Widget Strategies & Social Platforms

Next up at Graphing Social Patterns is Hooman Radfar, CEO of Clearspring Technologies, Inc.

Widgets are the new web page and the building block or social web. They provide high-growth channel to audiences and allow you to deploy software as a service. In addition widgets create active dialog with users.

Widgets are a building block, not a building.
- think in context
- think through the life-cycle of widget: how do I create it? how do I market it? how do I track it?
- data-driven, multi-channel strategy: Think bigger and measure across multiple channels.
- focus on user: Widget is another thing in your bag of tricks.

Put a method to the social madness:
- start with a real method and real goals.
- must know your audience
- list channels for distribution
- deploy services across each channel
- create cross-promo 'bridges'
- track each channel and bridge


Long tail: new channels, same audience:
- instead of long tail, look at the fat tail. Look at Adonomics.
- the best apps on facebook are driven by communication

Let the numbers be your guide:
- mantra of web 2.0
- measure channels to goal conversion
- starting with highest converting channels
- optimize each via A/B tests
- lather, rinse, repeat -- FAST FAST FAST
- invest in your metrics infrastructure (really really important)

Build your bag of tricks
- study the best (ahem: copy)
- A/B testing methodologies: get really good at it
- cross promotion strategies: if you don't have that opportunity through existing apps, leverage others who can cross promote your app.
- personalization techniques

See the forest from the trees
- data is good
- interpreting data is better
- drive hard to your metric, but...
- lift your head up to sanity check.

Don't be afraid of failure
- you will fail if you are good
- things will continue change
- but there are a lot of things to try
- so try new things fast and use data!!!

Thing Big:
- widget lifecycle
- cross channel
- lift your head up. check metrics

Act Small:
- establish channel conversion value
- build bag of tricks
- speed over smarts.
GSPEast08