Consumer Generated Media can Build or Breakdown a Brand; It’s Your Choice

Growing up my Mom used to say, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” It’s a lesson that has resonated throughout my life but seems to have been ignored by the social media community. More often than not, social media posts are negative and it is these negative comments that get the most attention.

In marketing it is common knowledge that a positive experience will be shared with three friends, but a negative experience will be shared with 10 and the news will spread exponentially from there.

Today in a world of consumer generated media, with the ease of status updates, tweets, forums, YouTube and blogs, news and opinions spread faster than ever. An experience that was once spread to 30 people spreads by the thousands or in some cases the millions.

Toyota is a leading automotive brand. A Google search for Toyota offers the search recommendation “Toyota Recall” first. The emphasis on the problems of Toyota is only hurting the brand.

Tiger Woods is by far the strongest single brand in the golf industry. If you Google “Tiger Woods” the top the listings in the pull down recommendation are “Tiger Woods Affair” “Tiger Woods Mistress” and “Tiger Woods Scandal.” This is a hard reality to swallow for the brand managers, and as a result many sponsors withdrew their contracts.

When managing your brand’s image, it is important to build a great company, but to encourage consumers to share kind words through consumer generated media is a challenge. Here are a few examples of user generated content that built a brand’s awareness:

Art contest
• Icelantic skis recently ran a contest asking for new ski art to be used on next season’s skis. Ski enthusiasts rally around the fun and creative outlet tied to the brand.
User generated video
• Doritos® has done an incredible job of producing positive brand experiences and driving users to their site through the “Crash the Super Bowl” video content: www.crashthesuperbowl.com
Photo contest
• Orvis promotes a positive environment for dog enthusiasts through their annual cover dog photo contest building a community around the Orvis brand: http://www.orvis.com/coverdog
Blog submissions
• The Royal Caribbean offered a ship naming contest through a blog, which generated 91,000 entries and a plethora of positive press surrounding the competition.

The key to the successful management of a brand through consumer generated media is providing platforms which encourage consumers to speak positively to the brand. Through a well planned out online marketing plan, brands can manage the increasingly negative commentary by giving more opportunities to highlight the benefits of a brand.

Kevin Reese
President / Owner
kreese@thinkmango.com
303-442-1821