As a marketer, if you still think User Generated Content (UGC) is the panacea for all future initiatives, guess again.

For every user-submitted idea Superbowl commercial produced (which was actually a large-scale promotion), there are countless more relevant and useful UGC moments that provide better day-to-day opportunities for consumers to engage with a brand.

While most people think of blogs, podcasting, and video submissions as the primary forms of UGC, it can also be defined as a two-way dialogue between a brand and its consumers. Wikipedia, a user-generated encyclopedia, has a nice summary (it’s their second definition):

User-generated content has also been characterised as ‘Conversational Media’, as opposed to ‘Packaged Goods Media’ (that is, traditional media). The former is a two-way process in contrast to the one-way distribution of the latter. Conversational or two-way media is a key characteristic of so-called Web 2.0 which encourages the publishing of one’s own content and commenting on other people’s.

Based on this definition, consider the last time you had an online “conversation” with a brand. My two primary UGC desitnations are Amazon.com and Citysearch.com, both appear to follow three core principles:

1. Make it Relevant
2. Make it Easy
3. Enhance the Experience

For both sites, I review products or services. My motivation: I want to share my opinions with other users so that they can share my experiences or avoid my mistakes. Notice how this dovetails nicely with each site’s content strategy.

Amazon continues to strike a healthy UGC balance in the retail space. It is a complete repository for users who want to share their opinions. I regularly use Amazon as my first-step information source for a product I’m considering purchasing.

The key to Amazon’s UGC strategy is making sharing easy. They integrate new technologies to enhance the dialogue experience. Unregistered users can instantly rate other user reviews (3-4) with minimal effort. Just browsing? We’re here to listen. Strategy: If you spend enough time with us, you’ll come to trust a brand that is yours to shape. For registered users, you have a wider litany of options, from star ratings (2) to building your own product lists to share or tagging (1).

So your consumers might not create your next commercial idea, but they can provide reactions on where your brand needs to go. In the case of Amazon, the brand has taken shopping and made it a community-based sharing experience.

If I just wanted the lowest prices, Buy.com usually beats them. But I’ve come to think of Amazon as the site where I know I can become a more educated shopper and help others in the process. Not a bad brand position for an online superstore.

UGC Part 2: Campaigns vs. Site Experiences

Seven months. Seven months since I’ve blogged. It’s been a quick seven months. A lot has happened.

To begin with, I’ve switched from a design studio to agency-side at Digitas. Agency life is exactly the same, and yet completely different. Where ID Society was all about design, at Digitas, concept is King.

In my seven months, I’ve worked on some strong accounts, with various degrees of success.

First: GameTap. A Turner property still trying to grow up. Immediately, I was dealing with work on a larger scale. At IDS, we produced sites that generated traffic in the hundreds. GameTap.com received tens of thousands of visitors a day. We made millions of impressions each week, or roughly a billion OLA impressions a month. With that level of scale, every element on a banner was scrutinized. Then optimized.

So what did I learn? Banners are quickest online hits. When creating an impression, you’d better get there real fast. And have a compelling message that consumers can digest…again, quickly. Ultimately, the work we did with ESPN, GameTap’s ESPN Playground, was one initiative that really cut through the clutter. Why? Because it provided entertainment, purpose, and an alternative way that the GameTap brand could provide value.

Post GameTap, I shifted to Samsung, one of Digitas’ most tactically creative, but challenging accounts. With a client on a 14 hour time-shifted clock, days averaged 12 hours, and concepting a never-ending churn of new ideas. The sites we produced for two of their upcoming products launch in the upcoming weeks. Once launched, I’ll post picts and notes of the work.

Next stop: CNN.com. Updates to follow, when the work is released…

One of our senior ADs, Ross Mawdsley, just relaunched his site: 53DegreesNorth.net. Smart navigation, rotating background imagery, tight design details…it’s all in there, but his commentary on each project alone is worth the visit!

An amazing talent, one I have had the pleasure of collaborating with for the past two years.