Vault Kicks, Well So Do Marketers!

Chapter Five of Citizen Marketers told the story of how one man’s quest to save Surge, the coca-Cola mountain dew like drink, turned into a community cause that demanded attention. Coke never brought back the drink Surge, they created a “new” soda called Vault, which tastes the same as Surge.
The point of this story was to express the fact that companies should listen to their customer online. Speaking from a personal point of view, I spend 4 times as much time online than I do watching TV. And then, I don’t watch commercials, unless my remote control is broken. This shows that companies need to watch what their customers of doing online; maybe even have someone from the company monitor their product on google, seeing what comes up when it is typed up.
First off, if you search your product and you are not even on the first page, because it is taken up by fan sites or blogs, then you have a problem. This means your site is static. Don’t just put up content and leave it there expecting people to find it. Update it, start a blog, add video, anything to draw attention.
Citizen Marketers around the world who love certain products are making sites for them as hobbies. “Their focus is often an attempt to transcend brand awareness into action by creating amateur networks of affiliation”(p105). These sites could have a positive or negative affect on a product which is why I stressed above for a company to monitor what is being said about them online.
Another reason companies need to scan the internet for their product is because of “market helping behavior”. It “describes the behavior of everyday people who help one another with decisions on what to buy and who to buy it from”. Personally, I rarely go out and buy something without looking up reviews. This goes from anything from books and CDs to televisions and hair dye. Having negative reviews spread across the internet is not a good thing and should be monitored, because chances are the problem is the product and not the people. Studies done throughout the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s showed that “40% of a retailers clientele was typically based on the recommendations of other people” (p109). If that was before Web 2.0, imagine what the percentage is now. . .

The Concerned Citizen

Reading Ch 1 of Citizen Marketers helped me understand the drive behind Social Media. I have used it everyday for years, but I never really stopped to think about where the motivation comes from. McConnell and Huba say that citizen marketers “don’t often represent the average person, member, customer, or citizen. They are on the fringes, driven by passion, creativity and a sense of duty. Like a concerned citizen.”
My favorite section was that of fanatics. Mainly because in class we have been talking about the power that people have to make change via the internet. The story about the Deadwood fans creating a voice strong enough to bring back the show for two two-hour episodes after it was cancelled was a great example of the power of bloggers.
It emphasizes the phrase “People are the message. Nobody likes advertisers anymore, just like I mentioned in my previous post about Brian Solis. According to Citizen Marketers “69 percent of Americans would pay for products that block out marketing and advertising.” The message is authentic when it comes from the people. These people are of all different ages and races and come from varying geographical locations, but they all have one thing in common; they are concerned citizens who create and search for genuine content that expresses what real people want, need and care about.

Who wants to be paid to be a Britney enthusiast?

Chapter 2 of Citizen Marketers not only explained to me the story behind the motorcycle riding 1%ers. The chapter also explained to me how Digg.com has 400,000 registered members but grew thanks to the contribution of 1% of their members. Reading on, I found it interesting that people consider paying these 1%ers to create content.
I had to break this down in my head. Adding content to the internet is considered a hobby since no one gets paid to do so. Obviously, for some people, it takes up a majority of their free time, and even their time that they are supposed to be spending on their jobs. But if people were paid to create internet content, doesn’t that take all of the fun out of the internet. It is fun when you go to youtube.com and see someone’s three minute video of two guys jamming out to Spice Girls or two guys who should never have made a video in the first place. If I knew someone was paid to dance like this it just wouldn’t be as much fun. Now I know I am speaking about a rare case because the content that Citizen Marketers is talking about it not some Britney Spears remix song, but actual useful information. But every time you look something up on wikipedia.com don’t you get excited knowing that someone put all this information up on their free time because they actually care about the subject?