Online Marketing

Wikipedia has become a famous resource in the recent years. So famous, in fact, that many marketers try to use the user-content driven domain to promote their services, goods or themselves. In effect, many schools see Wikipedia as an unreliable resource and I’ve talked to many teachers who told me that they won’t accept papers which credit Wikipedia as one of the sources (too bad, kids). Over the course of my freelance writing career and my discovery of internet marketing, calls for experienced Wikipedia writers by companies and individuals are abound to those who’re willing to undertake the task. What they do is have people create Wikipedia profiles which will appear as if they had nothing to do with it and that the profile was entirely voluntarily created.

While this technique works for some, blatant promotion is always deleted in Wikipedia. Wikipedia, despite its infamous reputation, is still an encyclopedia and not a marketing tool. I must admit, however, that many of what we do read in Wikipedia might all as well be instigated and commissioned by the companies profiled. The question is, should you use Wikipedia for online marketing and promotion? It’s all up to your discretion. I won’t get into a long morality-centric speech about how it’s not right to use an encyclopedia for promotion. While I do not recommend and advise on using Wikipedia, in the end, it’ll all be up to you.

If looking your name up in Wikipedia and finding something you had commissioned to be written pleases you, then by all means, don’t let this article stop you. Won’t it be great, however, when you find your name in there without you knowing anything about it at all? That would mean you’re doing your job and the people have become aware of your name or your company.

Filed under: General online marketing