Citizen Marketers

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Concept and Book


Concept

"Citizen marketers are customer evangelists who generate media on behalf of products, services, companies or people who generate inspiration."

Discussion and examples at http://www.churchofthecustomer.com/blog/2005/02/citizen_markert.html


Book

Book: Citizen Marketers: When People Are the Message. Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell.

A marketing view of User-Generated Content developments.


Excerpt at http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/spotlight/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003467838


Review

"the book's an excellent, engaging, provocative and case-study rich read. It also validates and reinforces so many dimensions of CGM. Moreover, I hardly need cash from PayPerPost to say or blog, enthusiastically and with nary a hint of reservation, that Jackie and Ben are among the most thoughtful, articulate, and customer-centered thinkers in marketing land today." (http://notetaker.typepad.com/cgm/2006/12/at_the_most_rec.html)

""Citizen Marketers" makes the case that the distributed, power-sharing nature of social media is a reflection of the ideals of democracy, where liberty, free speech and freedom of association are its ruling principles. As a result, positioning, message delivery and reputation management are in the hands of the populace, where anyone can be a publisher or broadcaster. For tradition-bound managers, the message is simple: Control is out of control. People are creating content about products and services whether companies like it or not. They are the new cultural influencers.

Paradoxically, the citizen marketers themselves are not your typical members of society or customer databases. That makes them either progressive or dangerous. "Citizen Marketers" examines and classifies the work of everyday people who build content on behalf of products, brands, companies or people and provides a framework for working with them.

More cultural guide than business or marketing book, "Citizen Marketers" examines the significant changes caused by social media. "Citizen Marketers" outlines a common architecture of participation for the everyday person as citizen marketer, entertainer or information source. It's ideal for readers hoping to convince colleagues, coworkers or clients about the broad and tactical changes social media are having on business, marketing and popular culture." (http://www.creatingcustomerevangelists.com/cm/)