Chatroulette Marketing: Ideas for Brave People

Filed under: Web Video

I’ll admit it. After weeks of hearing about and being warned away from Chatroulette, I visited the site. I had some friends over a couple weeks ago and, when the conversation turned to Chatroulette, I suggested we check it out. Besides being mildly traumatizing, the experience got me thinking.

If you haven’t heard of or visited Chatroulette, here’s a quick primer: Andrey Ternovskiy, a 17 year-old high school student from Moscow, founded the site in late 2009. It’s basically an old school chatroom mixed with Skype. The novelty lies in the “roulette” aspect: visit the site to chat with a random (and yes, sometimes naked) stranger. Don’t like that person? Just click a button and you’ll get paired with another one (but there’s no clicking back to the last person).

Sometime in February the site became the latest mainstream internet phenomenon. That’s not to say everyone uses it. Everyone just talks about it. Who does use it?

Take a look at this graph from comScore to see:

So who will you meet on Chatroulette? 72% of the site’s users are male. 45% are people age 18 – 24. And many are using the site for, um, less-than-scholarly activities. Which is why you probably don’t want to check out the site on your work computer. And why you may also want a trigger-ready finger to click “Next.”

That said, Chatroulette’s uses go beyond the obscene. Some examples: video, video. Plus, while I don’t think companies should stifle the fun with marketing messages, I think the site poses some opportunities for creative marketing efforts. Here goes:

• Position your company’s logo or icon in front of a webcam and leave it up on Chatroulette. Make it eye-catching. Make sure the url to your website is visible. It’s like a billboard – people probably won’t stop and look at it for long, but your logo will get some face time. Plus, it’s free (and takes about zero effort).
• Create a game or puzzle like this person did. Go for simplicity and cleverness, but also make sure your logo or brand message makes an appearance too.
• Get a Chatroulette celeb to rep your brand with a t-shirt, hat, etc. while on the site.
• Make a Chatroulette contest. For instance – put the prize (iPad!) in front of your webcam and leave it up on Chatroulette all day with a sign that says “Visit [your website url here] for a chance to win this.” Or, announce that you’ll be on Chatroulette during a certain timeframe and that you’ll be giving a special discount code or prize to people you come across that are wearing a t-shirt with your company’s logo or using your company’s product.
• Tie it in with your other marketing efforts. You know Burger King’s creepy King mascot? Now imagine that you ran into the King on Chatroulette. Wouldn’t you tell your friends (or perhaps share the news on Twitter)?

What are your ideas for marketing on Chatroulette? Let us know in the comments.

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