Crowd marketing is a deep analysis of the target audience, which is used for a specific marketing object and is focused on social networks, blogs, various thematic forums, questionnaires with a choice of answers and so on. That is, this is any work that is performed on the Internet in order to popularize the product. A similar direction in marketing has appeared relatively recently, so it should be examined in more detail in order to find out the principle of its work.
Definition and wording
To understand how crowd marketing works for content projects, you first need to carefully understand what this technique is all about. For this, it is necessary not only to thoroughly study the concept of crowd marketing, but also to understand its wording. After that, it will be possible to move on to the principles of work and the main advantages of this technique over other methods of popularizing goods and services.
So, crowd marketing is a combination of various technologies for promoting goods on the Internet, as well as a set of measures aimed at popularizing a particular brand among the target audience. Such a mechanism is often based on advisory foundations, so attracting customers to leave feedback also plays an important role. However, the most important point is that promotion is carried out only on the Internet.
In fact, crowd marketing refers to a set of concise and unobtrusive recommendations for “respected buyers” from “experts”. For example, if you visited a store’s website at least once before purchasing goods from them, then you might come across some flattering reviews from customers who have already purchased it. Such a mechanism of manipulating consumer consciousness is based on increasing the level of trust, so in most cases the buyer does not even think about how useful this product can be for him. "If they write that it’s good, then it means so."
Principle of operation
Have you decided to build DIY marketing yourself? Then you should familiarize yourself with the basic principle of its work, which is the mass popularization of a particular product or service on the Internet by forming public opinion. As mentioned earlier, marketers use a special tool called reviews. Crowd marketing can be carried out on any site or forum, the main thing is that the attention of as many potential buyers as possible is affected. For example, quite often business owners create communities on social networks so that people can share their impressions after visiting restaurants or buying a device.
Also, the technique of such marketing often involves placing various hyperlinks on the websites, through which the buyer can go to a third-party resource, which usually contains product information and several flattering reviews (usually fake). Of course, on such a site a large button “Buy a product” or “Order a service” will also come across, but buyers should be especially wary of such offers. As a rule, fake reviews are written for those products that do not differ in special quality and are clearly not worth the money. Although one cannot fail to note the fact that the proponents of "true" crowd marketing are extremely negative about consumer fraud.
Task analysis
Now you know a lot about what crowd marketing is and how it works in real life. However, in order to use such knowledge in practice, it will also be necessary to properly analyze the main goals pursued by such a technique. All information you are interested in about this is in the list below.
- Increased product recognition. Each potential buyer should know about the existence of a particular product and service, as well as join the formed loyal opinion of the society about this product.
- The increase in the number of consumers. It is necessary to constantly attract the attention of an increasing number of potential buyers. To do this, you can order advertising on social networks or special blogs.
- Quick distribution of updates. Even if you have a specific audience, people should learn as quickly as possible about new products and services that your company offers.
All these tasks help to achieve one main goal - to increase the number of product sales among the target audience. Of course, crowd marketing will be practically useless if some poor-quality product or service is offered to customers. Therefore, do not forget to pay attention not only to marketing, but also to improving product quality.
Link system
Crowd marketing is often based on the use of various links, clicking on which a potential buyer appears on the page with customer reviews about a particular product. However, so that the site does not look spammed with various links and advertising banners, you must follow certain rules for their placement, which any professional marketer knows about.
In order not to scare away a potential buyer who came to your site in order to find out more information about the offered product or service, it is necessary to present this information as unobtrusively as possible. Of course, the purchase button should always be visible, however, some sites display it literally on the whole screen, and the number of advertising banners significantly exceeds the amount of useful information. This is not to mention the fact that most of the reviews were written by one person in the same manner.
If you plan to engage in the promotion of your brand, then we recommend using the Linkum crowdfunding service, which has already managed to prove itself in a good way among thousands of companies and individual entrepreneurs. Just leave a request for the purchase of services from this service, after which an agent will contact you in order to discuss all the details. The company is engaged in the promotion of goods or services on various third-party resources, as well as the content of sites.
Core tools
To conduct crowd marketing on your own, you need to familiarize yourself with its main tools that are actively used by professional marketers. If applied, you can increase the popularity of your brand in a natural way, rather than artificial (fake reviews). So pick up a notebook and pen and write out for yourself the main nuances presented in the list below.
- Subject of the goods. In order for the brand to enjoy maximum demand among the target audience, it is necessary to analyze its theme in detail.
- Suggested content. This item is similar to the previous one, however, in this case, it is not the product that is analyzed, but the preferences of the target audience.
- Regionality. Do not forget that the success of sales can largely depend on the area of ​​implementation. Who will buy a snowboard in the desert?
The better you understand the working principle of these tools, the better you can conduct crowd marketing yourself without resorting to the help of other companies. However, do not forget that in this case you run the risk of losing part of the profit while you understand the psychology of a potential buyer. In some cases, it will be much more profitable to give several thousand rubles for attending crowdfunding courses. Still, learning discipline on your own is much more difficult.
Should I order a service?
Crowd marketing is a type of brand popularization that is not suitable for use in every situation. If you do not want to spend money on advertising in vain, then properly analyze how promising such an event will be in a particular case. To do this, follow the questions below.
- Does your brand have a sufficient minimum circle of consumers?
- Is your product necessary for everyday life?
- Do your potential buyers use the Internet?
- Does your activity violate the legislation of the Russian Federation?
If you answered these questions and after that you did not lose the desire to order this service, then you can safely proceed to the next section, which will help you draw up a competent TK. In other cases, you should think about other ways to promote the product.
Customer requirements
If you still decide to use the services of a third-party resource to promote your brand, then you should formulate a competent customer requirement (TK) for crowd marketing. Here are just the basic principles that you must follow:
- recall should be natural, and key phrases concise;
- maximum similarity and information content in reviews;
- real gratitude should be taken as the basis.
You also need to make sure that reviews are posted from different addresses. Most third-party companies take this fact into account, but we should not forget about it. Otherwise, the system will simply delete those reviews that were posted from the same IP.
Advertising on topic forums
In some cases, crowdfunding services can be carried out at various thematic forums where potential buyers gather. Is such advertising relevant for the brand, or should you choose something else? To deal with this issue, you should talk about the main advantages and disadvantages of crowdfunding forums.
Let's start with the flaws. On large venues, a discussion of a brand is always quite dynamic. Today, people may be crazy about one product, and tomorrow - it will become useless to anyone. Also, do not forget that advertising offers from ordinary users may not be appropriate in regular messages, so the forum moderator can simply delete them.
Now a few words about the benefits of forums. Like-minded people are constantly gathering on such platforms, so it will be easier to interest them in any product. Engaged in the development of computer games? Go to the appropriate forum and conduct crowd marketing on it in order to attract the attention of potential buyers. Reselling items from China for small children? Then you have a direct road to the forum of young mothers.
Social networks
Almost every large community in a social network is filled with various advertising, which is posted here for quite a lot of money. Many crowdfunding services work closely with such groups in their activities. It will be enough to agree with the administrator of the community on advertising a particular product that has a lot of positive reviews, which anyone can read by clicking on a specific link. After that, the potential buyer falls into another group, where there is a topic with reviews and suggestions. All messages are left by real users of the social network, so this causes the trust of other buyers. As for the disadvantages of such promotion, they can be distinguished two:
- profiles for crowd marketing must be real;
- with spam you can easily get a lifetime ban from the administrator.
However, do not forget that most Internet users regularly visit their pages on social networks and leaf through news feeds, where it is often offered to purchase various goods or services. Therefore, crowd marketing on this platform can show itself in all its glory. It will be enough to know the basic rules by which marketing activities should be carried out:
- avoid direct advertising in messages, as this repels people;
- fill in your account before using it for advertising;
- try to advertise only one product per day, so as not to catch a ban.
If you competently approach the implementation of crowd marketing in a social network, then very soon the first orders for the purchase of the products that you produce will come to you. Simply create a small community in VKontakte specializing in the sale of a certain product, register several accounts and start filling them out (add photos, audio recordings, videos, wall posts) so that customers do not have suspicions that the reviews are fake. After that, leave a few positive comments in your community by attaching photos of the purchased item, and then order an advertisement from one of the large communities so that buyers know about you. It remains only to wait for orders that will certainly arrive if you did everything right.
Video and conclusion
We hope our article helped you understand that crowd marketing is one of the most promising types of promotion for almost any modern business. If you still have any questions or you just want to find out more information about how to independently promote your company in a social network or forum, we recommend that you watch a short video in which a professional marketer talks about the features and benefits of crowd -marketing before other types of advertising. Do not forget to thank the owner of the channel with a positive rating or comment after watching the video.
As you can see, crowd marketing is a very useful and effective tool for promoting any business whose target audience uses the Internet. Otherwise, the promotion of a product or service using reviews will be practically unpromising. So carefully analyze everything and make a competent business plan. Perhaps a few simple steps separate you from the success of a lifetime and consistently high income. Good luck in all your endeavors, dear readers!