Consumer Generated Media Services

A growing trend today are for consumers and corporations to generate media through a variety of new sources of online information with the intent on educating each other about products, brands, services, personalities, and issues. Consumer Generated Media (CGM), refers to any number of online word-of-mouth vehicles, included but not limited to: consumer-to-consumer e-mail, postings on public Internet discussion boards and forums, consumer ratings web sites or forums, blogs, mobile blogs (moblogs), video blogs (vlogs), Podcasting (video/audio), and social networking sites.

One to One's Consumer Generated Media services encompasses dozens of marketing techniques that are geared toward encouraging and helping people to talk to each other about products and services. Activities include:

Strategic Research

• Identify who’s speaking about your product or service
  • Where are consumers seeking information?
  • Do consumers speak highly of your product/service?
  • Is sentiment positive or negative?
  • Identify which discussion boards, online communities, blogs, social networks, portals, and other relavant sites are sought out by consumers to research your product/service.

• Audit of existing known and unknown assets
  • Yield/Loss Analysis associated with current forward to a friend viral effort
  • Human Factors/IA analysis of forward to a friend viral effort
  • Analysis of current web assets and their ability to evolve beyond current state to a Web 2.0 compliant platform
  • Analysis of current opt-in and electronic messaging approaches
  • Identification of bloggers, community moderators, and vocal customers

• Identify and Flag key Issues
  • Which issues fuel the most Internet discussion?
  • Which issues inspire the most emotional online discussion? (Is it, for example, customer service? Price? An ad campaign? A celebrity spokesperson? A rumor? Etc.)
  • What issues are the most likely to prompt consumers to spread information to others?
  • Which issues or topics spread faster then others?
  • Which issues deserve the most attention?

Word-of-Mouth Program Prioritization and Execution.

• WOM Evangelism Program
  • Developing tools to make telling a friend easier
  • Creating forums and feedback tools
  • Working with social networks
  • Creating blogs, Podcasts, RSS feeds and other tools to share information
  • Participating openly on online blogs and discussions

• Buzz Creation Program
  • Creating information that can be shared or forwarded
  • Developing Advertising, stunts, and other publicity that encourages conversation
  • Developing additional WOM elements into online asset

• Community Development Program
  • Creating user groups and product advocacy sites
  • Supporting independent groups that form around product/service
  • Hosting discussions and message boards about a product/service
  • Enabling grassroots organization such as local meetings and other real-world participation

• Advocacy Outreach and Engagement Program
  • Finding people who are likely to respond to your message
  • Identifying people who are able to influence your target customers
  • Informing these individuals about what you do and encouraging them to spread the word
  • Good-faith efforts to support issues and causes that are important to these individuals
  • Providing recognition and tools to active advocates
  • Recruiting new advocates, teaching them about the benefits of your products, and encouraging them to talk about them

• WOM Paid Search Programs
  • Keyword programs to promote related communities, blogs, Podcasts, Buzz Programs, etc.
  • Negative keyword program

• Co-creation and Information Sharing Program
  • Involving consumers in marketing and creative (feedback on creative campaigns, develop contest to get customers to create content for commercials
  • Letting customers 'behind the curtain' to have first access to information and content

Word-of-Mouth Program Measurement

• Tracking Selected WOM programs
  • Online conversations by supporters, detractors, and neutrals
  • Forward to a Friend tracking
  • Quantitative/Qualitative Buzz Agent feedback