"Marketers have never had an opportunity to 'listen-in' and to track the raw conversations of consumers," suggests Toby Bloomberg, of Bloomberg Marketing, a strategic marketing and social media consultancy. "That alone makes UGM interesting. Add to the mix the viral aspect of influencers, and the bloggers' connections to the brand and to their readers."
Makeupalley.com is one of many sites where that raw conversation takes place: it pulls together user-generated information about beauty products to provide a non-partisan information resource that other users can trust.
Bloomberg says marketers are quick to recognize that by means of UGM campaigns, they "can tap into trends, service issues, competitive intelligence. It's one more piece of information that can be added to the decision-making process."
Virginia Miracle, director of word of mouth with Brains on Fire, a corporate identity consultancy, points out that "UGM is content that today's media consumers are seeking out in record numbers and enjoying. And, if you have truly inspired one of your fans to salute you, it's also free-- what's not to like?"
"UGM is definitely the fad d'jour," says Drew Neisser, president and CEO of Renegade Marketing Group, a brand consultancy. "And why not? It's relatively inexpensive; it's potentially viral, and consumers continue to respond. That said, with so many advertisers asking the consumer to help them create ads, the novelty will wear off very quickly. Success will continue to depend on finding innovative ways to involve the consumer and reward them for their participation."