Who's Using Who?

User-generated content might have once been a marketers nightmare, but since the uprising of empowered consumers and social media, user-generated content has taken a step up on the podium to claim first prize.

Since 2008, the growth of smart phones and 3G phones has spurred on the popularity of social media networks because now you could connect anywhere and at your convenience. Evolving past conventional text based communication, photo and video based media has also been on the rise, giving users the opportunity to capture and share content with their friends and subcultures. So is that it? Not exactly.

By definition, user generated content refers to 'material created and uploaded to the web by non-media individuals.' And...it's one of the fastest growing forms of content on the Internet. From review sites to rating sites, comments to blogs, User Generated Content (UGC) has actually been around since the 1980's but only in the last few years has it grown into a phenomenon.

So, if most of what is on the web now is UGC, how can you harness that to build your business? UGC has brought on a new wave of advertising and marketing tools. Some of the opportunities created by UGC is that marketers are now empowered to shape the discussion. The advertiser is now required to talk to the user, creating a dialogue and a platform to 'convince' users of the benefit of their product and really engage with them as an individual rather than just a statistic.

Marketers and advertisers also have the chance to experiment. Because conventional advertising doesn't have the same impact that it used to, an opportunity presents itself to allow advertisers to specifically respond to, talk about or piggy back their solutions and products based on the exact needs and wants of the user.

The only drawback of UGC is that when someone feels free to share their opinion - they can't be censored to only share what is great about a product. They will share the pitfalls and disappointments too. Although this negative feedback does need to be monitored to steer a potentially damaging review, it can also be the chance you were looking for to rectify any misconceptions and gather valuable information and feedback that can help you improve your services.

UGC seems as though it will be here to stay for now. Until of course, the world gets tired of making their own decisions and just want to be told what cereal to buy, phone to use, trip to take. Until then, harness the power of UCG and watch your business grow.

Visit www.hummba.com and share your pictures straight from your phone to the web. come on user...generate.

(Contributor/Writer: Jacques Teichmann)