Hollrr is a relatively new site devoted to referral. Unlike other organic referrals or recommendations found on the web, Hollrr brashly solicits endorsements through reviews, referrals and other tactics and will pay cash for the efforts.
From Hollrr: “Social Media totally changes what effective advertising should be. Why should you believe a company that tells you their brand is good… when you can listen to the Twittersphere and find out exactly what users think of that brand?”
Social media does not change what effective advertising should be. Effective advertising has always been about being authentic, credible, distinctive and often, giving consumers a different way to look at a product or service.
BzzAgent has been successful as a grassroots referral promotion for new products. But, using social media as the primary platform opens up a company for severe backlash if referral is driven by promotional payouts instead of real, felt experiences.
Incidentally, Hollrr is ranked by Alexa as the number 266,263 website.
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May 21, 2009 at 8:52 pm
David Hegarty
April – thank you for mentioning us in your blog. We’re thrilled to see another company who believes so strongly in the power of advocate marketing.
I think Hollrr is closer to your philosophy than you think. We take our job at Hollrr very serious. We’re on a mission to help people launch great new products and services. Nothing makes my day more than to discover a cool new product and think ‘wow, this is awesome’.
In talking with entrepreneurs, one of their biggest challenges is getting word out about their new product. Current options are not particularly helpful for them. Search advertising is great, but if its a new innovative product, how does someone know how to search for it? Display advertising is fine, but often it’s ignored… plus its really difficult to narrow down to your target audience (and well, to be honest, as a reader… it can be annoying!)
Time and time again, entrepreneurs tell us that Word of Mouth recommendations are the most effective way of bringing in new customers…the only problem… they wish they could encourage their fans to tell more people!
Hollrr is about Turbo-Charging word of mouth recommendations… if you’re a Product Owner, we want to make it as easy as possible for you to encourage your fans to tell their friends about your product. If you LOVE a product, we want to make it as easy as possible for you to tell your friends, and get rewarded for bringing new customers to the product you love. We firmly believe that the right incentive structure doesn’t change someone opinion, it just encourages them to shout it louder and more frequently to their friends!
I think our friends at Springwise said it best: “Hollrr is another lovely illustration of the fertile ground where Generation C(ontent) and Generation C(ash) meet. The crowds love to contribute, but only by rewarding them will you unleash their full potential.”
By far and away, the most important attribute of a recommendation is that it is genuine and that you trust the integrity of the recommender. This is why a Hollrr is not anonymous….it’s tied closely to your Twitter, Facebook, or other Social Network. It works best when you make this recommendation to your friends. And your friends know exactly what type of integrity you have!
Additionally, our incentive structure is about rewarding people for recognizing early great new products. It encourages people to Hollrr about new products now, they think will be big in the future. As the Tribe grows, it generates more rewards. The earlier you join a tribe of followers, the larger is your share of the Tribe reward. We want to reward you for being a maven!
Finally, right now you’re limited to 5 Hollrrs… so you better choose wisely which products you think will be a big success in the future!
Thanks for giving us an opportunity to connect with your readers. You raise some important questions… and I’m really glad I had an opportunity to talk to them. I’d love to get any and all feedback your readers have. From the enthusiastic response we’ve received from both companies and fans, we know we’re on to something. But we’re also eager to hear more feedback so we can make it even better.
Please always feel free to email me direct if you’ve any comments or suggestions.
Thanks again,
-David
Chief Hollrr
hegs@hollrr.com