Whether it's an ad created by a customer and posted on YouTube, lavish praise (or a blistering review) on a blog, comments posted to a consumer portal or something else, user-generated media (sometimes called consumer-generated media or consumer-generated content) is on the rise as a key force in marketing. "Markets are conversations," as the Cluetrain Manifesto famously asserted, and users are increasingly raising their voices within those conversations.
The intrinsic pitfalls of a UGM campaign are large and many, but so are the potential benefits.
If you're a marketer or advertiser thinking about how your brand can engage with UGM, read this article to get a handle on best practices and also to help prevent an unwary -- and expensive -- pratfall into a UGM nightmare.
The key finding: don't be coy. The more you trust your customer base, the more likely you are to find success with UGM.
Remember: in Business 2.0's recent list of 50 people who matter now, the person who topped this list was the user who creates media.
Next: What's the attraction of UGM?
