The Importance of A Strong Digital Presence
Consumer generated content is an important means where consumers express themselves and communicate with others online (Boyd and Ellison, 2008). This CGM is necessary as various media is brand-related and has the potential to shape consumer brand perceptions. (Smith et al, 2012)

Considering that firms allocate roughly half of their marketing budgets on supporting new products (Urban & Hauser, 1993) it is important to evaluate the impact CGM has on new product launches and the brand in general; gathering information can provide insight into where best to allocate resources.

There may be potential for CGM to provide opportunities for a business to control the relevant discussions and content surrounding the business to some extent, either by paid advertising and product testing or through creating in-house media themselves.

According to a Custom Content Council survey, 61% of consumers say they feel more positive about a business that provides custom content to them and because of this, they are more likely to buy from that business. (Royer, 2013) From this it is clear that it is necessary to build a relationship, and further a connection with your customers. A Buyer Guide is a useful tool for achieving this as it provides a platform of trusted information and valuable content.

How Can Quality Content Add Value
Demographic targeting can help companies create buyer guides and customer communities with specific content relevant to the demographic that has the most potential to drive sales and marketing buzz, this allows for resources to be channelled into areas with opportunities for return.

In addition to this, giving customers an abundance of helpful information will deter them from looking for it elsewhere (Sheptoski, 2014). If this is executed successfully, readers can perceive the brand as providing value rather than solely a product or service.

Value can be added through a brands ability to tell their own story- to be proactive rather than reactive! Brands can control the content and messages they put online and this can aid direct relationship building with customers (Sheptoski, 2014).

In order for this direct relationship to be positive, brands must respond to their audience promptly whilst still giving them the opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions.

The use of digital initiatives to develop branded platforms that become a true source of information for consumers should be a company’s overall aim as this can pave the way for authority building and reputation management, which is particularly beneficial in industries with high transparency and social media buzz. (Olenski, 2014)

Which Initiatives Can Aid Reputation Management?
In this digital environment, social media has the ability to make or break a company’s reputation – with information spreading around the world in minutes.

Buyer Guides and blogs can give readers the opportunity to learn more about the brand by sharing with them who they are and all they have to offer and what they hope to achieve. Readers appreciate this level of personality and the ability to freely share their views with the brand. (Trackur, 2016)

Quality social media / blog posts can be shared by readers amongst their networks and this can be a real strength for marketing the brand. Quality posts will be written for a specific audience, be original, highly informative and effectively engage with the target audience; which will in turn develop trust and encourage readers to revisit the blog or digital platform demanding new content. (Trackur, 2016)

The Risks
There is a chance that your brand may receive negative feedback; there will always be someone with something negative to say, and the larger your digital presence becomes the larger the chance of negative feedback. However it is how you deal with this feedback that will determine the effect of the negativity.

Usually, the best way to deal with a negative comment is to respond in a calm and concise manner that acknowledges difference of opinion. This shows that you value reader’s opinions and can help use negative comments to your advantage. Negative comments can still be used to build reputation if you handle them well (Trackur, 2016).

Another way is to remove the comment altogether, this is appropriate when comments are particularly malicious and do not serve a purpose to the blog or its audience. These comments may be generated by competitors or internet “trolls”. (Trackur, 2016)

Another risk is that realistically, readers may not always trust information and data they read on a company website or blog. It is necessary to determine whether your company can provide a neutral view, fact and value based content for consumers (Royer, 2013).

What Makes A Blog Successful?
The survey conducted by Social Media Today (2016) explored the factors that made blogs successful based on the activities of active bloggers over a three year period. The insight provided from this data can also be applied to posts within customer communities and other social media.

Something to note is that the content provided should be of value to the customer, which may not necessarily be of value to the business but regardless, it creates a sense of understanding and connection between blog and reader.

 Data suggests that over 50% of posts will contain more than one image. Interestingly, the next most popular feature in a post will be a list of some sort, followed by a video.

Dodaro, (2016) conveyed that those who are incorporating video received stronger results than other forms of media used.

The data shows that 22% of 2016 bloggers posted weekly. This suggests that to be successful with blogging, consistency is key – consumers want regular content and providing them with content once a week (Or ideally daily) will allow consumers to know when to search for your content.

This data is interesting, over 95% of bloggers use social media to drive their blog traffic however, data conveying the strength of results by promotion channel showed that 25% of bloggers got strong results through social media, which was the lowest percentage out of all promotion options.

Email marketing has increased the most over the three year period, which suggests this channel (which can be personalised) is driving traffic.

Although social media is potentially free to use, the outcomes are not overly powerful – perhaps due to the fact that so many people, brands and businesses are using this platform. On the other hand, paid services have proven to generate strong results.

To explore this topic more click here and here !
Check out Zoella’s blog for an idea of what a successful interactive blog should look like!

References

Boyd, D. and Ellison, N. (2008) Social Network Sites: Definition, History and Scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol 13, pp. 210-230

Dodaro, M. (2016) Social Media Today: “Blogging Tips, Tactics and Trends: Survey Results” [Online] <http://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-business/blogging-tips-tactics-and-trends-survey-results?utm_source=web&utm_medium=links&utm_content=Blogging%20Tips,%20Tactics%20and%20Trends:%20Survey%20Results&utm_campaign=related-items&gt; [Accessed April 2017]

Olenski, S. (2014) Forbes: “Three Hidden Benefits of Blogging for Marketers” [Online] <https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2014/03/13/three-hidden-benefits-of-blogging-for-marketers/#1a324f604819&gt; [Accessed April 2017]

Onishi, H. and Manchanda, P. (2012) “Marketing activity, blogging and sales”. International Journal of Research in Marketing Vol 29, pp. 221-234

Royer, S. (2013) Social Media Today: “Is Blogging a Necessary Marketing Tool?” [Online] <http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/blogging-really-necessary-marketing-tool&gt; [Accessed April 2017]

Sheptoski, L. (2014) Weidert Group: “5 Ways Social Media Can Improve a Poor Company Reputation” [Online] <https://www.weidert.com/whole_brain_marketing_blog/bid/204792/5-ways-social-media-can-improve-a-poor-company-reputation&gt; [Accessed April 2017]

Smith, A., Fischer, E. and Yongjian, C. (2012) How does brand-related user generated content differ across YouTube, Facebook and Twitter? Journal of Interactive Marketing. Vol 26, Issue 2, pp. 102-113

Trackur (2016) “How a Blog Can Aid in Better Online Reputation Management” [Online] <http://www.trackur.com/blogging-reputation-management&gt; [Accessed April 2017]

Urban, G. and Hauser, J. (1993) Design and Marketing of New Products. 2^nd Edition, Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice Hall