Tuesday's iMedia's panel discussion offers engagement strategies to leverage the audience's desire to become involved in brand conversations.

Content may be king, but today's users are wielding the true power. With the rise in user-generated content -- and its growing acceptance as a valuable asset to brands and their campaigns -- agencies and their clients are being challenged to develop strong relationships with potential brand activists, as well as to maintain some level of control over the unpredictable communication flow.

Tuesday's iMedia panel presentation addressed this issue in its panel presentation, Opportunities in User Generated Content. Panel moderator Mark Drosos, VP of business development and client services at nFusion led the discussion by asking how UGC became the buzzword of 2006, and how marketers can sustain this buzz into 2007 and beyond.

Pete Blackshaw, chief marketing officer at Nielsen BuzzMetrics opined that its success lies in the fact that it's a natural form of expression. "As the internet is becoming more broadband enabled, UGC can either reinforce or rebut the messages we're trying to develop." In order to best leverage what he calls, consumer-generated multimedia, or CGM-squared, marketers should be asking themselves first and foremost, "how do we become better listeners in the conversation before we engage in the conversation?"

Mike Murphy, VP of media sales for social networking site, Facebook, agreed with this sentiment and offered a background perspective on the phenomenon, describing how UGC grew out of online ratings capabilities for products and services, which led to user reviews that other consumers could use to influence their purchasing decisions.

Another panelist, Oliver Luckett, SVP of advertising sales for Revver, a newer entry into the UGC space, added that the vast democratization of media has moved us toward a participatory behavior model. "We're seeing that all consumers want to do is participate and engage at a level of creativity." Luckett sees this as a great opportunity for marketers to layer brands on top of campaigns people are already talking about online.

Drosos then moved further into the subject by asking the panelists how this freeform concept can be applied to a brand in a way that's contextually relevant?

Murphy believes that marketers shouldn't be looking at UGC solely in terms of advertising. "Consumers trust others more than they do the advertisers, which makes them better marketers than we are. What brands need to do is figure out how to bring that desire of consumers to be heard and open up new ground."

Luckett spoke to the utilization of this strategy by offering an example of a contest Revver developed, where users were asked to create their own video commercials. While the company received a relatively small number of entries, they found that after posting 10 of the entry videos, they received 45 million page views. "Once that viral moment starts, you've had real success," said Luckett.

Of course, once you open yourself up like that, there's also risk involved, as Drosos pointed out. To reduce this risk, Murphy suggests ensuring that you think about how the campaign will be executed online during the planning process, rather than afterwards. "The earlier you start in the planning process, the better," he advised. He also stressed the importance of being aware of how your brands are being perceived by users and pre-planning the controls you will set around how much people can do with the content and assets they are given.

The panel then brought up the now infamous Chevy Tahoe campaign, where some users took the assets GM provided and created ads that were critical of Chevy's large vehicle and SUVs in general.

Blackshaw raised the question of whether GM's net on this campaign was positive or negative? "A part of me is thinking, wow, here's a big company that's actually starting to get their feet wet in this area. Our biggest challenge is to play in the CGM space and prevent our management from scurrying the minute something goes slightly awry," he said. He also commented that what he liked about GM's blog was that 50 percent of the comments posted were critical. "There's something about this element that makes the communications somewhat credible," he offered.

Drosos then led the discussion toward UGC metrics, asking what marketers should look at to measure the success of these campaigns, and to translate it to clients so that they get it.

Murphy said that it's important to set client expectations on the front end. "Users are trying to build their own brands. If you, as an agency, can find a way to get the user to use your brand to define theirs, it's unbelievably powerful, and more important than a clickthrough or a registration. Make sure expectations are right, but be prepared to be surprised in a positive way."

Blackshaw expressed his opinion that there's an important distinction between deliberate branding and incidental branding, and that when engaging in UGC, companies need to decide which road they want to go down.

In response to an audience member's question about how a conservative brand can deal with the unpredictability of UCG but still get involved and get value from the technique, Blackshaw advised marketers to be sure to audit the tenor and tone of the conversation they are engaging in, and Murphy added that marketers need to make the content available in as controlled and familiar an environment as possible. "The closer you can get to an environment that shares the brand's system of social norms, the better off you will be."

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