Jumping on the UGC bandwagon is a good move for businesses

* Jennifer Leggio is on vacation

Guest editorial by Cynthia Francis

In Guy Kawasaki's own words at his keynote at the first UGCX Conference last month, "Nobodies are the new somebodies." He's right; the Internet combined with User Generated Content (UGC) levels the playing field, giving everyone the power of an equal voice to contribute to the conversation. When the Internet was born, the big rush for any serious business was to get a Web site up and running to exhibit its "presence" online. Presence is no longer enough. People are no longer going to accept a one-sided dialogue with the brands they consume. They want to go and get more information about a product and connect with other people with similar interests. Think about being at a cocktail party and listening to someone who won't stop talking about themselves. It gets boring and it certainly doesn't inspire interest or conversation. The goal at that point is to get away as soon as possible. Understanding common in-person social guidelines will serve you and your online marketing initiatives well in 2009.

Social networking and UGC have proven themselves as formidable outlets for electronic media as well as powerful forms of communication for millions of users. Now they are proving themselves as valuable marketing and advertising tools for a wide swath of industries including retail, travel, entertainment, education, and many more. Empowering people to speak out and contribute around a specific topic online is the future of marketing and brand awareness. With this in mind, many businesses are shifting their business models from a broadcast entity to one where interaction is possible...and encouraged. With social media, there truly is no limit and everything to gain in terms of opening up a community based around a brand or common interest. The idea of an equal voice in social media is an example of the power of the Internet and how it can be harnessed to develop stronger relationships with key constituents. Smaller companies can suddenly be more nimble and portray a global presence with the ability to generate cost-effective buzz limited only by imagination and innovation. Bigger companies are looking more and more to smaller companies able to take larger risks, as they watch with intrigue that this very transparent experiment is reaping rewards.

Businesses looking to power marketing initiatives around social media should leverage existing media and content, including video, archived and consumer-produced content. The goal is to build brand awareness in a participatory environment -- a community around your brand -- and engage consumers in order to build stronger relationships and loyalty. Some companies are using rich media to engage audiences. Video sharing thrives on context and community. Consumers enjoy using rich media tools, allowing them to upload video comments and reviews, audio, and images from any device (Web cam, cell phone, browser, toaster, etc.), and participate in the marketing process. The point is to engage consumers well enough initially to lead them back to a particular brand. The Pew Internet & American Life Project found that more than half of online video viewers (57%) share links to the video they find with others, and three in four (75%) say they receive links to watch video that others have sent to them. The idea is to differentiate yourself and build upon the character of your brand.

You also want to build upon the character of your audience. You want them to have a voice, but businesses also want to protect their brand. One of the biggest worries for organizations out there with deploying UGC is maintaining a brand safe environment. To this end, ensure you have good moderation tools in place. There are administrative management tools that can be used to configure, change and moderate your social media community.

If 250-year old companies, such as Encyclopedia Brittanica, can change a business model to a UGC one, so can others.

Cynthia Francis, CEO and co-founder of Reality Digital, is a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience building and leading pioneering companies in digital media management and online media technologies.