Do you have a friend or relative who is a compulsive forwarder of e-mails? Yeah, I thought so. Every message you receive from them has at least three or four "Fwd" prefixes in the subject line and just as many levels of indented quotation. Usually the content is a chain letter, a hoax, some promotion for a freebie, or an attempt at humor. I've become so jaded that I don't even bother opening them, sending them straight to the trash.
The forward-without-forethought dynamic of e-mail is amplified in newer forms of social media. Case in point -- take a look at the post titled "Twitter is Useless: Simple Case Study" over at WhyDoWork's corporate blog (hat tip to Hacker News). They announced a promotion via Twitter and encouraged retweeting. They found that people kept retweeting and entering long after the promotion wrapped up. As one of the lessons they took away from the experience:
This may well be true, but it also raises the question of whether the recipients and retweeters include large numbers of high quality leads. The promise of a popular freebie with a low barrier to entry is likely to draw in people who have no interest in what you are offering, but they are more than happy to take whatever you might be offering.
I'm just speculating at this point, but I suspect that this type of campaign might be like one of those TV commercials which winds up being too funny or entertaining for its own good. You can't help but tell others about it, but at the same time, you can't remember what product they were promoting in the first place.
The forward-without-forethought dynamic of e-mail is amplified in newer forms of social media. Case in point -- take a look at the post titled "Twitter is Useless: Simple Case Study" over at WhyDoWork's corporate blog (hat tip to Hacker News). They announced a promotion via Twitter and encouraged retweeting. They found that people kept retweeting and entering long after the promotion wrapped up. As one of the lessons they took away from the experience:
If you’re a marketer, think about running a contest on twitter. Thousands of people will promote your contest for you even after it’s over.
This may well be true, but it also raises the question of whether the recipients and retweeters include large numbers of high quality leads. The promise of a popular freebie with a low barrier to entry is likely to draw in people who have no interest in what you are offering, but they are more than happy to take whatever you might be offering.
I'm just speculating at this point, but I suspect that this type of campaign might be like one of those TV commercials which winds up being too funny or entertaining for its own good. You can't help but tell others about it, but at the same time, you can't remember what product they were promoting in the first place.
Comments for Does Blind Forwarding of Information Count as Real Promotion?
Leave a comment