Working on an online campaign recently for a (very) large semiconductor company, we employed some “new” media, such as networked, contextual ads like Vibrant, even placement directly in a hosted IT management software interface (Spiceworks). Even using such technologically current media involves using previous affective paradigms.
These deals go down much like using “old” media, first, you’re trying to gain awareness and interest in a solution, then getting ”targets” to “train” (starting to sound like a military operation), etc. Things were going along above expectations, meaning that we were reaching the right folks, engagement rates were rising–when we gained a strong lesson in the power of communities. Sure enough, someone posted the answers to the training questions on freestufftimes.com.
From there, visits, registrations and completed trainings went through the roof. While we included legitimacy screening in the Terms and Conditions (so we only have to give out premiums to legitimate Managed Service Providers)–this showed the power of an already cohesive Community. The Free Stuff Community is very efficient and organized. Someone scouts an opportunity, then reports to the group how to take advantage of it. They gain status in the Community for their actions and build real Kommunity Karma as folks want to inform them of other opp’s.
Maybe we should consider reversing the awareness/interest/trial/purchase/post-purchase model for effective marketing in a Community-based world. Webtrends makes some inroads in this regard.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: new media, Spiceworks, Vibrant Media, Web Trends
