William Beutler is the founder of Beutler Ink, a digital agency specializing in visual design, content marketing, and Wikipedia engagement. He is the author of an e-book, Wikipedia and the Communications Professional, and in 2014 coordinated a joint statement by the world's largest marketing and PR firms pledging to follow Wikipedia's rules. He is @williambeutler on Twitter.
Editor’s note: We brought this popular article from a few years ago up to date for 2020.
Since 2001, Wikipedia’s community of volunteer editors has created more than 6 million pages, many of them found on Google’s first page of search results for that topic. Wikipedia’s ubiquity bestows upon it the ability to lend its credibility to other subjects, which is attractive for companies and organizations who crave recognition.
Since 2001, Wikipedia’s community of volunteer editors has created more than 5 million pages, many of them found on Google’s first page of search results for that topic. Wikipedia’s ubiquity bestows upon it the ability to lend its credibility to other subjects, which is attractive for companies and organizations who crave recognition.
But Wikipedia’s volunteer editors are focused on building a serious encyclopedia, and not so interested in helping a brand’s content marketing plan. If you want to create an entry about a company (or any topic related to your business), you need to understand what Wikipedia is looking for and the right way to go about it. This post describes the process at a high level, but it’s only a starting point – follow the links within to learn more before you try.Continue Reading
