Spreading the online word, part II
Not last post (sorry!) but the post before, we promised to tell you how to get word out about your site if you don't think it's something that people would actively look for. (Who in their right mind would search for "tubby student pumping his arms to Romanian Europop?")
The answer lies in establishing a presence in online communities. This can help a lot more people to notice you. It can be as little as offering friendly, impartial advice in forums. As long as you don’t try and promote your site or service too blatantly as you do it, people are more likely to respect what you have to say. It might also be worth having a forum on your own site, so that when people do find your website they have a reason to stay a bit longer. If you do go down this route, you’ll probably want to have someone to moderate it - maybe yourself, or a regular user - just to remove offensive posts and advertising or spam posts, otherwise it might quite quickly become unusable. Get in touch with rechord if you would like to know how to get a forum up and running.
You can also use viral marketing techniques and stunts to raise your profile. Some of the bigger companies make ads that they know they could never use, but if they get leaked onto the internet, then they’re not responsible, and still stand to benefit.
It’s often assumed that these ads are spoofs, but many of them are outlandish pitches by ad agencies that in the past would never see the light of day due to broadcasting restrictions. In the badlands of the web, however, anything goes.
One such wayard proposal is a Nokia mobile phone advert featuring a cat which accidentally gets stuck to a ceiling fan - it goes without saying that Nokia have come out against it, but it’s got people talking and seems to have raised their profile.
Sadly this kind of thing is beyond most budgets, and not many of us run organisations that would often inspire others to make spoof ads, but the principle is still the same. If you can make something that people will talk about and want to pass on, then people will do just that, and in the meantime your profile will rise. Rechord have created several viral campaigns in the past, one which featured a ninja pigeon, and another which was a soothing interactive screensaver for stressed executives.
A related idea is a relatively new concept - using something called street teams. It’s a technique that bands and record labels often employ. Glam rock afficionados The Darkness were one of the first big groups to use this idea, but it should work elsewhere (yes, even if you're not into lightly reassembled Queen songs).
The idea is that in return for free stuff (CDs or gig tickets, in the case of bands,) members of the street team will visit forums or write comments in blogs, spreading the word about you, voting for your product or service in polls and making sure that people are talking about what you do - as long as what they are saying is good. The ethics of this may seem dubious, but is it really that different from employing a PR agency to promote your wares to the media? As always with ethics, it's a fine line, and something you will have to decide for yourself.
Let us know how you get on with your word-spreading adventures.
The answer lies in establishing a presence in online communities. This can help a lot more people to notice you. It can be as little as offering friendly, impartial advice in forums. As long as you don’t try and promote your site or service too blatantly as you do it, people are more likely to respect what you have to say. It might also be worth having a forum on your own site, so that when people do find your website they have a reason to stay a bit longer. If you do go down this route, you’ll probably want to have someone to moderate it - maybe yourself, or a regular user - just to remove offensive posts and advertising or spam posts, otherwise it might quite quickly become unusable. Get in touch with rechord if you would like to know how to get a forum up and running.
You can also use viral marketing techniques and stunts to raise your profile. Some of the bigger companies make ads that they know they could never use, but if they get leaked onto the internet, then they’re not responsible, and still stand to benefit.
It’s often assumed that these ads are spoofs, but many of them are outlandish pitches by ad agencies that in the past would never see the light of day due to broadcasting restrictions. In the badlands of the web, however, anything goes.
One such wayard proposal is a Nokia mobile phone advert featuring a cat which accidentally gets stuck to a ceiling fan - it goes without saying that Nokia have come out against it, but it’s got people talking and seems to have raised their profile.
Sadly this kind of thing is beyond most budgets, and not many of us run organisations that would often inspire others to make spoof ads, but the principle is still the same. If you can make something that people will talk about and want to pass on, then people will do just that, and in the meantime your profile will rise. Rechord have created several viral campaigns in the past, one which featured a ninja pigeon, and another which was a soothing interactive screensaver for stressed executives.
A related idea is a relatively new concept - using something called street teams. It’s a technique that bands and record labels often employ. Glam rock afficionados The Darkness were one of the first big groups to use this idea, but it should work elsewhere (yes, even if you're not into lightly reassembled Queen songs).
The idea is that in return for free stuff (CDs or gig tickets, in the case of bands,) members of the street team will visit forums or write comments in blogs, spreading the word about you, voting for your product or service in polls and making sure that people are talking about what you do - as long as what they are saying is good. The ethics of this may seem dubious, but is it really that different from employing a PR agency to promote your wares to the media? As always with ethics, it's a fine line, and something you will have to decide for yourself.
Let us know how you get on with your word-spreading adventures.
posted by rechord at
4:18 pm
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