SM Performance Reviews: continued thoughts

I just posted some thoughts and an article about Social Media Performance Reviews over on Amplify, and in the fifteen minutes that have passed I've given this some more thought.

I think informal peer reviews through social media platforms is a good idea, but I also think this could be taken a step further when it comes to brands and advertising. There are plenty of brands out there involved in social media circles. It helps them get a pulse on what consumers are saying about their brand as well as allowing them to connect with their customers on another level. But it all happens after the fact.

How many times have you seen a commercial or campaign from a brand you like and say to yourself, "What was **** was that?" or perhaps you felt like it just doesn't speak to you. Maybe you hop online and Tweet or blog about it claiming "epic fail" by said company. If there is enough negative feedback on it, the company may take that into consideration for follow up campaigns and future advertising.

Now, what happens if our loved company had an internal review process in which you, the consumer, had more of a say? Would that be a whole lot different than a user-generated campaign?

Think about Threadless.com. People make designs, the community votes on it and the winning design gets produced. It's a pretty simple strategy that gets more people involved in the decision making process and it's a wonder to me that more ad firms aren't following a similar strategy.

If an advertising firm allowed their creatives to continue to create, but instead of an internal review by just their creative directors, the review is conducted by a brand community made up of the demographic you're trying to reach...isn't that ad firm going to be a lot closer to hitting the nail on the head when they launch a campaign?

Think of it as a focus group, but with a much broader and wider assortment of input.

In other words, getting feedback and input first would more than likely better the final product (as it relates directly to the consumer)...instead of getting feedback after the product has already hit the market.

There are a lot of loose ends in this theory of mine which I would need more time to think through, and I am quite certain will get pointed out if any commenting goes on here, but if there was a User-Generated Advertising Agency (of sorts)...talk about connecting with your customers, huh?