3 posts tagged “user generated content”

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The professional journalists fight back?

Dec 20, 2006
1 comment

What's the future of "professional" media when you can blog your own newspaper, shoot your own film and record your own radio programme for the world to read, see and hear? That seems to be the main question doing the rounds post Time's Person of the Year 2006. Nothing new I hear you say. Absolutely! This question has been bubbling for quite some time. The big difference is that when, on the front cover of Time, you read... PROFESSIONAL MEDIA IS DEAD, a lot of people sit up, listen and react. I'm sure the irony wasn't lost on Rick Stengel.

Two types of response to this seem to dominate the airwaves... the online chatter of bloggers and new media folk revelling in the glory - "we were right all along, old media is dead, long live the amateur!" - and the fightback of traditional journalists such as Marcel Berlins in the Guardian (20.12.06) defending their role in this new media landscape - "people will always want to listen to what we have to say, you can trust our reporting, opinions and reviews, the professional will never die!". Both are wrong I'm afraid.

The new landscape is here. People listen to, and more importantly, trust each other. They check feedback on hotels, restaurants and holiday destinations on the likes of TripAdvisor. They lap up the latest scoops be it news flashes, investigative reports or celebirty gossip. They sift through film reviews, music charts and book ratings. Worryingly for the professional media folk, people often trust these "amateurs" more... because they are amateurs. Readers aren't naive. They know that journalists' salaries are ultimately paid by advertisers; that companies, looking to market the latest movie, restaurant or celebrity endorsement invite them to junkets, food tastings or offer "exclusive" interviews; and that often there's a connection between that nice editorial and that big ad for the same product. How hard it must be for the average journalist or editor to remain truly objective and independent... and my hat goes off to those that do!

Berlins', and other similar fightbacks, are therefore arrogant, feeble and sadly mis-directed - arrogant because they assume that an amateur can't write a good review, feeble because they underestimate the genuine value of review services on the likes of Amazon (star rating, commentary AND a review of the reviewers), and totally mis-directed because old media is NOT dead (if it figures out what's wrong... quick).

We will continue to look to brands we trust (be they publications or individuals), in whatever format, to help us make decisions, form opinions and get information. If those brands offer value, if asked, we will be happy to either pay for that service or accept advertising in the knowledge that, whoever is writing the article, recording the programme or infront of the camera, is getting paid. Some people will chose to write the reviews for free and some will make a professional career out of it, but in either case, in a society where you can get googled at the press of a button, the question will NOT be whether they're a pro or an amateur, but whether they can be trusted.

"Professional" media is therefore not necessarily dead but needs to actually be professional.

Let go of your brand

Nov 29, 2006
2 comments

In this world of user generated content, how do I control my brand? You don't and you never did!!!

Brand owners are grappling with this subject in a world where consumers have the tools to make any brand their own and publish what they think and feel for the world to see (positive or negative). Some brand owners try and control (e.g. MGM suing James Bond fan sites) and others look to embrace (e.g. Xbox and their fan site programme). My bet is those that embrace win.

The point that many don't get is that they never controlled their brands anyway. People always talked, critiqued and often recommended. Now they do it in a more public (and measurable) way... that's all.

The basic principles therefore should be the same... listen, embrace, respond to your consumers, don't try to police them... you can't and if you try it will back-fire. Someone called this "brand sheperding" recently which I think is a really nice phrase. The more you do this the more the postives have "share of noise", the more consumers are making decisions on full information than rumours.

Measurement is also an interesting plus... comments are public but you can observe through tools such as Blogpulse or Google Trends. This means you can be a by-stander in pub conversations where previously you couldn't hear. You can respond if you care enough. Caring about your brand... now that's an interesting one. Who genuinely does? You should.

Problem is that many great marketing folks in larger corporations have become seperated from their audience, some out of choice (more comfortable sitting in an nice office than getting down and dirty), many pushed away by big agencies saying "leave it to us... don't worry". It's normal to be scared and not know what to do, even if you know you need to respond.

Anyway... would be interested in peoples comments on this area.