User Generated Content Guide.com

This is one of those videos that you just have to watch over and over again. Perhaps this is what WEB 2.0 is?

Sometimes we don’t even realize the power of technology until you stop and think about it.

It’s important to understand the different types of UGC as you consider your options and decide which ones are right for you.

Lesson 2 – Types of User Generated Content

While user generated content is in the form of video, audio, or writings, there are several different types for each format.  We’ll take a look at a few of these here and explain how you can use them to enhance your site.  Blogs are a popular form of UGC and can accomplish several purposes.  For one thing, you can post your blog with a link that will take readers straight to your website.  Blogs are free, so you won’t even have to pay for this type of advertising.  You can use your blog to introduce your product or service, post updates, and answer questions.  A blog can also help you to generate an opt-in mailing list, which is a valuable commodity in the Web 2.0 world.

You’ll want to include an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) button on your blog so that readers can subscribe to it.  You’ll need fresh and vibrant content to attract subscribers so think seriously about what you want your blog to accomplish.  Check for comments often and respond to any that merit a response, such as a question or complaint.

Videocasting has become hugely popular in the Web 2.0 environment.  You can even add video to your blog at some sites.  Video provides an entirely new way to advertise and connect with potential and current customers.  Video tutorials are very popular and most are quite short, lasting just a few minutes.  Like blogging posts, video posts can include a link back to your website and are excellent avenues for demonstrating a product or service.

The possibilities with videocasting are endless. You can be serious or silly and still drive traffic to your site.  You can make your own commercial, demonstrate a product or service, or film yourself talking about your product or service.  Videos are passed around the Internet at lightening speed when they capture viewer’s attention.  It really doesn’t matter what you’re selling; just think of all the commercials you’ve seen over the years advertising everything from laundry soap to cars and everything in between.

Before videocasting, there was podcasting, which is essentially an audio feed to which users can subscribe.  Although there are some podcasts that use video, most of these are strictly audio.  Users that listen to podcasts not only listen via their computers, but download them to portable audio players as well.  They are a great source for “on the go” media.

Podcasts are used to sell and promote products, provide information and updates, and a variety of other uses.  You can deliver a seminar via podcast or provide tips and tricks for using your product.  You can even record an entire infomercial and distribute it via podcast.  Podcasting is free and there are several online tutorials to help you get started.

Although there are other forms of UGC, these are some of the most popular forms.  In lesson three, we’ll talk about the risks and benefits of UGC.

If you’re as excited as I am and want to learn all these tips at once, check out the whole package at UserGeneratedContentGuide.com/podcast

Sincerely,

Gary Killops

Although Web 2.0 may sound like the latest and greatest software package, it isn’t really a tangible product at all. Let’s get started and you’ll see what I mean.

Lesson 1 – Understanding Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is the platform for user generated content. It’s all about interaction. Instead of users merely surfing the web; they’re interacting with other users and enterprises. Web 2.0 has become the new environment at the heart of the Internet, with audience participation in overdrive. Web 2.0 has been called “an attitude” instead of a technology as those not familiar with the phenomenon may try to purchase what they believe to be software or an upgrade of some sort. On the contrary, just as those who use words like “Flamingo Road” to describe a ritzy neighborhood, Web 2.0 is gaining understanding as an interactive presence catering to a variety of user generated content.

A good example of the difference in Web 2.0 and the era of the Internet’s infancy, or perhaps Web 1.0 is that while surveys have not been abolished, they were a reigning presence in the early days of the Internet to gauge a customer’s preferences and experiences. Today, with the evolution of Web 2.0, customers are able to leave a comment, ask a question, rate a product, and use a number of interactive tools immediately.

Perhaps the greatest value of Web 2.0, other than hosting a platform for skyrocketing profits, is that users and customers can instantly read, hear, or see what other users and customers think about a product or service. While the surveys of yesterday provided information solely to the marketers, Web 2.0 interfaces share the opinions and experiences of customers with each other. This platform gives “word of mouth” a new meaning and a much faster vehicle.

Web 2.0 embraces the same technologies for social networking as it does for enterprise. This enables users to communicate across a wide variety of sites using the same material while it forges much more of a community bond than the earlier technologies.

Web 2.0 has become the “corner drugstore” where unknown talent is discovered and hopefuls line up by the millions hoping to be noticed. Politicians are taking advantage of the interactive interface by communicating with voters in ways never before possible. And, perhaps most exciting of all, e-commerce has profited and continues to profit handsomely from the Web 2.0 phenomenon. Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at the types of user generated content and how this content is being used to boost profits.

If you’re as excited as I am and want to learn all these tips at once, check out the whole package at UsergeneratedContentGuide.com

Sincerely,
Gary Killops