Do you want to know more about this week's happenings at the World Cup? You’re not alone. In fact, according to Yahoo!, “World Cup” is the most searched term on its engine at this moment in time.
All forms of media, entertainment and advertising, including radio, billboards, and newspapers drive people to the web to conduct searches. And when people aren’t conducting searches, they’re producing content related to things like, well, the World Cup. Today, about 380 bloggers will write about the World Cup, adding to the 709,738 blog posts on the same topic.
This cycle of creating, searching for, distributing, and consuming online media, often driven by other forms of media, is the subject of this blog. We’ll use the term “Buzz” to describe this behavior, but you’ll also find it called Word of Mouth, Consumer Generated Media and User Created Content. Truth be told, I don’t believe it is much different than what our mothers would’ve called “gossip”.
Buzz is about all the great tools of the day: blogs, newsgroups, discussion boards, tagging, book reviews; any method by which consumers share information can be used to create Buzz.
Buzz can be about people, like the guy who is trying to trade a giant red paperclip for house or an event like the NFL draft. A search on either of these topics turns up piles of blogs, personal websites and other-yet-unnamed things like Yahoo! Answers.
But a lot of times, a whole lot of times, Buzz is about a product or company. Someone is probably buzzing about your company and its products right now.
Search on a company name, and you’ll likely find that about 25% of the top results are unofficial, unsanctioned resources created by individuals with no official company ties. A Google search on the corporate name of a leader in consumer packaged goods industry turns up site that is viciously critical of the company (position #5) a site on urban legends (position #6) and a Wikipedia article (position #9).
All the marketing and branding this particular company does will lead to a set amount of Google searches on the company name. And 30% of the returned searches will drive consumers to media that the company marketing and legal teams had nary a hand in developing
That’s the nature of Buzz. And the nature of this blog is to understand Buzz. Learn to track Buzz. Learn to create, manage and measure Buzz. Buzz is a great tool for any marketer’s toolbox, but the bar is set high. Creating Buzz means motivating customers to get excited about your product. So excited, that a percentage of your market is spending valuable time producing content related to your products and another percentage is spending time consuming that media.
Creating Buzz means offering a great product, providing great customer service, and reaching out to consumers. Creating Buzz means making it easy for your customers to Buzz.
I’m looking forward to learning with the readers of this blog and making this blog something worth Buzzing about.
Finally, just a note about me. I’m eMarketing Manager here at ECNext. In 1997 I heard the terms “eyeballs”, “traffic”, and “stickiness” used in new ways and been active in helping technology companies grow ever since. I have a bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University and an MBA from Franklin University.
To find out why I’m currently Buzzing about Cornish Rock chickens, Central Ohio fishing reports and the new Honda Fit, email me at bbalderaz-a-ecnext.com.
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Very good article, Bill. Your advice for companies to develop and manage buzz about their company and products should be a priority on the company's A action list.
There are two quick ways a company can begin to develop buzz and of course one of those is to have a blog linked to an effective web site. Then use the blog to fuel the buzz.
I teach my consulting clients how to include the managing of a blog in their management system so intended performance benchmarks are achieved.
In my next issue of Blogging For Profits I will address a must do task in addition to having a blog. Readers are invited to register at www.stevereports.oom.
Posted by: Steve Pohlit | June 25, 2006 at 06:53 AM