Click here to subscribe to the BMA Marketing Mirror RSS Feed
9/2/2008 - WILL WIDGETS WORK
By Aaron Kahlow
In my travels for the Online Marketing Summit, many, many times I have been asked about Widgets and Gadgets when speaking/writing on Social Media. Questions range from: "what is a widget" to "how do I apply widgets for marketing ROI?". So, thought it was about time I got ahead of the curve and answer the questions that most have regarding widgets.
Question 1: What is a Widget?
Wikipedia defines a Widget as: "In computer programming, a widget (or control) is an element of a graphical user interface (GUI) that displays an information arrangement changeable by the user, such as a window or a text box. The defining characteristic of a widget is to provide a single interaction point for the direct manipulation of a given kind of data. Widgets are basic visual building blocks which combined in an application hold all the data processed by the application and the available interactions on this data."
And I can see from such definitions, why there is confusion. I define a widget as: "a small data component (think text box you add in a word doc) that users can add to a web page like a blog, iGoogle or Facebook to receive small specific pieces of information." So, there are news widgets that you can add to an iGoogle page that allow you to get RSS feeds from most news source (ex: NYTimes). Oh, and if you do not know what iGoogle is and you are in the marketing profession, just type it in to Google and do yourself the favor of setting up that page.
By the way, Gadgets are the same thing. Google just prefers to call their widgets gadgets and facebook calls their widgets applications.
Question 2: Should I Use Widgets?
The answer is "No" unless you are publisher or marketing to consumers on facebook. The reason is two fold:
- Widgets are as good as the medium they can be displayed. So, very few folks have iGoogle or Facebook as a home page and so even if you create the greatest widget in the world, there is not place to put it.
- Most company websites, search engine efforts and analytics are abysmal still today. So fix that first, then start getting cute with widgets and gadgets.
Question 3: Is their ROI in Widget?
Yes, but only long term ROI for publishers and information disseminators. If you are looking for a widget to be a lead generation tool, you are fooling yourself. It’s more about building an audience and life time value of a customer. ESPN is good example of successful widgets. I have a few ESPN widgets on my iGoogle home page which allow me to get custom RSS feeds on the news of my favorite teams. So when I am traveling to other cities, I can use this widget to see what’s happening with these teams despite the local papers not covering such.
In the end, Widgets are something that will change the face of publishing, but not yet.
About the author:
Aaron Kahlow serves Chairman & Founder of the Online Marketing Summit as well as Managing Partner of BusinessOnLine, a leader in the Search & Usability space. Having delivered over 170 seminars nationwide and frequently quoted in such publications as Industry Week, BtoBOnline, and BusinessWeek, Aaron is a recognized authority on the subjects of Web Site Usability, Search Engine Optimization, Web Analytics and overall Web Strategy. Most recently, Kahlow was named as one of the “Top 40 entrepreneurs under the age of 40” by Metropolitan Magazine. He also served on the International Board of Directors for the Business Marketers Association (BMA) as Chair of Interactive Community Education.
Read These Other September 2008 ArticlesBOOK REVIEW - MACKENZIE’S ORBITING THE GIANT HAIRBALL
Industry News and Views, September 2008
FOUR ELEMENTS FOR LAUNCHING YOUR NEW MARKETING PROGRAM IN THE INTERNET
New and Renewed Members, September 2008
WHAT IS THE NUMBER ONE RULE FOR A SUCCESSFUL PRODUCT LAUNCH