Advertising agencies are now pushing their clients, especially with products or brands targeted towards the teen demographic, to include online marketing components in their overall campaign. While consumers are still using traditional media in their everyday lives, the Internet is slowly inching its way to become part of this media mix. Various studies around the globe even show that while Internet consumption is going up, television viewership and newspaper readership are slowly declining. Instead of buying newspapers, people can now log online and read the latest headlines minutes after they have occurred. Movies and shows can be streamed online without commercial interruption and at the users’ convenience, making it a more obvious choice than TV.
Most big brands and huge advertisers have already picked up this trend and modified their communication campaigns to accommodate placement in this channels. Their online marketing plans are usually composed of banner ads that are both dynamic and static, flash animation, video branding, site content sponsorship, and email marketing. However, there is one emerging practice that clients and advertising agencies should take note of: community seeding.
Community seeding is the practice of getting involved with online communities where the target market gathers. These are places like forums, social or professional networking sites, blog groups, chat rooms, and even online gaming sites where people gather to discuss common interests or niche topics. What makes these communities attractive and addicting to most consumers is the presence of interaction. Constant posting of opinions, exchanging of views, and sharing of ideas are what keep consumers coming back for more. The considerable amount of time spent on these sites is more than what consumers spend on noticing online ad banners, watching commercials, or reading editorials, thus making it a very lucrative real estate for promoting a brand.
Seeding is commonly done by visiting these communities and finding ways to get the brand closer to consumers without coming across as blatant promotions or advertising. It is executed by actively participating in forums, posting relevant information through blog entries, and even personifying brands by creating profiles in popular networking sites. The key to successful seeding is to do it discreetly and not to oversell, or else the message will just be ignored and considered as spam. A seeder must learn how to blend in the community by actively participating and speaking the same manner and language as the members. Not only does this build credibility of the source of information linking to the brand, but will also give the advertiser valuable insight on their brand or communication campaigns through honest feedback made my community members.
Unlike all advertisements, the cost of community seeding is relatively inexpensive compared to advertising using traditional media. Some professionals even liken this practice to public relations, wherein key messages are integrated into editorials or translated into news item instead of buying ad placements. Indeed, community seeding works in a similar manner, but what makes it unique and also an important marketing tool to watch out for is that stimulates dialogue between the consumer and the brand, thereby building more substantial relationships. Truly, community seeding achieves the objective of getting the message across the consumers and going the extra mile by bringing it closer to the consumer as possible.
I have just learning about community seeding and found your blog. Thanks for your post, it’s so interesting!
Regards,
Comment by utlopchuong — March 5, 2009 @ 1:21 am