When you read about the Church of Scientology in the news, hear people talking about their VPN connection not working, or have been up all night trying to solve Fermat's Last Theorem, where do you turn? You don't go to those huge, heavy encyclopedias your parents bought (unlike this guy). Now, more often than not, you turn to Wikipedia.org for a quick brush-up on what you don't know.
I once read, and I can't quote the source, that the purpose of Wikipedia was to make all the world's knowledge available for free to all the world. In other words, who needs college? This is different from Google, who simply wants to organize the World Wide Web and make it searchable. Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, almost, and is meant to be an ongoing and up-to-date encyclopedia whose knowledge can never disappear.
So, what does Wikipedia have to do with internet marketing? Plenty, in my opinion. Just like in the examples I started with, you quickly turn to your internet browser and search for this unknown entity. More times than not, the first page of organic search results will include the Wikipedia entry for that something (Eventually, over time, the smarter dummie will make Wikipedia.org a Favorite and cut out the search engine completely. What this does to eliminate search engine marketing is a different blog entry.).
If you have a new product coming out, or your product is based on some obscure technology, or you just want people to read what your product is without outright advertising it, you can get it listed on Wikipedia. Wikipedia is against advertising, and if that's your intent with the entry, they'll probably cut it. So, if someone hears about your product and then searches for it, hopefully that Wikipedia entry will show up (along with your website, of course).
What's the downside? Anyone can edit your entry. Which means you can edit the anyone who edited your entry. If you're not careful and don't play nicely, you'll get banned like the Church of Scientology recently did. If a consumer is unsatisfied with your product, they can dig up statistics and stories and post them on the Wikipedia entry, which means that curious dummie will hear both sides of the story.
I have no clue how much businesses rely on Wikipedia to connect them with potential consumers, but it's a tool worth investigating.
2 comments:
Very true... I thought you might find this story from earlier in the year of interest.
Maybe if Killian's Angels did something more significant, like dress up as horrific creatures, lampoon on political events, and spray their audiences with colorful fluids, they'd meet the criteria.
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