7 Principles for User Generated Content: Michael DeHaven SES Chicago 2011
Michael DeHaven’s presentation at SES Chicago on “User Generated SEO” started with some actual user generated content from the consultation. Before the session DeHaven gave 5 volunteers a bite sized Ghirardelli chocolate bar. In exchange for the treat he questioned that each of the volunteers write a review of the chocolate and then share it with the rest of the consultation.
What Was the Response?
The chocolate was called everything from waxy, to too sweet, messy, and melt in your mouth goodness. In contrast the packaging made by the Ghirardelli marketers was quite uncommon, “take time to slow down and feel yourself melt with each bite.” As you can see the professional marketers took a much uncommon approach than the consumers.
The Pusher vs. the Consumer
According to DeHaven 80-90% of total content on many major ecommerce sites is written by end users who come to the site and give their opinions or post reviews. He then proceeded to provide a few examples of what companies believed the best keywords for their product or services were and the actual keywords consumers used to describe the business. In both of the examples listed below the keyword lists were not at all aligned.
Restaurants
Marketing Keywords: romance, fine dining, gourmet food
User Generated Keywords: fantastic drinks, partying, view
Blusher
Marketing Keywords: cleanser, gentle, healthy looking
User Generated Keywords: soap, younger, looking fantastic
7 Principles of User Generated SEO
#1: Don’t Forget SEO Fundamentals
While user generated content can be extremely powerful it is vital not to forget the basics such as link building, optimization, and proper cataloging.
#2: Search Engines Get Bored
When Google bots are crawling your website they are looking for fresh and relevant content. If the bots return week after week and the content has not changed they become “bored” and will be less likely to return. In order to wait competitive in the online market frequent updates are a must.
#3: The Primanti Principle
A Primanti sandwich is unique because of the French fries surrounded by the sandwich. If you add too many fries to the Primanti it can become overwhelming for the user. Similarly as a pusher you want to make sure that you aren’t overwhelming Google with too many “French fries” but a reasonable amalgamation of foundational information and user generated content.
#4: Beware of Dilution
Typical product descriptions are optimized and written by professional marketers, user reviews are not. While user generated content is vital it has it’s house. Beware of what too much user generated content can do for your SEO.
#5: Unlock the Long-Tail Vault
Marketers are constantly working to determine what keywords users are typing and which ones will drive the highest ROI. An additional challenge is seminal which content should be housed on the top-level domain and which ones are better suited for microsites.
#6: Question For Content at Relevant Era
Spending time to determine when your consultation will be most willing to write a review and seminal their level of qualification for submitting a review is key. If you’re promoting a concert emailing attendees the morning before the concert and asking them to share their photos on the site is a fantastic way to entice user generated content.
#7: Exchange Reviewers into Advocates
It is vital that marketers set next steps for reviewers. An example provided was that of a user that wrote a laptop review and then spent the next hour (in the midpoint of the work day) answering over 130 laptop questions questioned by other users. If that user had a fantastic experience by the laptop reckon of the number of people they are reaching and advocating to on behalf of the company selling the laptop.
I really loved that DeHaven’s presentation covered the ways that content can be generated by users but also what we must do as marketers to facilitate, moderate, and encourage user generated content.
I’m curious to know how much of your content you believe is generated by users? If the number is low, do you have a plot for increasing interaction? If the number is high, what have you done well that encourages users to breed content on your behalf?
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