Are You Widgeticating Yourself?

Tue, Mar 18, 2008

Its not enough to just create great content anymore. The world of problogging and social marketing is much more crowded and competitive.

Multi-channel syndication is absolutely necessary. A “channel” that is increasingly bringing eyeballs and subscribers is the ad widget. (Not to be confused with Wordpress widgets.)

Recently, DoubleClick invested in this advertising channel by launching widget advertising within their core ad serving platform. These “Widget Ads” enable media and creative agencies to integrate a viral component into any campaign. This technology allows consumers to “snag” or “grab” the ad and place it on their personal homepage, blog or social network page.

According to Ari Paparo, vice president of advertiser products for DoubleClick: “Widget Ads provide audiences with the ability for self-expression and identification with well-loved brands while providing marketers the benefits of virality and engagement along with the measurability of traditional online channels.”

We have already touted the power of ad widgets in creating a viral marketing campaign. Our post on SproutBuilder explained how to get started creating widgets and then syndicating them with the networks linked to SproutBuilder like Gigya.com. This step by DoubleClick extends the interest and importance of widgets and will surely make widget even more familiar and shareable with consumers.

So, the real social marketing trick is to create a widget that intrigues your core demographic so much that they are compelled to “grab” or “share” it. This is no easy task but certainly worth some investment of time or $$. Imagine the power of a viral bit of code that “lives” on the personal homepage, desktop or blog of your core audience. That is an absolute home run in the world of social marketing.

The type of widget that goes viral will probably not be a flash style RSS feed of your blog or “feedplayer”. No, you are going to have to be much more creative than that. In fact, the main purpose of your widget will need to be something very entertaining or highly functional. Something that will feel “exclusive” or “novel”.

Your branding comes in at the bottom of the widget with a small, graphical “sponsored by” statement. This subtle “ad” builds your web presence without souring your audience which allows the clever content on your widget to shine.

And this leads to massive widgetication.