Working in the Citizen Marketer Age
So, how do you become a “citizen marketer” without losing your job as a “professional marketer?”
It’s a question many of my peers are asking. After all, if all marketing begins and ends with others creating YouTube videos about your company, where does the so-called professional marketer fit in?
Don’t fret (too much). Corporate communications specialists are in the same boat. After all, where does the CEO’s ghostwriter find himself once the CEO starts blogging? Sure, you can fix a few grammatical blunders, but if it’s the CEO taking to the blogosphere, it’s really got to be the Big Kahuna himself (or herself) authoring the blog.
My advice is not to force the situation. Citizen marketing is just taking shape, and if you don’t let it blossom, you become the overbearing parent who doesn’t let the 13-year-old see a PG-13 film. Give folks some freedom to express themselves.
The worst road to take is faking the situation. Beware of the urge to create a fake blog (or “flog”). Or even more egregious, a ghostwritten blog from the CEO. Ugh.
