Widget Marketing and Advertising
May 1, 2007
It’s Widget Madness! They’ve proliferated the social media landscape like a wild batch of mushrooms in a country field. And the marketers are scrambling to get on the widget bandwagon. So far though, there have been few, if any wildly successful widget monetizing strategies, most likely because of the yet-to-be-solved issues associated with Widget marketing. Before we get into that, let’s take a step back and discuss what exactly widgets are, why they’re growing in popularity on social media sites, and social networking sites, and what marketers envision with the use of these new marketing channels.
You can look at a widget as a mini web-page that is located within another web-page. Widgets are software tools, typically created from a Widget software developer, that allow users to quickly, and more efficiently share user content. Widgets are essentially pre-made bits of web code (html or otherwise) that are embedded within the code of other web pages. Widgets have paved the path for distributed media and have become vital outlets which content producers use to spread their web-based information, messages, and and other pitches. Viewers of a web page with an embedded widget can many times grab the code for the widget to embed into their own web spaces. This viral form of widget dispersion is a strategy that content producers and widget manufacturers embrace, as the free advertising is seldom rejected.
The most prominent example of a widget to date is the YouTube widget, that enabled the millions of YouTube users to share their favorite videos on the even more prominent social network, MySpace. Other notable widgets are the Photobucket widget, Twitter widget, game widgets, RSS feed widgets, music player widgets, etc. These widgets allow users (people that embed the widget code into their personal websites) to share information that they think might be interesting to the people in their social networks, blog-rolls, or random viewers. The common widget user or enabler views widgets as something that enables them to show other people what they’re into - that bit of personalization and customization ability is the reason why widgets have become so popular.
Used by marketers, widgets are social media tools that can help in consumer feedback for service/product improvement, customer service efforts, branding initiatives, drive qualified traffic to targeted websites, and extend their web presence and reach virally. From the consumer standpoint, widgets can show the consumers brand loyalty thereby contributing to the effectiveness of the overall marketing campaign.
With all of the opportunity that widgets present to the savvy social marketer, problems with effectiveness as marketing tools still exist. My concerns with widgets are as follows:
1. Relevancy of advertising to viewers. I would bet Google and Yahoo! are hashing this one out now.
2. ROI of the widget considering all costs (hosting, bandwidth, development, marketing, etc.)
3. Conflicting associations (your company widget spreading virally across every porn site)
4. User’s and viewers might be turned off by blatant advertising in or on widgets.
5. Monetizing strategies are evolving but not proven.
Even with the current issues with widget marketing and advertising, I believe that widgets will continue to gain traction as valuable marketing tools to not overlook.
Sphere: Related Content
Posted by Rick Garcia in Widgets, Viral Marketing, Contextual Advertising
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Discover A Powerful Marketing Tactic That Many Are Missing
Article Review Body: Mention the word “viral” and one tends to think infection,
illness and disease. However, when referencing our Internet
Marketing methods, “viral” is “desirable” and very much a
good thing!
So, What is Viral Marketing?
As the name suggests, its a way of spreading your marketing
message from person to person, similar to passing a cold
around. You pass on the germ to about five people, who in
turn each pass on the bug to 5 more (5×5=25), who then spread
it to another 5 (25×5=125) and so on until after just 8 levels,
you reach the staggering figure of 1,953,125.
The classic example of viral marketing is Hotmail, one of
the first free Web-based e-mail services. Their strategy was,
and still is very simple:
1. Give away free e-mail addresses and services
2. Attach a simple tag at the bottom of every users email
message sent: “Get your private, free email at ….”
3. Then stand back while people e-mail to their own network
of friends and associates who see the message and sign up
for their own free e-mail service, and the cycle continues.
What Makes Marketing Viral?
A viral marketing plan usually has some or all of the
following basic elements:
1. Provides a product or service free
2. Makes for easy transfer of the message to others
3. Allows easy growth from small to very large
4. Exploits common motivations and behaviours
5. Uses existing communication networks
6. Utilizes the resources of others
When providing a product or service free, The word
Free
is the most persuasive word in marketing. Most viral
marketing campaigns give away a product or service to
gain prospect’s interest. Eg. Free e-mail service, free
software, free info. etc. Then, when you have their
attention, and build their trust, you can sell something
related to their target niche. However, if you hit them
with a sales pitch first, chances are they wont be as
interested.
This has been proven time and time again.
http://www.gotviralwidgets.com/?GotViralwidgets=667
Now,
most people have around 5 to 12 people in their
close network of friends, family and work colleagues.
On the internet, nearly everyone has email addresses
in their contacts list, and favourite websites stored
in their web browser. Utilise this fact in your marketing
campaign. For example, when you give away a free product,
ask the recipient to provide the email addresses of others
who may be interested.
Many viral marketing websites now provide a friendly
“Tell a Friend” feature which makes letting your contacts
know that much easier.
Viral marketing has come a long way since the day of Hotmail.
Today, most viral marketing websites take hold extremely
well, and benefit all parties involved. Everyone wants to
take part in something that is catching on like wildfire,
and especially when it proves to be rewarding for all
involved.
A great viral marketing website or service should
be used as a way of building customers, and driving traffic
to your website. It’s simply a win/win situation for
everyone!
Viral marketing costs very little, in fact if you go to
the right places, it can be free. Given that, and the
huge potential for increased profits with less effort,
your marketing campaigns should always involve viral
marketing so your prospects catch the bug!