Leveraging User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) is a hot topic in the press. With more than one-quarter of online consumers submitting a rating or review of a product or service or contributing to a discussion board, the fact that consumers are turning to each other is not just a fad any more. A few forward-thinking brands are beginning to use UGC to engage with customers. To overcome initial fears, companies need to realize that successfully opening up to customers isn't that different from the risks associated with doing business every day. To determine the appropriate UGC strategy, companies must observe where UGC about their brands lives today, continually track conversations in UGC, and participate in existing communities before deciding if this is an activity that they should enable on their own sites.