Trend: Consumer Generated Media

Enterprises, their corporate Websites, and their internal marketing teams no longer control most of the online information about themselves. Active groups of consumers gather to review, rate products or participate in online discussions. In Addition people start to publish their own contents on blogs (weblogs or digital diaries) or moblogs (sites where people post fotos or videos from their mobile).

Blogging is a major movement within the trend of Consumer Generated Media.
See the summary of the CScout TrendDay about Blogging last March 2005.

Consumer complain on complaints.com, rate products & services at tripadvisor.com, epinions.com or ciao.com or give qualified feedback on products on planetfeedback.com. Furthermore consumers start to broadcast their selfgenerated media. Audio-content or even video-content can be distributed easily via Podcasting or Mediacasting.

Consumer Generated Media (CGM) is the new term for describing media that individual consumers create on their own with a near-professional quality.

The rapid growth of this trend and its influence poses challenges and opportunities for marketing and public relation teams. Consumer Generated Media will soon be a major competitor to traditional media.

Many studies have shown that consumers trust other consumers more than the manufacturer when it comes to product information. One example is the Honda Hybrid line of cars. Though Honda has claimed that their hybrid cars can get fifty to sixty miles per gallon, consumers, finding otherwise, have gathered in online spaces to discuss their actual mileage calculations. Prospective consumers of Honda Hybrid cars are increasingly turning to these channels for information, and in many cases using these sites as a way to connect with current owners for feedback before purchase. This is an important development for retailers as they must now reconsider their traditional methods of disseminating and positioning product information.

According to Dr. Vipul Gupta of St. Joseph University’s Haub School of Business, there are three ways companies can respond to CGM. The worst strategy is to sue the consumer for saying things the company doesn’t like. A better approach would be to track and monitor the consumer generated media. But the best way to create benefits for your comany is to take part and initiate personal content on your own.

CScout gained experience in tracking and monitoring of Consumer Generated Media and the growing Blogosphere.
Furthermore we encourage our customers to start their own Blogging-Projects.

If you want to know more please feel free to contacts us a munich@cscout.com

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