We marketing types are really great at telling our clients to plunge into the deep end, when it comes to trying new things. We’re generally not so good at taking our own advice. “Eating our own dog food” is not nearly as popular as you might think, which means that a lot of marketing agencies are scandalously behind the curve, when it comes to taking advantage of new techniques and tools. 

So here’s a freebie, folks. Something that you can recommend to your clients – and yourselves. I’m working on it for my company (and me, personally) right now, in fact. 

Wikipedia.

Yep. Wikipedia, the user-created encyclopedia. Wikipedia has become a go-to resource – kind of a “Who’s Who” for the online world. Trouble is, there’s a catch. (Isn’t there ALWAYS a catch?) You can’t write your ownWikipedia article. Not only that, Wikipedia has what amounts to a “new page police” that work hard to make sure that you’re not simply adding press release drivel and shovelware entries, to make the mundane seem special. They have a metric – “noteworthiness” – that they use to insure that Wikipedia is not crammed with useless entries. You don’t have to be famous – but you do have to be noteworthy to make it into Wikipedia. 

So it’s not a universal solution – but if you have a company or individual that is noteworthy, your job as a marketer is to get them listed on Wikipedia. Wanna know how to play by the Wikirules? Here’s a link to help you get started.