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Ten Things Every Marketer Should Know About Wikipedia

One of the six brand credibility drivers I describe in my upcoming book,  Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends; Angry Customers Tell 3000, is affirmation. This refers to the consensus of positive or negative truths about a business or brand. For example, I'm affirmed by what you see in the results when you search on my name. I might also be affirmed by the consensus of commentary that wraps around something I've posted on a blog or message board or via video. Wikipedia, as I note in my ClickZ column this morning (Ten Things Every Marketer Should Know About Wikipedia) "is rewriting the marketing script, because it's far and away one of the Web's most potent and powerful affirmation drivers. Once the primary domain of A-list bloggers and Web 2.0 elite, it's now unmistakably penetrated the online masses."

Here are excerpts of the "Ten Things" from the article: There's also an excellent exchange of comments on my Consumer-Generated Media group on Facebook on this very topic.
 

• Participation. According to a much discussed "Los Angeles Times" article, Wikipedia cranks out 300 million page views a day on a $4.6 million budget. The output is just remarkable given the dollars invested. The site is built on the power and attentiveness of user passion. Every marketer needs to think long and hard about that untapped opportunity.
• Shelf positioning. Search your brand on Google or another search engine, and I'll bet the Wikipedia entry is in one of the top three organic positions. That's like owning prime eye-level shelf space in Wal-Mart. Such a premium shelf position means it's a big part of what's defining or shaping your brand's early perceptions. Wikipedia's definition, therefore, takes on special meaning. Think about the power of such positioning around a new product launch.
• Transparency. There's very little you can't learn about brands via Wikipedia, even a 10-year-old controversy. Facts and otherwise fleeting incidents stick, and if a writer   has taken the brand to task, it's more than likely to show up in the entry, sometimes prominently. The McDonald's entry, for example, links to the book "Fast Food Nation" and the 2004 documentary film "Super Size Me." Transparency, remember, works both ways -- the good and the bad. 
• Counter-advertising. I recently led a strategy review for a top brand. To start the process, I juxtaposed Wikipedia's description of the brand's benefits against the      advertised benefits, and the two weren't even close to being in sync. Can you say "equity clash"?
• Inquiry. Every year, I've asked the text-mining passionistas in my office to run an analysis of the Wikipedia terms bloggers most frequently cite. I treat it as a leading    indictor of what consumers want or their unmet needs. What people look for and link to on Wikipedia is powerful and can be better than a focus group.
• Globalization. The site manages to get you to a different language platform easily and seamlessly -- and never at the expense of the initial interface's look and feel. Marketers should pay attention.
• The self-promotion reality check. Everyone has a story about how he tried to put something up on Wikipedia, only to have it kicked back because it was too promotional. Nothing's a given on Wikipedia, and credibility must be earned. Marketers, overburdened by short-term ROI imperatives, usually want preferred copy      overnight, but it just doesn't work that way. Entries with independent inks, for example, are critical. Again, you need credibility from outside sources.
• Unlimited, free legal review. Wikipedia reminds me a bit of my days at Procter & Gamble when the lawyers diligently scoured claims support and positioning to ensure   they could stand any level of scrutiny. Wikipedia does the same thing, but publicly. As the Web morphs into multimedia, the documentation, such as a video demonstrating that a product feature really doesn't perform as positioned, takes on a new level of scrutiny.
• Fast turnaround. Marketers are still miles away from a real-time sense-and-respond mindset, but Wikipedia acts like a 24/7 vacuum cleaner that constantly iterates      brand definitions and news. If a brand experiences a recall or a safety violation, you'll see it weaved into the Wikipedia entry faster than you can call your PR firm. This was a big deal during last year's pet food recall. Wikipedia almost rivaled Google News as a quick, trusted reference point for all that unfolded during the recall.
• Trial and error. If you haven't signed up yet to be a Wikipedia contributor and/or editor, do it now and start learning its system for adding, editing, and updating      content. You don't have to be an Internet wizard or code head to learn the      Wikipedia way of doing things, but it does take some concentration. If everyone else is defining you on Wikipedia, you should be part of the process, too. If you're not monitoring your Wikipedia entry daily, start doing it. You really need to get early experience on the platform to prime yourself for fast turnaround.

What's missing?  Join the conversation here or on the Consumer-Generated Media Facebook group.   Dave Evans, Bill Stephenson, Morton Jensen, Zena Weist, Andy Zilch, Charlotte Selles, Pauline Ores, and Vandana Ahuja have already added superb comments on this topic.    

 

Business Week on Consumer Vigilantes: Customer Service, Emotion, and CGM in Focus

Business Week's 3/3 edition (available online now) features a very important cover story by Jena McGregor entitled Consumer Vigilantes: Fighting for truth, justice, and the right to speak to a manager. The issue also includes an annual ranking of "Customer Service Champs" -- many of whom, interestingly, have been profiled in either this blog or my forthcoming book, "Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3000!"  -- as well as a provocative (and spot-on) op-ed by Jeff Jarvis entitled "Love the Customers Who Hate You".  Importantly, McGregor writes:

"The sting of a bad experience can cut so deep that it transforms an upset customer into an activist no longer interested in just a refund." 

As we've probed many times in this blog (see tagged links), and in nearly a dozen ClickZ columns, marketers and business executives have yet to internalize the critical symbiotic relationship between brand/service "experiences" and "media" output (and I'm not talking about paid media). McGregor's piece helps make that connection more obvious and transparent.  The propensity to speak out (hence generate CGM or social media) is inextricably tied to depth of consumer loyalty or disloyalty, and its powered by the web's growing arsenal of megaphones that seem to get even more powerful every day thanks to the advent of multi-media (e.g. video, audio, photos) as well as "I second that emotion" community and social-networking capability.    The upside of extreme loyalty and brand emotion might be found in places like Facebook's 40,000+ member Southwest Airlines group or the nearly 70,000 member "Addicted to Starbucks" group (more perspective here). The downside of extreme disloyalty and boiling emotion -- what McGregor describes as "venom-spewed tales of woe" -- can be found in tens of thousands of places on the web's digital trail, from message boards to blogs to YouTube.  (As Jarvis suggests, just go to Google and add the word "sucks" to a brand query.)

So What Next?  Business Week does a great job diagnosing the problem, and the "winners" part shines light on a host of best practices (Fairmont, Lexus, Trader Joe's, Lands End, Enterprise), but I still worry whether there's a big missing piece of the conversation around "what next."  Importantly, are the marketing leaders -- the owners of the biggest discretionary budget, and arguably the most influential drivers of change in large enterprises-- internalizing the message, and translating these new insights around consumer behavior into better "media" models.  If "service is the new marketing," as they say, what's the blueprint for re-engineering the marketing department along these lines?  How should the CMO -- or the constellation of communications agencies (media planning, advertising, PR, digital) -- be incented to move in this direction?  And will there be rewards and recognition for the mostly undervalued (and typically non-strategic "cost center") owners of the call-center, email feedback, and more?   

First Things First: Since 2000, I've attended over a dozen conferences of the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals, one of the largest industry group's representing corporations and brands that own the "listening pipe." While not nearly as glamorous as the "new media" or Web 2.0 confabs and conferences, these SOCAP events always hit me like a refreshing cold-shower because they are grounded in the real nuts and bolts of listening, training the front-lines, adapting to an increasingly diverse (e.g. Spanish speakers) and demanding consumers, developing fair and consistent methods for responding to consumers, and navigating impenetrably complex legal barriers (and fear).  I have also learned that this department is consistently underfunded and under-resourced, and mostly divorced from marketing.  As boring and mundane as their work seems, it's hard not to conclude that if a company can't nail the "basics" of consumer listening they'll never get it right, or be credible, in the far more vexing and volatile social media zone. (Remember, most of the vigilantes Business Week's McGregor highlights initially reached out the company, but those experiences were poorly managed and only made the situation worse.)  So you have to start with the source.  That said, like the CMO, the consumer affairs and customer relations leaders also need to step up to the plate, a point I underscored last fall in a SOCAP keynote entitled "Wake Up and Listen to Consumer 2.0."  If they want more budget, more respect, more leeway to nurture meaningful consumer loyalty -- and hence positive word-of-mouth and CGM creation -- they need to make their case, and do so now at a time when the resource-rich marketers are dotting every third word in speeches and memos with the word "conversation."  My book lays out a host of strategies for making such a case, but short of even reading a book (or Business Week's story) business leaders simply need to take a long, hard stare at today's consumer and negotiate a new relationship.  The good news is that there's a growing laundry list of best practices in this area I like to refer to as Listening-Centered Marketing, from Dell's Ideastorm to the 800-number-all-over-the-place Zappos.com.  We're also seeing new metrics and measurement protocols (this is part of what I do in my day job) that make it far easier for brands to understand and act upon varying degrees of consumer emotion (the building block of consumer loyalty or even defection) flowing across the CGM landscape.

Final Question: And so I end this post with a simple question: how do we shift from consumer-powered "vigilantism" to company-powered "service vigilance."  Business Week's piece fires up that conversation, and I really hope it continues down the right path.

Holiday Reading: Top Marketing Blogs

Every month or so Peter Kim publishes a list of top marketing blogs entitled the M20.  Somehow I've managed to consistently make the list (which makes me scratch my head a fair amount) but there are a host of other excellent blogs that cover similar themes and issues.  This week he was a bit more generous in his link-love, and I've basically lifted his expanded list of highly readable blogs written by marketing executives.  See below. More background on Peter's approach here.

• Andy Lark's Blog :: Andy Lark, Dell
• AttentionMax :: Max Kalehoff, Clickable
• Bad idea, indeed :: Philippe Deltenre, Microsoft 
• BeRelevant! :: Tamara Gielen, eBay 
• Biznology :: Mike Moran, IBM 
• Brandopia :: Geert Desager, Microsoft 
• Buzz Marketing For Technology :: Paul Dunay, BearingPoint 
• The Changing Face of Media :: Scott Berg, HP 
• Churbuck.com :: David Churbuck, Lenovo 
• The Client Side :: Michael Seaton, ScotiaBank
• Community Group Therapy :: Sean O'Driscoll, Microsoft 
• Consumer Generated Media :: Pete Blackshaw, Nielsen Buzzmetrics 
• Conversation Agent :: Valeria Maltoni, SunGard Availability Services 
• Cross The Breeze :: Kris Hoet, Microsoft 
• Decker Marketing :: Sam Decker, Bazaarvoice 
• The Digital Mindset Blog :: Eric Kintz, HP 
• El Blog de Enrique Burgos :: Enrique Burgos, SEUR
• Emerson Process Experts :: Jim Cahill, Emerson Process Management 
• ExperienceCurve :: Karl Long, Nokia 
• Flooring The Consumer  :: CB Whittemore, Wear-Dated Carpet Fiber 
• Gauravonomics :: Gaurav Mishra, Tata Motors
• The HP LaserJet Blog :: Vince Ferraro, HP 
• HP's Small & Medium Business Community Blog :: Anneliese Olson, HP 
• The Innovative Marketer :: Steve Gershik, Eloqua 
• The Kristasphere :: Krista Summit, Lenovo 
• Listen Up! :: John Porcaro, Microsoft 
• The Lonely Marketer :: Patrick Schaber, Transition Networks 
• Marketing Monster :: Michael Morton, Lampo Group 
• Marketing Nirvana :: Mario Sundar, LinkedIn 
• Masiguy :: Tim Jackson, Masi Bicycles 
• MEGO :: Michelle Kostya, Cuisinart and Waring Pro
• Novell:  John Dragoon's Blog :: John Dragoon, Novell 
• Randy's Journal :: Randy Tinseth, Boeing 
• Sony Electronics Blog :: Rick Clancy, Sony Electronics 
• Strategic Public Relations :: Kevin Dugan, FRCH Design 
• Suzanne's Blog :: Suzanne Fanning, Fiskars
• Todd And - The Power To Connect :: Todd Andrlik, Leopardo Construction 
• "Turbo" Todd Watson :: Todd Watson, IBM 
• Unleashed on marketing blog :: Gary Bembridge, Johnson & Johnson 

 

2007 Buzz Leaderboard: Wikipedia, Facebook, iPhone, Paris, Barry, and Lindsay (A Short List!)

Sometimes you just need let the numbers tell the story.  I'm beginning to pull together various notes and conclusions from 2007, and in the process ran a series of trend charts on BlogPulse.com.  This tool charts out the number of references against a given term or phrase among total new blog postings.  Nielsen's BlogPulse tracks about 66 million blogs, and roughly 700,000 new posts are indexed every day.  Here's a shortlist of buzzmakers for the year. 

Wikipedia Still Trumps the Encyclopedia: The meteoric rise of Wikipedia.com continues to fascinate me (and many others, obviously).  This form of "group CGM" continues to nurture trust and credibility across the web, and the number of blog links into Wikipedia punctuate that point.  Who would have imagined, only a few years ago, that quirky sounding utility like Wikipedia would draw over five-times as many references online as the ostensibly durable term encyclopedia? Go figure!

Facebook Takes a Leap, YouTube Keeps Marching:  As conversation goes, Facebook has jumped well ahead of peer social networking sites, especially Linked-In, and I suspect much of this stems from both the open-sourcing of application development on the platform and the hardly veiled discovery, if not embrace, by the marketing community.

 

Of course, these numbers may under-represent the true level of discussion about Facebook because most Facebook conversation is taking place on, well, Facebook, not just blogs.  My own Facebook group , Consumer Generated Media, quickly grew a membership base that now exceeds email subscribers to this blog. YouTube, meanwhile, continues to burrow itself even deeper into the conversational vibes, aided by user growth, many tipping points of critical mass, increasing diversified content, and aggressive marketing by just about anyone who puts up a video, including marketers.

Iphone Creates a Buzz Halo: But the Real Halo Also Impressive:  Unless there's a big surprise between now and December, it will be difficult to dethrone the iPhone as 2007's biggest buzz story.  The buzz was strong, sustained, and diversified, which in turn kept the popular device always conversational. Meanwhile, "Halo 3," designed by Bungie Studios for Microsoft's X-Box, also has been a big CGM winner this year, peaking shortly around its release on September 25. Sample the conversation.

As Buzz Goes, We'll Always Have Paris (Hilton, not France): Not sure if this is the best news for the French tourism bureau but Paris Hilton kept pace with overall buzz that explicitly referenced Paris, France, and even far exceeded that during the ubiquitous celebrity's more controversial moments.  It's hard to say whether any of this will die anytime soon.  You can peruse her HeyNielsen conversation to understand some of the root drivers behind her often-polarizing discussion.  Her David Letterman appearance probably takes the cake in terms of elevating her buzz levels above the competition out there.

Steroids Buzz Bonds to Barry Bonds:  Guilty or innocent, Barry Bonds just couldn't dodge the vast majority of conversation on blogs related to steroids. Where buzz about steroids spiked, conversation about Barry Bonds was even higher.  The only exception was around late June, when steroid related conversation spiked related to the death of professional wrestler Chris Benoit.

Rehab Talk Can't Quit With Lindsay Lohan: Similarly, where discussion related to "rehab" was concerned, it was mostly inseparable from the trials of Lindsay Lohan.  Then again, the discussion over rehabilitation programs was hardly monolithic. A much broader discussion ensued across blogs of every variety about whether rehab programs actually work.  Many bloggers shared first hand experiences.

 

Son of Kryptonite: Unlocking the iPhone

I couldn't ignore this "Unlocking the iPhone" video because it spikes to the top of the blog charts with unusual fury. Classic CGM!

Ten Great Marketing Insights from My Summer Intern (and thanks)!

This week my summer intern, Chandler Koglmeier, wraps up an accomplishment-rich tour of duty, and I wanted to publicly thank him. Over the course of the summer (and also during a trial-run in January) he did a great job across a diversity of projects, and I can't even begin to say how much I appreciate his commitment and dedication.  Most importantly, and so relevant my musings of late, Chandler taught me a great deal about emerging social media and CGM platforms.  Yes, I knew about these platforms, but Chandler helped me internalize what they were all about, especially Facebook.  As a tribute to the great wisdom he passed on to his boss (and beyond), I wrote a ClickZ article entitled, drumroll please, Ten Great Insights from My Marketing Intern.  Here's are the headlines from the list:

• Google Rocks and Scares at the Same Time
• Facebook Trumps MySpace
• Friends are Social Currency
• Reputation is Earned, Never Assumed
• Simple Packaging Really Matters
• Scarcity and Student Poverty Beget Efficiency
• Your Life Is Your Resume
• Wikipedia Rocks
• A Fine Conversational Bloom Must Be Groomed
• College Students Cheer Open Source

Again, here's a link. Thanks, Chandler. Don't forget the little people when you move on to do great things in your life. 

The Iterative, Blended Influential Scorecard: Or Lack Thereof?

Both Peter Kim and Steve Rubel are up to an interesting exercise.  Both, in their own ways, are introducing new frameworks for measuring influence.  Peter is tacking the matter from the lens of key marketing blogs, and as you can see he's already updated his list based on a combination of feedback and new criteria.  Steve Rubel, similarly, is tackling a set of important new timely questions around "What is Influence," especially as non-blog power-pockets like Facebook start to take deeper root.  See Crowdsourcing a New System for Measuring Influence.  Also see Edelman's latest Social Media index posted by Edelman CEO and "Sixty Second View" blogger David Brain.  I frankly think this a critical, and fascinating, exercise for all marketers and business professionals to think through, as so many critical tactical and strategic decisions in this "age of consumer control" are grounded in how we define the so-called "influencer."  Again, see Peter Kim's latest list below.  He must have made a terrible mistake in keeping me on the list.  :-)

1. Listen Up! :: John Porcaro, Group Manager - Online Communications, Microsoft.
2. ExperienceCurve :: Karl Long, Web/Social Media Integration Manager, Nokia.
3. Strategic Public Relations :: Kevin Dugan, Director of Marketing Communications, FRCH Design.
4. Todd And - The Power To Connect :: Todd Andrlik, Director of Marketing and PR, Leopardo Construction.
5. Marketing Nirvana :: Mario Sundar, Community Evangelist, LinkedIn.
6. Decker Marketing ::  Sam Decker, VP Marketing, Bazaarvoice.
7. Flooring The Consumer  ::  Authored by CB Whittemore, Director of In-Store Innovation, Wear-Dated Carpet Fiber.
8. The Marketing Excellence Blog :: Eric Kintz, VP Marketing, Digital Photography & Entertainment, Hewlett-Packard.
9. cgm :: Pete Blackshaw, CMO, Nielsen Buzzmetrics.
10. Bernaisesource ::  Dan Greenfield, VP Corporate Communications, Earthlink.
11. Cross The Breeze ::  Kris Hoet, Marketing Communications Manager, Microsoft.
12. Churbuck.com ::  David Churbuck, VP Global Web Marketing, Lenovo.
13. Masiguy ::  Tim Jackson, Brand Manager, Masi Bicycles.
14. AttentionMax ::  Max Kalehoff, VP Marketing, Nielsen Buzzmetrics.
15. Emerson Process Experts ::   Jim Cahill, Marketing Communications Manager, Emerson Process Management.
16. BeRelevant! :: Tamara Gielen, Email Marketing Manager - Belgium, eBay.
17. Brandopia ::  Geert Desager, Trade Marketing Manager, Microsoft.
18. Buzz Marketing For Technology ::  Paul Dunay, Director of Global Field & Interactive Marketing, BearingPoint.
19. Community Group Therapy :: Sean O'Driscoll, General Manager of Community Support and MVP, Microsoft.
20. The Client Side :: Michael Seaton, Director - Digital Marketing, Scotiabank.
21. "Turbo" Todd Watson :: Todd Watson, IBM software group - web marketing, IBM.
22. John Dragoon's Blog :: John Dragoon, CMO, Novell.
23. The HP LaserJet Blog ::  Vince Ferraro, VP of Worldwide Marketing - LaserJet BU, HP.
24. The Changing Face of Media :: Scott Berg, Worldwide Media Director, HP.
25. Marketing Monster ::  Morton, Marketing Specialist, Lampo Group.
26. Bad idea, indeed :: Philippe Deltenre, Business Development & Strategy Manager, Microsoft.
27. The Innovative Marketer :: Steve Gershik, Director of Marketing Innovation, Eloqua.
28. Sony Electronics Blog :: Rick Clancy, Head of US Corporate Communications, Sony.
29. John Heald's Blog :: John Heald, Cruise Director, Carnival.
30. The Kristasphere :: Krista Summit, Web Marketing Strategist, Lenovo.
31. Randy's Journal :: Randy Tinseth, VP Marketing, Boeing.

Join the Conversation: Facebook Consumer Generated Media Group

Have no earthy clue how this will play out, but I've created an official "Group" on Facebook dedicated to extending the conversation on consumer-generated media.  Even without any advertising, the group immediately picked up 12 members. You and others are welcome to join. 

Top Marketing Blogs - A First Cut!

Probably a total fluke, but this consumer-obsessed marketing blog managed to make Forrester analyst Peter Kim's first cut at a Top Marketing Blog ranking.  My current slot is #5, but here's an important caveat (before you high-five me).  Peter narrowed the criteria to "the most popular blogs written by client-side marketing professionals.  These are people who are doing their brands a favor by engaging customers and prospects in conversation."   Put another way, these are blogs that are not directly linked to the formal marketing services.  Many other superb marketing blogs -- far more insightful than my own -- didn't make the cut!  Also important, Peter's taking suggestions.   (I read or subscribe to most of the other blogs on Peter's list, but there are a few new ones I knew little about, so use his list to push your frontier of awareness.)

Who Owns the Influencer?

Who really owns the so-called consumer influencer?  In theory, everyone should wrap their business strategies around this this newly empowered, high-impact, CGM-rich megaphone, but it's just not that easy!  We need some semblance of order and consistency in our organizations, don't we?  This morning in ClickZ, I tackle this vexing question (Who Owns the Influencer?)   I've had a chance to reflect on the question from two unique vantage points. First, having been in consumer-generated media monitoring business, I've seen a broad spectrum of corporate stakeholders tackling this area, from brand to ER to quality and product development. That's obviously a good thing - more buyers, more interest, more consensus around a powerful idea (e.g. listening to the outspoken consumer) -- but it also underscores some level of ambiguity in ownership, now and down the line.  My other vantage points comes as a co-founder of WOMMA, where I've witnessed, with utter fascination, a similarly diverse group of stakeholders tackling the WOM/influencer space.  PR firms, for example, have been far more aggressive than traditional agencies in tacking this new "advertising" space.  Meanwhile, you have some groups like consumer affairs that should be at the table, but which remain largely marginalized or organizationally impotent to exert their own "influential voice" into this ownership debate.  As more fog descends over this "who owns the influencer" question, I predict we'll start to see a more thoughtful rationalization or roles.  Internally, ER, marketing, and consumer relations will start to morph.  Externally, we're likely to see less of a distinction between PR and advertising agencies and more focus on "integrated communication."  Then again, maybe I'm living in my own silo.  Again, here's the article!