In The Motherhood Webisodes Develop Robust Community

"In the Motherhood," a webisode series and social networking community for mothers, sponsored by Suave and Sprint, has established a strong enough online community to get nearly 1,000 script submissions per weekly episode, and more than 13,500 voters for the top material.

Social media marketers don't like to release participation numbers - mostly because so few people participate in most contests. However, having created and produced extremely successful contests for Budget Car Rental (Up Your Budget #1 in 2005 got one million uniques in four weeks, for example,) and Simon & Schuster, I can tell you that those are very respectable numbers.

How In the Motherhood works: each week women are invited to submit their experiences for scenes with mommy-centric topics which have included "Good Night, Yeah Right" and "Bribing Your Child." Visitors to the site rate their favorites. Then the top-rated scenes are worked into the story lines for the three characters, Kim, Heather and Maria. Just like in real life, the writers have to "sell" their material:

"For each scene you submit, you are asked create a "Promo" with a compelling headline, brief summary, excerpt, and small thumbnail graphic. The promo becomes your scene's quick and catchy calling card, allowing each voter to quickly assess whether it's worth a full read.

It's a great example of the abundantly available online sponsorship opportunities that are light years ahead of banners and other traditional forms of advertising.