North Shore Animal League's smart idea for a contest

The North Shore Animal League, a New York animal protection charity, has come up with a clever way of generating interest: The age-old essay writing contest. What's interesting about this to me is that they've also created a blog for the dog, in the dog's voice, giving the animal a personality rather than just making it a prize. You can see how this would make pet adoption more about adding someone to your family than just getting... well, another animal. Most dog enthusiasts already think of dogs as family members, but by creating a persona for the pet, people like me can get a glimpse of the attraction of adopting. It's a great, outside-the-box application of blogs.

The wider lesson here, I think, is in finding a way to open up what you're trying to sell. Most people who go to the NSAL site are already dog lovers, so a contest like this might simply be preaching to the choir. Building a larger base is about bringing in people who would not otherwise be interested in what you are selling, until you show them why they should be interested.

About the Author: Eric Reid

I am the Social Media Services Manager for Off Madison Ave. I've been with the company since 2006, when I was hired to do SEO, and link building in particular. When social networking sites started cropping up, at first I started using them to create backlinks - but they weren't the best for that, given all of the "nofollow" attributes. However, I did see the potential for all of the direct referral traffic they represent. Since then I've been actively pursuing both tactics for clients: Links that can help them for search, and social postings that get them involved in the conversation. It's about the coolest job you could ever get. ;)

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