Phạm TúHow important is seeding? Very important, because seeding can turn the tide. No campaign starts without a seeding plan.
Here’s what you need to know to implement an effective seeding plan.
Frank and clear
If you use seeding, you need to be aware that it is seeding. This simple and seemingly obvious principle is paramount. This is to avoid being deceived in case you buy seeding profiles but are not clearly informed about it, you can easily misunderstand that these are real accounts.
Ask the agency to inform you when they use seeding and what percentage of the conversation is seeding. Before using it, the agency also needs to explain to brands the purpose of using seeding and the advantages and disadvantages of this tool.
Understanding seeding
For small stores, seeding can be a few acquaintances giving 5-star reviews or comments praising the product.
For large campaigns, it is often used to drive conversation, when you want people to care about and discuss a related issue or story.
Seeding can be part of a campaign that lasts for a certain period of time to achieve a communication goal, seeding can also be a regular activity of the brand to maintain regular discussion about the product on media.
Seeding is done on many platforms from press, apps, forums to social media channels. Seeding can be user comments on those platforms or it can also be posts shared by a series of social media accounts.
What is seeding used for?
If seeding for forums focuses on the goal of changing search rankings on Google search, seeding for social networks focuses on driving conversation right at the time the discussion is taking place.
Even the most viral content can’t go viral without seeding intervention. To make a product the “talk of the town”, it is necessary to create a series of discussions around the product on social networks.
For annual activities, making the product the “talk of the town” may not be necessary, but it is still necessary to keep the product somewhere in everyday conversations on social media. Imagine groups, communities, and the public still buzzing about competitors’ products every day, while your brand is completely absent from the story. What a nightmare. That’s when seeding comes into play: keeping your product appearing in the daily conversations of your target audience.
Seeding is also an integral part of KOL booking. Imagine you spend a large amount of money for a famous KOL to take pictures with your product, but thousands of comments below are just: “Sister, you are so beautiful.” “Add me as a friend.” Another nightmare. You will need to gently but quickly use seeding to steer attention in the right direction.
Seeding to improve SEO. Have you ever heard of using influencer marketing to improve SEO? That is exactly an important role of the seeder. When a piece of content is shared a lot on social media, Google will evaluate that content as useful and distribute a better position for it.
Influencers are often used in conjunction with keyword optimization to improve Google rankings, especially in areas of intense keyword competition.
How to seed?
Seeding is sold from very cheap to super expensive depending on whether the seed is by tool or by quality profiles. Depending on the goal of the campaign, consider choosing the quality profile.
If you buy seeding services, discuss carefully with the agency about the quality of the profiles used and the important content orientation. Before the campaign starts running, the seeding plan is ready with predictions of possible positive/negative feedback and how to steer the flow of opinion in line with each type of feedback.
If seeding plays an important role in your marketing plan, you should use social listening to track conversations about your brand. Based on social listening reports, you can plan seeding more effectively.
