Making and Marketing online – the future of humanity?
May 21, 2009
Making products and selling products are activities that have always been carried out in the human world. Now, the virtual world creates a whole new environment that fosters DIY design and production and marketing.
Sites that can be used for DIY design and production include Instructables and eMachine. These sites contain the resources to enable amateurs to manufacturers in their own right. The scary thing is that these sites can show anyone how to make tazers and probably even bombs. Some might say DIY sites are online schools for terrorists! Although potentially empowering, they can be downright dangerous.
In terms of marketing via the web, new media tools such as chat rooms, discussion boards, emails, wikis, RSS feeds and blogs foster communication and can be effective for marketing purposes. Online marketing can also utilise tools such as pictures, audio, video, charts and language. New media tools also encourage collaboration which may be useful when designing and producing or produsing.
To discuss blogs as a marketing tool, I think can they a good form of communication between people with similar interests such as influential bloggers found on sites like Technorati and Feedster. Blogs can be good for niche markets who cannot effectively advertise to a mass audience through television or newspapers. According to Denton ‘blogs are ideal for marketers who are inclined towards a PR-centric word of mouth strategy’. Blogs may be more accurate than advertisements by large organisations that are biased towards making a profit, however, there are disadvantages. Online spin can be deceptive. Marketers can use it as a strategy to create online buzz about products or brands. Open conversations amongst informed users of a product are best because they’ll collectively inform each other.
There are a whole range of sites that are dedicated to collating opinions to bring people current and reliable information and unbiased product reviews. They rely on the collective intelligence of the produsers. Bruns refers to websites such as Epinions, Crowdstorm, Allconsuming, Stylehive, Ciao (British), Mouthshut (Indian), and Ebay. Crowdstorm has the slogan ‘Impartial buying advice from a crowd of trusted people’ which pretty much sums up the purpose of the site. Crowdstorm combines expert reviews, user reviews, buyers’ guides, thoughts, videos and questions and answers from a crowd of trusted people and sites to help users make the an informed choice when buying a product. The categories include digital cameras, video games, televisions, DVD players, tents, footwear, sleeping bags and backpacks. If you join Crowdstorm you can be part of a digital community by personalising your Crowd and your recommendations to your preferences. Members can add their own reviews, videos, comments, Q&As and you may even win prizes!
Although Web 2.0 creates a new space for creativity in the areas of DIY and marketing, I do not think that these aspects of produsage are going to change the future of humanity. Lets face it, humans will always rely on interpersonal face to face communication and there are certain things we just cannot do over the Internet.
I think the concept of informed users collectively enhancing the product savvy intelligence of other users is particularly interesting. What better way to virtually sample products than by means of other like-minded people? The powers of Web 2.0 technologies to act as a means of marketing are indeed vast as you have outlined. But with these powers comes significant implications. The deceptive nature of online spin is indeed a tricky one. The profit driving bias of some contributors to blogs, or hosts of discussion sites, can also blur the lines between genuine product reviews and empty, blatant product promotion.
This is particularly concerning in the health field as produsers are often encouraged to rate and review health professional’s and treatment’s, which often fund their sites from health product advertisements. It is unfortunate when issues like this detract from the potential of web 2.0 technologies to collate the opinions of produsers with unbiased product reviews. However, I do believe that these technologies and modes of DIY marketing will undoubtedly influence, if not completely change, the face of humanity as our healthcare, politics, business and culture move further into the digital arena.
I completely agree. As a marketing student, I feel fortunate to be going into the industry with so many new marketing tools at my disposal thanks to the new media world. However, I also believe that many traditional forms of product promotion (whether it be marketing, advertising or public relations) will still reign supreme. Of course, it will all depend on who the target market is, and what tools will best reach them, however I think that tools such as blogs, forums and social networking websites will prove to be more suitable for reaching niche markets.
One thing you don’t touch on is how the concept of DIY marketing brings into question the control of the brand messages in the marketplace. I think brand managers are going to have a far more difficult time controlling the messages and visuals associated with their brand or product, given that the average Joe is now able to build their own brand massages far easier using new media tools. For the same reason, I think that ‘crisis communications’ strategies will need to be stronger in order to combat possibly unfavourable brand associations generated by produsers.
It is certainly an exciting time to be entering the industry…