Co-creation is a new, important media direction for Brand managers trying to find cost-effective ways to reach fewer, more relevant people online (read my top 7 benefits to Brands below). One of the major challenges with online advertising and promotions is in reaching the early adopters/thought leaders with the right message. These people typically do not click on banners, hate spam and are too savvy to fall for link bait. There are also complex issues around Brand Trust that make people wary of clicking on offers. Co-creation changes the low-cost cpm/high-spray model for brand managers and gives an powerful new approach for online community participation.
More brains the better? Sorry this is sorta disgusting. But the point is about getting more people involved via online communities. (French brains, not human btw).
It is of course ideal to have community members enrich content–but is UGC to hard to deal with online? Is it too random and too much spam? How to get to the next level = Community-Inspired-Content (CIC).
What is Online Community Content Co-Creation?
There are 3 main participant groups need for a co-creation program: 1) Brand 2) Community Manager 3) Community Members. The Community Manager (which is how we see our role at Heritage Key) needs to create the focus and deliver the program.
The Brand and the Community Manager should frame the focus of the content and outline the mix (video, articles, interviews, virtual, real world events). The real new area is to get the right balance between commissioned work and user generate content (UGC). UGC needs to be on-point with the focus, but more importantly needs to allow the Community Members their own space to participate. I think the real world events are an important part of this.
The Co-Creation program should run over a period of time like 3-6 months. We think of it as a sort of series. People can then catch if from start or catch-up through referrals or web buzz around the activity. You can also have an endpoint where you can convert content into a final package.
Benefits to Brands
- New Relevant Web Content – Content is unique and will fit major interests of the community members. It should also be branded and embeddable off the main microsite (via widgets or YouTube players).
- No Other Brand Interference — it would be exclusive to the sponsoring Brand. No noise, no unexpected placement. And the microsite area would be much more engaging than an Brand controlled site.
- Community Interaction — program should offer people chance to contribute (for free or payment), share opinions, contests, join real w0rld events. Ideally there should be some time-based momentum designed into the program.
- Leverage Existing Brand Assets – Brands can repurpose or simple use existing assets and place them in proper context/linking to new content.
- Fresh Ammo for PR — Program should give PR/Marketing teams new materials to work for customer and media outreach.
- Destination to Drive Promotions — Brands can use their existing email lists to drive customers/prospects to microsite for targeted promotions. Surveys can also be very useful to learn more about customer needs.
- Speed to Market – Community Manager should be able to deliver program rapidly and across 3-6 months time period to build momentum.
- Innovation – Brands should seek Community Managers that offer web site, websphere, and interactive applications that when combined with new content will be very exciting.
- Lower total costs — Co-Creation should not be massively expensive. It will have potentially high CPM metrics, but you would expect reasonable total costs and good CPA downstream. It is key to understand that co-creation right now is a way to access the early adopters and thought leaders within the communities, so it should also be considered as a strategic play.
We are working on Content Co-Creation programs for Heritage Key that will be focused on visting/experience history of ancient world sites. These programs will mix video, virtual and article content. More info will be shared soon! Get RSS or follow us on twitter @xlent1 or @heritagekey or for virtual content @rezzable .
