Jackie Huba's lunchtime lecture about citizen marketers (everyday people who voluntarily create media on behalf of products services, companies or people they love... or hate) gave everyone at the conference a terrific glimpse into the world of consumer-generated content/media, and the role it plays in the way that brands are perceived by the public at large.

One of the most powerful elements of Jackie's presentation was her bit on YouTube (which has apparently overtaken the New York Times in terms of viewrship/readership). The site's explosive growth is a testament to the democratization of consumer-generated content and media. To give you an idea, YouTube enjoys about 40,000,000 views per day. (Yes, you read it right: 40 million.) What's on YouTube? Home-made movies, home-made commercials, etc.

Google just about any major brand, and you are likely to find that some of the most highly ranked search results are for consumer-created online communities, and not the brand's own or sponsored sites. Unlike fan sites - which are specific to a particular product, brand, movie, celebrity, etc. and is thus unlikely to reach anyone not doing an online search for something specific, YouTube works more like a giant TV station that aggregates clusters of free-floating video. (Just now, its welcome page pointed me to three videos, one of which referenced SAAB.

This is precisely this kind of accidental brand exposure that makes a site like YouTube so potent when it comes to brand image. One passionate fan on a shoestring budget can create more positive buzz for your company (across the globe) than a high-priced superbowl ad (seen perhaps only once, and mostly in the US). In this regard, YouTube has become a creative extension of consumers' passion. Anyone with some free time, a camera and some editing software (say... a $300-$400 total investment) can film and cut their own commercials now, and reach as many viewers as a television network.

That's great if your company is doing everything right, but not if it has dropped the ball in the minds of some of its customers. Case in point: Casey Neistat's iPod battery video which bemoaned Apple's iPod battery replacement policy (and ultimately helped change it), and the 14% of negative Chevy consumer-generated commercials - which generated a whole lot more buzz than the reported 86% of positive ads that no one ever saw). If that CGM Chevy ad wasn't enough, try this one... or this one.

Don't get me wrong: The point here isn't to rag on Chevy (or its efforts to bring consumers into the creative and brand message process). The point is to show that consumers are more empowered to control and disseminate a message they believe in today than ever before, whether it is positive or negative. If you aren't listening to your customers and addressing their concerns, they will bring those concerns right to your doorstep... and that of 40 million people (and growing). GM apparently wasn't expecting that passionate anti-SUV activists would use their CGM tool to make their point. If anything, there is a discussion now where there wasn't much of one before this campaign.

And that is perhaps the saving grace of even negative consumer-generated content: If anything, social networks and CGM tools could very well become the ultimate feedback mechanism for brands. Every bit of feedback a company receives from its most vocal customers is an opportunity for it to address a problem its management may not have picked up on before, and an opportunity to adjust their course. This is not a bad thing.

The lesson here: Make your customers happy. Don't sell them junk, don't lie to them, don't ignore them, and don't trivialize what they have to say. (Or it will come back to bite you in the proverbial butt.)

If your relationship with your customers is positive and you allow them to become true brand advocates (especially if you give them the tools), they will become your biggest allies. Check out this ad for Sony, created by a 19-year-old self-taught animation prodigy named Tyson Ibele. Unreal. Any company with 50 Tysons would be absolutely golden. Your customers have a whole lot more power now than they did ten years ago. In a very real sense, either use it, or lose it.

If this doesn't get you to rethink the relationship (or lack thereof) that you have with your customers, I don't know what will. ;)

For more discussion on this topic, check out these two companion articles: Article 1, Article 2.

Tags: WOMMA, WOMMA WOMBAT2, consumer generated media, Olivier Blanchard, Jackie Huba