Widgets are small, lightweight applications that, by their very nature, demand simplicity. In addition, the lack of a significant, large base of adult users means that investments need to be scaled appropriately. To succeed, marketers should:
Focus widget design on providing value to users.
A widget with too many features will fail because it strives to serve all users but in the process serves no specific user need well. Widgets must first and foremost create user value, either because it serves a core utility or is highly entertaining.
Do neither and the widget will be quickly deleted to make room for a more useful widget. The aforementioned "RSS in a dress" widgets fall prey to the utility problem while also taking up too much room to justify their meager value.
Aim for only few days of widget development.
I recently spoke with a marketer who had a six-month widget deployment calendar involving an ecosystem of agencies and providers. This is a mistake — marketers shouldn't have to wait months or even weeks to launch their first widgets. Instead, aim to spend the equivalent of a long weekend creating the first widget. How? Copy a successful widget, which is what Sony Pictures did with its film 30 Days of Night, by taking the popular Facebook Vampires application and reskinning for the film. For more details click here.
After learning from a few trial widgets, focus development efforts in one of two areas that will have the biggest impact, namely, personalization (to encourage adoption of the widget) and virality (to encourage its spread to other people).
Market your widget.
Marketing widgets are a bit odd in that they require a marketing investment to make them pay off; it's not often that you have to market your own marketing channel. Make sure that your target audience can easily find the widget, either on your own site's home page or on your partner and affiliate sites. Add it to footers, mention it in email newsletters, and place it in widget galleries across multiple platforms.
Make it easy for other people to download a widget that they like by replacing embed codes with one-button "add to" features from companies like Gigya and ShareThis. Work with vendors such as RockYou, Widgetbox, SocialMedia, and Context Optional that can help spread your widgets among their own networks.
Focus widget design on providing value to users.
A widget with too many features will fail because it strives to serve all users but in the process serves no specific user need well. Widgets must first and foremost create user value, either because it serves a core utility or is highly entertaining.
Do neither and the widget will be quickly deleted to make room for a more useful widget. The aforementioned "RSS in a dress" widgets fall prey to the utility problem while also taking up too much room to justify their meager value.
Aim for only few days of widget development.
I recently spoke with a marketer who had a six-month widget deployment calendar involving an ecosystem of agencies and providers. This is a mistake — marketers shouldn't have to wait months or even weeks to launch their first widgets. Instead, aim to spend the equivalent of a long weekend creating the first widget. How? Copy a successful widget, which is what Sony Pictures did with its film 30 Days of Night, by taking the popular Facebook Vampires application and reskinning for the film. For more details click here.
After learning from a few trial widgets, focus development efforts in one of two areas that will have the biggest impact, namely, personalization (to encourage adoption of the widget) and virality (to encourage its spread to other people).
Market your widget.
Marketing widgets are a bit odd in that they require a marketing investment to make them pay off; it's not often that you have to market your own marketing channel. Make sure that your target audience can easily find the widget, either on your own site's home page or on your partner and affiliate sites. Add it to footers, mention it in email newsletters, and place it in widget galleries across multiple platforms.
Make it easy for other people to download a widget that they like by replacing embed codes with one-button "add to" features from companies like Gigya and ShareThis. Work with vendors such as RockYou, Widgetbox, SocialMedia, and Context Optional that can help spread your widgets among their own networks.
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