Should you pay people to spread the word about your company?

Spreading the work within the social media community can create an awareness that cannot be replicated. People who “tweet”, “share”, or post positive comments about your business for no advantage are almost certainly doing it for the love. This does raise the question that if there is a financial gain offered does that mean that it is no longer for the love? 

If companies offer rewards for spreading the “online word” it could potentially mean being spammed by hundreds of your friends who are getting a kick back to do so. Being paid to promote businesses also runs the risk that credibility of the promotion is reduced, as the driving force behind it is monetary value as opposed to love for the business. That being said, it is still creating an awareness that could not be replicated through traditional advertising. Financial rewards for posting or sharing links is driving customers to your website, even if a commission is being paid. As online “influencers” are gaining more credibility, paying for them to recommend your product make sense as word of mouth advertising is the most powerful medium of all.

When a person recommends a product or service, typically their contacts are friends which suggest that, while creditability could be questioned, a person would rarely recommend a product they did not at all believe in to a list of their friends, even if a financial gain is offered. Offering customers rewards for “tweeting” about your product to a certain amount of followers is essentially paying for advertising, at a significantly reduced amount.

Paying users to promote your business

This year a radio station ran a promotion which they took their advertising budget of 500k and gave amounts to listeners who promoted their show. The amount a listener received depended on the amount of people their advertising reached e.g. if a sign promoting the radio station was hung over a busy traffic bridge that user may have received $100. This is taking the same concept to the online world, where you are paying your existing customers a commission to promote your business.

Reducing the advertising costs for businesses

This is a controversial idea that has emerged as the market is evolving, it can be an effective and extremely cost effective way for businesses to advertise online.