COVER STORY continued

Why does this matter for brand marketers? Brand marketers should realize that consumers want to know as much as possible about what they have to offer — but not all from them. Providing a forum for people to discuss products and share information on related topics personalizes the brand experience and establishes a unique sense of trust.

Although young people might have started the trend, social networking and user-generated content can cater to all age groups and can work in even the most traditional industries — like genealogy! Take the recently launched www.SwissRoots.org for example, which connects Americans of Swiss decent with people or organizations in Switzerland. Or consider IgoUgo.com, a community of travelers sharing their experiences through photos and reviews, which attracts an audience of 25-50-year-old professionals rather than teenage power-users.

What's the new playbook? There's no easy answer. Follow established best practices
• Developing differentiated products, delivering a compelling message through traditional media--but mix in some techniques designed to address the user-centric trend. These might include:
• Developing an online community or user-review capability for your product category, particularly if you're the category leader. A community builds brand loyalty and produces content to help sell your products, plus customer feedback and incremental sales;
• Capitalizing on traffic from search engines, which gravitate toward user-generated content;
• Distributing press releases to influential bloggers, who reach hundreds of thousands of people;
• Employing multiple messages, each targeted for a small group. A one-size-fits-all messaging strategy will resonate only with a small percent of your brand evangelists.

Yes, the participatory culture presents plenty of opportunities for brand managers and marketers. But with sizeable reward comes sizeable risk. Giving people the freedom to state their opinions...well, it means being open to criticism and knowing when and how to address it.

Understandably, not everyone is comfortable with taking that risk. Yet, for those of us who are comfortable doing that, the world of marketing has grown exponentially larger — not to mention more exciting. •

Brands and branding are much debated and written about terms. The book stores are full of books on branding; Google search will throw up more pages on branding than one can read in a lifetime. A whole enterprise has been built on one word: brand.

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