Some people call them “widgets”. Others prefer the term, "Facebook application" or "Google gadgets," and so on. But whatever you call them, they’re a powerful way to build audience by enabling your most passionate fans to use your content to promote your Web site while enhancing their own Web pages.
So what are they?
A widget is a piece of code that you make available to third parties which they can paste onto their own web page which provides a small window of content or functionality from your site to theirs—content that you control. It can be headlines with article summaries; data; a photo; or other functionality.
They’ve existed for a few years as ways for site publishers to exchange content and traffic. But now, with the trend towards user-controlled content, they’re becoming a user-driven phenomenon. Fans of a site can now share their favorite content with friends, adding these widgets to their Facebook pages, their blogs, profiles and on their Homepage on sites such as iGoogle.
The widget provides a dynamic tidbit of the publisher’s content on the user’s page. The content can be changed by the publisher on a regular basis. For example, here’s a snapshot of National Geographic’s widget, with rotating thumbnail shots of stunning photos:
You can also create a widget with a feed of headlines and/or data specific to your content niche, such as this example from TheStreet.com:
And yet another widget strategy is to provide a choice of content, such as this widget from YogaJournal.com, which enables the user to select a pose using the links on the right. Thousands of yoga instructors worldwide can click the button and add this to their own site pages, in effect acting as a linked ad to Yoga Journal that’s hosted by its most passionate readers:
How does the widget draw traffic to your site?
When the visitor clicks on the tidbit of content in the widget, it takes them to the corresponding detailed web page on the publisher’s site. And this means that, bingo—you’ve just gotten a free visitor and added awareness of your brand.
How to promote the widget
Wherever it appears, you should provide a button below it saying "Get this widget."
Plan to use every opportunity you can to remind your most passionate and loyal website users to get the widget. Place it as a feature on your home page. Announce it in your email newsletter, with a graphic shot and a prominent button to try it and obtain it. And talk about it in the magazine itself to help build your readers’ interest in visiting the website.
Should You Try Widgets? Ask Your Audience.
All this social networking stuff is exciting. Yeah, yeah, it’s the stuff of the future. I know, it’s a New World—blah, blah, blah. But when dealing with the natural hype around Web marketing, you need to follow your audience—and not chase after the latest marketing fad.
So before jumping onto the widget bandwagon, ask your audience about their own use of social media. Are they on Facebook? Do they use iGoogle? Do they have blogs of their own or visit them? While a widget has great benefits even if it’s simply offered to other publishers to enhance their content, be sure that you have a solid marketing plan behind this strategy before investing the effort.
Bill Baird is a leading subscription marketing and audience development advisor to publishers on the Web. His clients include The Motley Fool, Consumerreports.org, NetDetective.com and EdWeek.org. He is also the creator of SPARKwatch, a best practice research and advisory service for web marketers. He can be reached at (203) 838-5444 or at http://www.bairddirect.com.
