User-Generated Content As a Marketing Medium

I first heard “Phantom Limb” by The Shins on KINK-FM Amsterdam. The line “a Sunday walk in Austin” stood out. I live in Austin. I bought the song on Napster and did a search. The line I’d heard was actually “to zombie-walk in our stead,” not the first time someone’s gotten lyrics wrong. I also found a “Wired” article detailing the making of The Shins video in Austin for Current TV. If this sounds like my purchase of Paulina Rubio’s single last fall, it should. In both instances, all I really needed to do was get close. Search and related online content did the rest. This is how savvy marketers are using Millennials’ connected nature (along with the occasional aging Boomer) to do real business.
But wait, there’s more.*