Your brand may succeed in getting user-generated content, but what happens when it's all terrible?
For many brands, getting user-generated content isn't a problem. The hard part is getting stuff that's actually worth sharing with the masses. Just ask the marketing team behind Chevy's now infamous consumer-generated video campaign for the Tahoe. But it's not just negative content that's a concern. A landslide of boring, confusing content can be just as difficult to deal with.
In one TV network's experience, the user-generated video resulting from one of its community building efforts was simply terrible.
"If people would click on it, they would think there's something wrong with the site," Speed Networks' digital chief Mark Mitchell told iMedia Agency Summit attendees.
Mitchell, who was joined on stage by Tara Lamberson of Orlando digital ad shop MindComet, was sharing his network's experience with a user-generated content experimentation, which revolved around viewers spoofing on-air personalities. The concept was good, but the results were not. But that doesn't mean Speed lost interest in user-generated content altogether.
"It's fun to play with user-generated content, but it does take time to go through it and find the good stuff," Mitchell admitted. One way that Speed came up with to increase the odds of facilitating great content was a diversified portfolio. For example, at Speed's NASCAR site, race fans can do more than upload pictures. There's also video and commenting in various, evolving forms. With so many options on a rotating basis, one is bound to be viral-worthy.
While a diverse user-generated portfolio has its upside, the problem is mass. Mindcomet's Lamberson explained technologies do not exist for effectively sifting out the winners in a user-generated program. And the solutions may never exist. "You can't really have a tool that does all the human interpretation for you," Lamberson said.
Measurement solutions are also elusive. When asked how Speed measures the success of a user-generated campaign, Mitchell said it comes down to response and how much of the content can be re-packaged and served to the masses. According to Mitchell, brands need to ask, "What kind of content are we getting, how much of it are we getting and how much is useful for the audience?"
Despite the concerns of some execs, "useful" doesn't mean sparkling production value to Mitchell. And he acknowledged that it's helpful to set expectations with management upfront. With regard to user-generated video, "It doesn't have to look like TV. That's the whole idea," said Mitchell.
Lamberson contributed some other ideas for jumpstarting a user-generated campaign. Start with the legal department. What is altogether off limits? Also, what is the tolerance threshold of senior brand managers? From the beginning, find out what the brand is not willing to do.
Early on, it's important to establish technology's proper role in the consumer-generated equation. While many off-the-shelf solutions exist for user-generated programs, don't start with the technology, cautioned Lamberson. "Start with the strategy and goals, then select the technology."
Lamberson also urged marketers to remain flexible and expect some calculated risks. "There's not a best practice, not a set of guidelines for how to put out a UGC campaign," she said. Despite the promise and allure for some, user-generated content remains a concept in its infancy for online marketing.
Mario Sgambelluri is associate publisher, iMedia Communications, Inc. Read full bio.
