A quick take on widgets

Our pal Randy sent along a great summary on Web widgets. There is also a great article about this on Forrester. He also recommends the following Web sites for “all things widget,”

http://www.widgipedia.com/

http://www.widgetbox.com/

Lots of discussion and articles about engaging consumers,

activating them and supplying the “core influencers” ….

….with tools (Widgets) to create, post and share content (their experiences) across

all variety of social networking sites turning them into brand “broadcasters”.

Also referred to as online guerilla, “buzz” marketing, viral or organic branding.

Widgets are available for all forms of content (AVT, Audio Video Text) media and increasing popular with brand marketers “seeding” branded content on (MySpace, YouTube, Facebook)

There are 2 types of Widgets (Desktop and Web):

1. Web Widgets

(Tools to author, edit, share with no special software or no download required)

1. Desktop OS Widgets (ie. Mac or Vista) or Yahoo Widgets/Google desktop

(Need to download)

Bottom Line (Strategic+Revenue Opportunity):

Super opportunity and great DIY tools; but “dead in the water” without an account coordinator/project manager.

Why?

• Manage & Filter content created as part of promotion uses of widgets
• Keep the content updated (brand visuals on flickr, photobucket, youtube etc etc that these widgets “pull” from….
• Interface with brand teams to insure updated content is available
• Monitor “buzz” (good and bad); report “finger on the pulse” insights, brand perceptions & product usage
• Metrics Reporting & Analysis