Don't let social media take control of your brand. Get back in the driver's seat through strategic widget development.

In their desire to impress, influence or entertain their friends, consumers will do the craziest things -- including help propel your brand's marketing objectives. This concept, which has had the advertising industry's collective attention for some time now, has resulted in a number of different approaches for harnessing social advertising.

Widget advertising is one such approach. Social media gurus will tell you that widgets are portable, minimized packs of content that are easy to consume and easy to share. They're also very cost effective. Rather than spending dollars on a consumer experience in only one network, a widget allows advertisers to package content that travels well and hits viewers wherever -- and whenever -- they prefer to interact.

Now we have to ask ourselves, "Do consumers care for widgets?" With a widget, they have full control over the amount of media consumed, as well as the social connections. Should advertisers care? You bet!

Fire starting for your brand
In the beginning, social advertisers seeded viral content by simply uploading to YouTube or similar outlets. This was done with the hope that uber-social consumers, celebrity bloggers and other Web 2.0 enthusiasts would act as fire starters for the campaign. From there, portability was at the mercy of the consumers. Advertisers had to sit back and hope for success. And, if a successful result didn't materialize, then what?

This brings us back to widgets and why they put the advertiser back in control. Gone are the days of hoping and waiting. By using a widget, you can increase the amount of impressions when you kick off and reignite a campaign -- thus driving the brand's discussion and digital movement. By toning down the media delivery, you watch the viral network grow by itself and, ultimately, become your own fire starter, reaching a broader circle of consumers who will hit the forward button.

Your viral assets, revisited
In Europe this past month, conversations among friends involved passionate discussions of the Euro 2008 soccer championship. Predicting these conversations, athletics super-brand Nike created an opportunity for it to facilitate these conversations through digital channels.

Nike's superstar athlete endorsements have arguably enabled it to unseat Adidas as the leading brand in European soccer in recent years. They also gave Nike an opportunity to create viral content based on these stars.

A video showing Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo racing a Bugatti Veyron supercar was viewed more than 5.5 million times on YouTube alone. Seeing this viral opportunity, AKQA and Nike built a widget to leverage the buzz around the Euro championship in order to kick start the Nike Football website. The widget showcased a dozen or so viral clips, topped with XML technology that allowed the user to add new viral videos over time and create their own playlists. Additionally, Nike Football's video widget campaign was delivered to users across more than 10 countries, seamlessly changing content and language. The videos the application delivered proved to be the perfect match for fans. The playlist-type widget became an effective means of getting Nike's viral content into the center of consumer discussion with an opportunity to remain within their reach over time.

Although not every brand is Nike, every brand can establish a brand strategy that is relevant to its audience. Will consumers grab it? Yes -- so long as it makes them smile, looks cool or is useful. The proper approach will differ for every brand. But you probably already know the right approach for your brand -- just look at the asset in your marketing campaign or product that makes your audience pay the most attention.

Although widgets can't replace the need to develop a solid content strategy, they can get the conversation going. And nowadays, such conversation is as fundamental as your brand identity, key messaging and other must-have foundations. The takeaway lesson: Get your strategy in place and then identify features that could be portable. This evaluation will point you to the type of widget to build. By taking this approach, and then investing in widgets and their delivery, your campaign can benefit from quick buzz and put you back in control of your marketing. Taking these steps will allow you to stop worrying about building the bigger social mousetrap and start treating social media as what it really is -- media.

Amit Rahav is vice president of marketing for Eyeblaster.