Have you ever went to Google and typed in the name of a company or product? Sure you have. However, you may have not noticed the amount of Consumer Generated Media (CGM) that appears. CGM can show up in the form of blogs, discussion boards, Usenet groups, podcasts and video content among others. Marketers frequently sift through consumer discussion to find out what is being talked about.
A company may want some discussion about them and/or their products to be easily found by other consumers, especially if its positive. In contrast, a company may want to mitigate damage from negative buzz (i.e. vehicle recall). A company's ability to optimize search engine results is becoming more important everyday. The things that consumers write can affect a brands image. Furthermore, consumers can find social media very easily. All they need to do is go to Google, Yahoo or a blog search tools such as BlogPulse and type in the name of a company or product.
Some companies do a great job of optimizing search engine results. For example, rarely does CGM show up on the first two pages of search results when you type in "Sony". However, several CGM sources appear on the first page of Google search results for the phrases "Ford Focus" and "World MasterCard".
I was able to find CGM very easily typing in the phrase "Ford Focus". In fact, I came across a Ford Focus enthusiast site, Focusfanatics.com on the first page on Google. I am a member of Focusfanatics.com for the record. In fact, you can find me posting messages under the alias of MisterDork. Please don't ask me how I got that name. My wife gave it to me :o).
I had to dig a little deeper when looking at "World MasterCard". I had to go to the second page of Google search results. However, I am fairly certain I can find CGM about any company by simply going a few pages deeper on any search.
The fact that social media sites can be found easily shows the growing importance for marketers to follow what is said about the company they work for. In fact, every company should have someone whose job is to go to Google or Yahoo and type the name of their company followed by the word "sucks".
