail, online forms or feedback cards. Take the best sound bytes and use them in your print, radio and television advertising. This has worked well for OnStar, Men's Wherehouse and Sprint, among others.
- Customer "Best Picks": Every time I walk into a Barnes and Noble, I notice the employee recommended books prominently displayed on the shelves. I think this can work just as well with customer recommended products. Inviting your customers to have a voice is step one of the CGM formula. Step two is letting them see the result of their efforts.
- Customer-Ization: Sooner or later, we will see iPods and cell phones that are completely customizable form a skins perspective. Giving the customer the option to express their identity by way of your product is a great way to promote your own brand’s identity. If your product allows for such customization, you have a terrific CGM ad campaign at your feet. Hold contests to incentivize your customers to express themselves through your products. Showcase these examples in your retail locations, on the web or in your print and television advertising.
These are just a few of many examples of how to put the power of the message into the customer’s hands.
Posted by Scott Meldrum on 11/30/05
Sorry for being a newbie, but I assume CGM means Customer Generated Marketing?
Are there any studies on how customers impact other customers in a service and how that varies across countries and cultures? OK, so that is a thesis, but here is my situation.
We're starting a new product which will have people adding their own content to a central, shared place. (Creative Commons, etc). It's going to be a global tool and I'm trying to understand the differences between cultures of contributing and drawing from a shared pool of content.
My feeling is that cultures will vary on their attitudes to free contribution and free distribution.
The big challenge is trying to communicate one service offering globally with varying cultural experiences. My gut feel is that we just supply an almost blank service and let them fill it up. When this happens, the initial people into the service have a big impact on how it is then developed.
Hmmm.....
I'd like to hear everyones thoughts on this.
Posted by Michael Liubinskas on 11/30/05
Scott -- Great comments and builds, and I agree those are all great and proven strategies and tactics. It is in fact very important to emphasize that in fact a great deal of CGM creation takes place offline. Moreover, much of the value in online CGM measurements is how the learning or insight is exploited offline. A "big idea" for instance might nest itself in a blog or forum that has huge potential in a TV a or in an offline event or promotion.
Michael -- CGM refers to "Consumer Generated Media," and for many the terms "Customer" and "Consumer" are synonymous. I prefer the term "consumer," and I may have a bit of a bias because of my P&G background where the term "customer" always referred to K-Mart or Wal-Mart or Target, and "consumers' were the end buyers.
Are there cultural differences and nuances in how consumers influence other consumers in a particular service? Absolutely. We see this all the time in our analysis of online CGM by geography. Shoot me an e-mail and I can try to provide more perspective.
Posted by Pete Blackshaw on 11/30/05