Ken Burnhardt of Georgia State University Talks About Blogs and Consumer Generated Media
Ken Bernhardt is Regents Professor and Marketing Department Chairman of Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. We spoke about the value of blogs and product rating sites on the net. Bernhardt has definite ideas about the value of blogs to manufacturers and marketers.
"Blogs are most effective in consumer’s hands. They are consumer generated media.
Normally marketers control the message about products. The great thing about blogs is that consumers control the blogs. It changes the balance of power," said Bernhardt.
"The real issue is that blogs are word of mouth generated from consumer to consumer.
Intelliseek has developed a white paper called Consumer Generated Media 101 available from their web site at www.intelliseek.com," said Bernhardt.
Bernhardt gave me several examples of consumer feedback sites like;
Consumerrevenge.com
Complaints.com
Mythreecents.com
Planetfeed.com
and Bizrate.com.
Bernhardt explained, "Consumers trust these websites more than they trust corporate websites. The benefit of this is that you know somebody else in the same situation.
If Kodak, for example, sells a digital camera and the zoom sucks, then its easy to complain on the web and a lot of people will know about the problem.
If I’m thinking about buying that camera and I read a review where some one talks about the zoom problem, then I’d think twice before buying it. I’ll hear nothing negative from the marketer about the problem," said Bernhardt.
"This started with Amazon.com and their reader reviews. If a number of consumers like a book and tell you why they liked it, you’re more likely to buy the book. If you’re a manufacturer, you’d better be going to the sites and see what people are saying.
Blogs and consumer communities are a valuable resource for consumer intelligence.
You can find out exactly what customers are saying about your product. Microsoft did this better than any one else. They studied phone logs from Microsoft customer support and they continuously fixed defects in their software," said Bernhardt.
Bernhardt sees blogs and online communities for consumers as vital sources of
information for marketers. He believes that few companies are taking advantage of this opportunity to learn what features consumers like or dislike.
"Blogs are most effective in consumer’s hands. They are consumer generated media.
Normally marketers control the message about products. The great thing about blogs is that consumers control the blogs. It changes the balance of power," said Bernhardt.
"The real issue is that blogs are word of mouth generated from consumer to consumer.
Intelliseek has developed a white paper called Consumer Generated Media 101 available from their web site at www.intelliseek.com," said Bernhardt.
Bernhardt gave me several examples of consumer feedback sites like;
Consumerrevenge.com
Complaints.com
Mythreecents.com
Planetfeed.com
and Bizrate.com.
Bernhardt explained, "Consumers trust these websites more than they trust corporate websites. The benefit of this is that you know somebody else in the same situation.
If Kodak, for example, sells a digital camera and the zoom sucks, then its easy to complain on the web and a lot of people will know about the problem.
If I’m thinking about buying that camera and I read a review where some one talks about the zoom problem, then I’d think twice before buying it. I’ll hear nothing negative from the marketer about the problem," said Bernhardt.
"This started with Amazon.com and their reader reviews. If a number of consumers like a book and tell you why they liked it, you’re more likely to buy the book. If you’re a manufacturer, you’d better be going to the sites and see what people are saying.
Blogs and consumer communities are a valuable resource for consumer intelligence.
You can find out exactly what customers are saying about your product. Microsoft did this better than any one else. They studied phone logs from Microsoft customer support and they continuously fixed defects in their software," said Bernhardt.
Bernhardt sees blogs and online communities for consumers as vital sources of
information for marketers. He believes that few companies are taking advantage of this opportunity to learn what features consumers like or dislike.
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