Crowd marketing. What it is?

Crowd marketing is a thorough analysis of the target audience for any marketing object, which is positioned in social networks, blogs, forums on certain topics, as well as in questionnaires and answering services. That is, it is work to promote a product or service in various online communities.
The main purpose of this type of marketing is to stimulate sales growth by meeting the needs of the target audience. Let’s talk about crowd marketing in more detail!

How does crowd marketing work?

The purpose of crowd marketing – the mass promotion of the desired object, by forming public opinion about it. The group’s marketers generate and manage special tools: reviews, recommendations about the brand, service, resources, and so on. The placement of the necessary information is very soft (only on thematic forums and other communities that were initially interested in a given topic). The technique of crowd marketing does not involve the placement of direct hyperlinks (although this is also possible). Campaigning is done by creating motivation, mentioning the object of marketing, and so on.

What are the tasks of a crowd marketer?

• Ensuring increased visibility of goods or services in the target audience, the development of a loyal opinion of society (community);
• Increasing the traffic of potential consumers;
• Improving site factors such as behavioral;
• Increase in purchased traffic from links;
• The fastest possible dissemination of the required information on the maximum number of target groups.

Link system in crowd marketing

One of the important points in the promotion of the site is the large resource of the link mass. Pull up the “resource” in a short time and help crowd marketing. It will help generate quality links that are remembered by search engines. This reduces clutter and increases the mass of quality content.

What is crowd marketing?

The most important task of modern marketing is the maximum popularization of the target object (company, brand, personality, etc.). In the case of crowd marketing, the popularity increases naturally: the number of mentions of the resource, its citations, and other useful factors increases.

However, this type of marketing is only suitable for certain sites suitable for such requirements as:

• Topic – the relevance of the site’s audience and target audience should be maximum.
• Content is just as important as the first point.
• Regionality.

Here are some helpful tips on crowd marketing

So, with the low popularity of the company, brand, or product, you can safely use crowd marketing. It will help to correct the situation and attract the audience. But can everyone benefit from crowd marketing? The fact is that in crowd-marketing there are several limitations, as well as ways to increase popularity. We will consider them in more detail.

Even a large number of reviews, responses, and comments may not help to start a chain reaction of promotion. Consumers must engage in live conversation, discussion. Only then can we say that the plan worked.
A great example of working crowd marketing is conversations about a new brand or product created by PR professionals. After that, competently composed reviews begin to comment on other buyers/customers.

In the case of marketers working with a well-known company that has a certain reputation, you need to direct user conversations in the right direction.
Also, the method of attracting customers will help to find the target audience by visiting various thematic sites, forums, social networks, and so on.

Who should not use crowd marketing?

The effect will not be achieved if:

• You have a narrow circle of consumers, simply put, a specific product or service. For example, a marketer will not be able to find many sites for commenting on the sale of shop windows or furniture for private collections.
• Business for business. Simply put, manufacturers of any product or other segment of b2b. The crowd is unlikely to work for those who make machines or other complex mechanisms.
• Services that are used only on occasion. For example, making keys, repairing shoes, or a tow truck for a broken car. To find a performer, the client will not take long to study the market.
• Everyday goods, ie those that a person needs almost every day (bread, matches, and so on).
• Network marketing. The crowd will not be able to promote the whole activity as such. It is needed to ensure the popularity of something specific.
• Activities that violate current legislation. No specialist will want to work with such a site.
• Resources that have outdated or downright bad, awkward designs. You need to start with an attractive external wrapper, and only then promote the business itself.

The next step for successful crowd marketing is site selection. For maximum effectiveness, you should choose thematic resources that suit your type of activity. Suitable resources with reviews, various forums, and directories, blogs. Which sites are most suitable for you? Consider each in more detail.

Types of crowd-marketing platforms

Review sites

The resources strongly resemble the electronic version of the official books of complaints and suggestions that can be found in every company, store, organization. A large number of users are constantly looking for relevant information there.
The most famous representatives of such sites can be found on the first page of the search engine. Usually, they do not have a specific topic, because absolutely everything is discussed. But you can look for more focused resources (for example, specifically about cosmetics, various entertainment venues, tourism, and so on).

Each resource will have drawbacks. Here are a few:

• Thorough and long check of publications. Moderation is a must. If the moderator decides to skip your comment, you can not wait for the answer at all.
• Reviews should be posted from different IP addresses, as this factor is tracked and posts from the same addresses are simply deleted.

Some tips:

• More details and information – create comments of at least 1000 characters.
• The response should be as natural as possible. Key phrases or defiantly NOT honesty (absolutely free, chance helped find a company, etc.) repel the audience.
• In order not to make up your mind – take as a basis the real gratitude or comments of your customers.

Thematic forums

Forums are a source of interested users. Here they share their problems, ask for advice and just find like-minded people. That is why competent crowd marketing will help to get a decent increase in traffic from these sites. To quickly find a forum on the desired topic you need to type in the search for the most popular key and phrase forum.

Disadvantages:

• In such areas, communication is dynamic and active – the branches are constantly changing in popularity, and find your topic, where lively discussion is sometimes difficult.
• Advertising messages or just inappropriate comments will be deleted quickly.
• The community of forums usually reacts sharply and aggressively to inaccuracies, errors, or ignorance. The reaction can be exactly the opposite at the slightest deviation.

What shall I do?

• Find only the active branches of the forum – ideally, the last comment was left at least a month ago.
• To write a review, you should use a long-registered, active in all respects profile.
• If you have questions or other comments under this review, be sure to answer and maintain the conversation.
• You need to write only on the topic, without rhetoric and spam.

Social networks

Large communities are always filled with diverse information. Here you can find absolutely everything. It’s simple: kill the search for the right question and get similar comments, feedback, and answers. In such discussions, you need to leave information about yourself, your product, or your company.
The second effective tool in working with social networks is a special program or online service that selects the right topic, city, and key phrases. This is called parsing. One of the most famous services is called Leedscanner.

Disadvantages:

• The profile from which comments are sent must be real, not fake.
• When spamming, you can get a ban from the group administrator or block the entire account.

Useful to know:

• Before you start an advertising crowd in the social community with a new account, be sure to fill it. Maximum page content with photos, videos, friends, subscribers, and so on.
• Try to avoid direct advertising.

Question and answer sites

Answer and question platforms are a great ground for crowd marketing. Find them simply through a simple search. It is better to start your post with a leading question. For example, “What to choose …”, “What is better …”, “What is your opinion about …”.

Disadvantages:

• When posting links to third-party resources, they can be deleted, leaving only the answer or question.
• Compiling the right topics. It is often difficult to come up with any variety of questions because it is easier to write “How or where to buy?”.

Useful to know:

• The discussion needs to be provoked. Add conflicting but not negative information.
• For better implementation, you need not just advertising, you need a life situation that could happen to anyone. Such problems attract more people.
• You need to have several active profiles to promote well with a question and answer services.

Various directories

Do not forget about the directories of all companies, stores, and other organizations. In electronic form, you can not only find the right topic but also read reviews or write them. Mentioning your object is a great chance to get the right result.

Cons:

• To get your page in the directory, you must fill in the fields of the certificate of state registration and indicate your phone number. You may be called later to clarify some questions.
• Not all topics are presented in the directory.
• Messages can be moderated for a very long time – from one working week to a whole month.

How to do?

• The more details in the application, the better and fewer problems in the future.
• It is better to immediately indicate their benefits and not hereditary benefits.
• Be sure to put links not only to your site but also to pages on social networks.

Recent recommendations

Before you start posting, be sure to schedule your publications on selected sites. Each review or comment should be written exactly for the selected site, and publications should not appear on the resources on the same day.
To achieve good results and increase the popularity of a brand or product, as well as attract the target audience, you need to engage in crowd marketing. To maintain a high reputation, the interest of the public must be heated regularly. With a responsible approach, crowd marketing gives impressive results.

Need help promoting your site, brand, products, or services? Contact us!