Boring Market

Everyone loves a good story, a way to create a stir in any marketplace of ideas. The best way to get your story syndicated is to create hype. Boast about a product, a company or an idea; throw some web 2.0 keywords in there and create some buzz. Everyone does it and few do it well. Often times they are just a speech filled with empty promises and letdowns. However, there are differences between creating buzz and spewing hype.

1. Hype is often company created, while buzz is user generated - Hype can’t be trusted because it comes from a tainted source; while buzz holds within it the approval (or lack thereof) of other consumers. Strategically, a company pays to generate hype, but takes a gamble in hopes that that hype will become positive buzz. That doesn’t mean that buzz is always created from hype, buzz could easily started as a grassroots campaign.

2. Buzz is conversational, while hype is controlled- Hype is often a one way speech or presentation with limited interaction in order to control the information. Buzz is all about the consumers, or users having a conversation about whether something is worth their time. With the information flow in complete control of the consumers, they can either catapult a new product to the stratosphere or rip apart a Fortune 500 company.

3. Hype is about marketing, while buzz is about genuine interest – One way hype could be created is through specific marketing by a company, the difference between whether a product or an idea sticks is the genuine interest of the consumer. It doesn’t matter what media a company uses to market, the only reason a product or idea is sustainable in holding people’s attention is when consumers truly care about the product at hand and are willing to talk about it.

4. Buzz is often relevant and to the point while Hype is exaggerated- Everyone has heard, whether from Seth Godin or not, that all marketers are liars. That may or may not hold water, but the point is that the hype which marketing creates is always over the top. A company often notes features and capabilities that don’t matter and promises they know they will never keep. These qualities keep hype exciting and fresh, unpredictable and new. The great thing about consumers is that when they get the product in their hands and use it they note relevant pros and cons. Users talk about what works for their needs and what was just marketing ploys.

Tags: Buzz·hype·web 2.0