Will users generate your content?

Monday, August 27, 2007 by Sharon Long

I've been thinking a lot lately about user generated content (UGC) and what it means to the future of copywriting and marketing communications. After all, if the users are generating the content, why do we need people like me?

User generated content is created by users. Think YouTube, Wikipedia, blogs, reviews on Amazon... and for businesses, it's created by your end users.

So do you still need people writing Web content and enewsletters and other marketing materials? I think so. Because we still have to give end users something to react to, to comment on, to embellish on. Your company still requires a brand and consistent message. The world still needs taglines and headlines and bylines. Someone has to start the dialog. But it will be interesting to see if some of these start becoming more relevant and effective because of the input of the end users.

Heck, my kids come up with taglines all the time...pretty good ones too!

Comments for Will users generate your content?

Monday, August 27, 2007 by Al Lefcourt:
Someone from TurboTax recently gave a presentation at a San Diego Direct Mktg. Assoc. luncheon about their UGC campaign prior to Apr. 15, 2007 and it was a hoot. They called it Tax Rap. They got Vanilla Ice to do a rap video about taxes and posted it on You Tube. Then they had a contest to see who could create the best Tax Rap, with VI as final judge. We got to see many of the top contenders and some were damn good! They're probably still up on You Tube if you care to search for them. They reported breaking even on the campaign (or almost) but frankly I don't remember how they tracked that. Which meant a lot of PR for little to no cost.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007 by Matt:
There are a lot of (very) amateur copywriters out there churning out some truly "unique" copy, but it's actually making our jobs as marketers easier! You now have an army of volunteer marketers, testing copy ideas for your products, businesses and brands. You'll know that a particular copy idea works when that comment gets tons of visits, replies, etc. The more we can scan and leverage user-generated content, the better and more productive our own marketing will be.

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