According to bazaarvoice: The voice of the consumer continues to rise as the most powerful and trusted content by shoppers. It’s the next wave of feedback and innovation. As a result, consumer- generated content (CGC) has grown and expanded into different types of content: photos, videos, questions, chats, and more. Moving well beyond traditional word-of-mouth marketing, CGC has transformed into a powerful, trusted, and essential form of communication between people and businesses.
Shoppers today want to know about brands, but they also want to know about the experience of engaging in a relationship with that brand. CGC addresses that curiosity with a rich new segment of content that bridges the gap between online and online, wherever shoppers are in the purchase path. Marketers must realize the opportunity this CGC interaction creates.
84% of millennials cite CGC as having some influence on what they buy as compared to 70% of boomers.
In all likelihood your audience doesn’t trust your advertising and trust in the media is at an all time low. What consumers do trust is each other and what they are saying to each other about your brand can make or break sales. Also consider this; 80% of consumers who have had a bad brand experience don’t tell others, they simply neglect your brand.
Brands that are found to have placed reviews of their own products are loathed even more by consumers. There have been several instances where some brands post bogus reviews on products on Amazon or other sites, but consumers sees through that as well. In research I led last year, consumers said they would not trust reviews of a brand/product if they were all positive. Even on Apple’s website you can read some negative comments about Apple products.
[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]Marketers can no longer afford to ignore consumer contents and CGC. You are not marketing TP consumers, you are marketing with them.[/inlinetweet]
