Top 20 Ways to Use RSS for Branding (2)

By jeff@webguruasia.com Monday June 22, 2009

This post originally appeared as an article in AdAsia magazine in Singapore and in Brand Equity magazine in Malaysia.

In a previous post, I introduced numbers 1 to 10 of the Top 20 ways to use RSS for your brand. Hopefully they left you wanting more! In this post I’ll complete the list, with a discussion of numbers 11 – 20.

11. Announcing job vacancies

Most corporate websites have some variation on an “employment opportunities” section. But how often does the right job appear when a site visitor is looking for it? An RSS feed dedicated to job vacancies allows prospective employees to hear about opportunities as they become available—and receiving applications online can help reduce recruitment costs.

12. Distributing information on product updates

A lot of companies market products that require periodic updates, or for which new add-ons become available. A good example is software patches. With RSS we can let our customers know immediately about new updates and how to get them.

13. Talking to an online community

For many brands, marketers build online communities where owners and enthusiasts can meet and interact, both with each other and with the brand. RSS can offer community members the opportunity to get stay in touch with what’s going on. For example, members of a digital photography community can hear about workshops and competitions. This increases the time spent interacting with the brand and helps build loyalty, leading to repeat purchases.

14. Delivering exclusive content to key customers

Encouraging our best customers to be “brand ambassadors” is an accepted marketing practice, and RSS can help. We can use exclusive feeds to deliver content to selected key customers as a way to reward them for their loyalty. Some car brands, for example, hold regular parties for owners. RSS provides an ideal channel for distributing invitations, and is a great way to keep the brand in constant contact with its most loyal customers.

15. Updating a calendar of events

Sometimes customers need to be told about schedule changes. Let’s take an example here. Say you attend regular Pilates classes at your gym. If the time of one of the classes changes, you can keep up to date quickly and conveniently by RSS. And if the RSS feed goes to your palmtop, you can even find out about the change on your way to the class. Good for members, and good for the brand.

16. Delivering time-sensitive content to subscribers

Many marketers promote brands that are in some way time-sensitive. Take baby products, for instance. Different products are suitable for different developmental stages. A website with information on baby care could offer RSS feeds providing information and advice at key stages, along with details of products such as infant formula that can be bought at those stages. This will add value to customers and allow for some good targeted marketing.

17. Staying in regular contact with prospects—automatically

We can use RSS to help guide prospects down the path to a sale, without having to write and send individual emails. By sending RSS auto-responders according to a predetermined schedule, we can easily stay in constant touch with prospects that might otherwise be neglected.

18. Delivering regular new content

Not all regular communications are e-newsletters or special offers. Sometimes our customers want regular content simply because it’s useful to them. An example here would be a food manufacturer using RSS to deliver regular recipes based on its brands. A useful service to subscribers, and a great way to sell more products.

19. Letting people know about forum updates

I recently had a technical question about Microsoft Word. I couldn’t find the answer on Microsoft’s website, so I tried posting my question on a number of online forums. I then checked back every day to see if anyone posted a reply. Imagine how much time I could have saved if I’d been able to subscribe to an RSS feed that would notify me when the forum was updated.

20. Subscriptions to Blogs and Podcasts

This is probably the best known use for RSS, so I’ve deliberately left it until last. As with any regularly updated content, visitors like to be notified about updates to Blogs and Podcasts. And RSS has been the most widely accepted way of doing this for some time now.

One of the great things about our industry is that we are constantly surprised by the lateral thinking and sheer creative verve of our colleagues. Predicting the future is an uncertain business at best. But one thing I’m sure of is that as RSS really takes off over the coming months and years, I’m going to be amazed by the new ways marketers find to use it to promote their brands.