Book Review: The Open Brand - Meet the New Consumer
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I don't really like the word "icitizen," but that's the term the authors insist on using. It sounds too much like someone who is fanatical about Apple products. Be that as it may, the second section tells us more about the icitizen. These aren't just the dedicated, passionate amateurs who create online content, though they're the most visible. These are also the people who lurk -- those who search and read reviews before buying a product, those who subscribe to RSS feeds and otherwise consume user-generated content, and, importantly, those who possess enough tech savvy to influence their less savvy friends and relatives.
According to the authors, icitizens have four motivations for their online behavior: competence, collectivism, cultural change and celebrity. If you want to enlist these different kinds of icitizens, you need to approach each one differently, in a way that is consistent with their mindset. You also need to realize that each one is an asset. One example the authors give of this is the icitizen motivated by cultural change -- Marsha Collier, who wrote a series of books that explain how to make money on eBay. She is not an eBay employee, "but is nevertheless one of the brand's most important evangelists," the authors state.
Marketers can tap into this power by finding the icitizens and areas of influence that are most valuable to them. Still not convinced you need to reach these people? The authors include a portrait gallery of more than a dozen of the most notable icitizens, what effects they have driven, and their spheres of influence. These spheres include politics, the book trade, the fashion industry, celebrity gossip, the music industry, and more.
The authors then discuss the special characteristics of the millennial generation, the 82 million people born between 1982 and 2000. This generation will soon be larger than the baby boomers, and more than 75 percent of them believe that brands should ask them for their opinions. They also connect to their friends in lots of different ways, especially online. With social shopping sites such as ShopStyle and ShopHive on the rise, brands will have to get into millennials' networks to win their attention -- and be prepared to play second fiddle to their friends when it comes to influencing them to buy.
Indeed, for millennials, "traditional brand communications are received as so much white noise to be vigilantly filtered." Brand marketers, these are your future consumers. The message is clear: if you hope to remain relevant, you must branch out from your traditional ways of promoting your brand, or you will not be heard.
The authors also hinted that SEO and SEM have a role to play in this brave new world of icitizenry. They noted, for instance, that "A routine search for 'cool jeans for mom' or just 'cool jeans,' in June 2007...returned a couple SERPs...of personal blogs and community sites but not a single brand or retailer, even as a paid listing."
Next: Characteristics of an Open Brand >>
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