Widgets 101: what it means for advertisers and marketers

“The possibilities are endless,” says UM South Africa MD Nazeer Suliman. “Almost any platform can accommodate widgets – from mobile phones to desktops and beyond. Creating a branded widget is one way of engaging and connecting with your consumer on platforms that have fast become instrumental to their lives. Take the incidence of mobile phones within a South African context as an example and you have quite an interesting mechanism for meaningful engagement through relevant content.”

Globally, broadcasters are packaging content to allow users to put videos on their pages, sports teams are producing branded widgets with team news, websites are using it as a method of content distribution and advertising networks are emerging which allow for the creation of widget ad formats.

The most familiar types of widgets are Facebook applications, Windows Vista Gadgets and Google Gadgets. Essentially, they all serve the same purpose; allowing the distribution of content into external web connected environments. Widget marketing is all about using these avenues of content distribution as part of your marketing mix to deliver against set marketing and communication objectives.

Types of widgets

• Desktop: The latest generation of computer operating systems are web-enabled and incorporate gadgets as standard, opening the wonderful world of widgets to millions of users.

• Web browsers: These allow the incorporation of third-party programmes.

• Personalised homepages: These attempt to organise a user's web experience by placing all the content they will ever need onto one page.

• Social networks: Facebook was the first social network to open its platform for external developers to create applications for users to place on their profiles.

• Blogging platforms: directories of widgets allow bloggers to easily add external content to their blog.

• Embeddable web widgets: Websites are increasingly offering their content to external sites, blogs, and social network pages via embeddable code that can be placed anywhere online. For example on YouTube, videos can be embedded into a web page with a simple piece of code.

• Mobile widgets: This is a massive growth area for widgets and clearly as the Internet becomes more central to the mobile experience, so will the widget.

The Internet is seeping into all areas of our computing experience. This means that widgets will become available everywhere, including via operating systems and in software packages like Excel and PowerPoint. Windows Vista has many features that rely on information and data from the Internet, while widgets are central to customising your desktop.

At the same time, web-based applications are increasingly taking on desktop rivals. For example, Google applications offer spreadsheets, word processor and presentation applications inside the web browser. In the future software will be web based and accessible anywhere. The line between webtop and desktop will disappear.

Whether we realise it or not, everyone is a content producer. Consumers expect brands to do the same and are receptive to branded content and services as long as they provide them something of genuine value. This creates a climate where branded content is more acceptable than it has even been, particularly if it keeps access free.

Widgets are becoming a key channel for advertisers and brands to distribute their message and content. Getting consumers to integrate your branded widget into their desktop, social network, blog or personal homepage is a way of driving engagement and building a relationship. As a bonus, widgets are cheap to produce, can be distributed at low cost and they put you in the most relevant environment to your target audience.

The keys to producing a successful widget

• It's about reputation, not driving direct sales: Good widgets drive engagement and create positive brand associations by sitting in consumers' personal online space and delivering a benefit. They will not replace advertising that drives high reach and sales.

• Avoid the gimmicks: Many gadgets, particularly on social networks can be gimmicky. Think Facebook applications like Vampires and Pirates, no benefit to a marketer.

• Shallow content: Less is more in widgets. There is only so much space to fill with content. Subtle branding: widgets are opt in and exist in the consumer's personal space – subtlety is the key to consumer acceptance.

• Remember distribution: Work with widget specialists to distribute via their directories, add to your site, engage through advertisements and work with the platforms to gain prominent positions. Incorporate with other communication platforms: widgets work best in conjunction with other marketing communications, either to activate your idea or as ‘news'.

• It's not about doing but showing: The future of marketing communications is about living the behaviour you want your brand to be associated with, not just talking about it.