The Internet is firmly and permanently embedded in today’s dominant culture, allowing consumers to be increasingly interactive. For example, “Google” is now a verb as well as a search engine. Additionally, user-driven sites (such as MySpace and YouTube) regularly make news headlines. Marketers must recognize that people are willing and technologically capable of contributing to the creation and marketing of the items they consume and include this phenomenon in the marketing plan.

As marketers and business managers, we should be thinking about how to engage consumers with our products, services, and ideas through the Internet. As you read through the ideas below, think about how you can incorporate the central idea of ​​each into your own marketing plan.

video-based contests

A number of advertisers have recently run commercial contests where contestants display their original commercials on one of the video sharing websites. Online viewers then vote for their favorites.

Super Bowl XLI is an example. Frito-Lay is inviting people to submit commercials for a chance to have theirs used in the 2007 Doritos Super Bowl ad. Entries are uploaded to Yahoo! Video, where visitors will choose the winner from five finalists. Other advertisers, including the NFL itself and Chevrolet, are also running commercial contests.

You don’t have to have a Super Bowl-sized budget to run a video-based contest, and the entries don’t have to be commercial. Coca-Cola and Mentos sponsored a contest in which entrants created a volcano using the companies’ products and then submitted a clip of the result in action.

Custom Product Variations

At Dell you can configure and order your own computer online. It is then assembled to order and shipped to your home. In the music industry, some bands give away free software that allows users to remix the band’s songs. In essence, each listener creates their unique version of the song. For your own products, think about ways the Internet can help customers customize their products to make them unique.

viral videos

Viral online marketing and advertising (the sharing of various entertaining or interesting content by consumers) has been around since at least the mid-1990s. Sharing videos increases a business’s potential to make an impact when product-related videos they go viral.

For example, Yahoo’s “Current Buzz” recently featured a series of consumer-created videos of Tickle Me Elmo Extreme laughing at himself on the shelves. A search on YouTube.com for “TMX Elmo” turned up about 250 videos.

Elmo’s 250 don’t compare to Mentos’ 9,800+ videos. These are mostly the result of the aforementioned Mentos/Coke Geyser video contest in conjunction with YouTube. 150 entered, plus the contest sparked a viral frenzy as countless people shared the videos.

In addition to consumer attention, these videos are attracting media attention. In addition to the Current Buzz ad mentioned above, Mythbusters, Money/CNN, and David Letterman have featured stories as a result of videos.

While most brands don’t have the Tickle Me Elmo or Coke appeal to garner worldwide attention, all products have a following. No matter what your size (1) reaching your fans, (2) engaging them with your product, and (3) encouraging interaction can drive revenue and brand equity.