This post was originally posted on socialmedia.biz on October 14th.

There is little doubt that brands today have realized the critical value of social media in developing powerful brand awareness. So now the burning question is how do we effectively engage the people we wish to connect with in a way that creates real, tangible and effective results for the brand.

uTest specializes in software testing services through its community of 30,000+ professional testers from 165 countries around the globe. Companies – from garage startups to Fortune 500 software giants – have used uTest’s services to test their web, mobile and desktop applications.

In the last few months, Blonde 2.0 (part of the Socialmedia.biz network) has worked with uTest to create a social presence for the company, nurturing current clients as well as reaching out to potential new clients,while developing a central hub for their community of testers.

We began by working on bringing testers closer together through social media channels. By doing this, testers could connect with one another from around the globe; chat; share notes and join in the uTest community experience. In addition, it created the perfect opportunity for uTest to recruit new and raw talent, enhance brand awareness and create a virtual meeting point for other companies to learn about uTest’s services.

uTest had already developed a solid online presence with a powerful website; a nice Twitter profile; blogs with pertinent posts relating to software testing and mobile app testing as well as forums to which community members could subscribe. uTest had already built the foundation for a Facebook page and called on the Blonde 2.0 team to find creative ways to increase its brand awareness while encouraging interactivity with the audience.

Everyone went in with expectations of gradual growth as is common with most brands that initially hit the Facebook sphere. Growth on a Facebook page is usually gradual and requires patience to achieve significant results. The build-up of fans can be a challenge. The fruits of our creative brainstorming and collaboration brought to life our “Bug of the Month” competition idea.

We’ve all encountered bugs and error messages while using software apps or visiting a website. To celebrate the joys and pains of this experience we asked members to share the funniest, craziest or scariest bugs they could find during our “Bug of the Month” contest. Members were asked to capture these technological freaks of nature with a screenshot or video and then to share it on the uTest Facebook page along with a caption of which site/app they were using and what they were trying to do when the bug “bit” them.

And then the clincher … members were asked to tell friends, family and colleagues to help out, as the screenshot with the most likes would win the grand prize of a stylish iPod Touch.

The results of our efforts were overwhelming. Members kicked their campaigns into high gear and “likes” for the bugs were spreading like wildfire. The campaigning was fierce and far-reaching and often it felt like our bug hunters were running for office, pleading to all for votes.

Let’s have a look at some of the numbers: At the start of the competition, the page had approximately 1,140 members. After 20 days and 36 posted bugs later, more than 4,800 likes and new members joined the uTest page – thanks to the creative and exciting dynamic of the competition. The contest was intense and after a very tight finish, the winner of the competition garnered 1,844 likes and went home with the iPod Touch. So overwhelming was the response, that the uTest team decided to add a second prize (iPod Nano) for the second most “likes” (with a total of 1,413) as well as a Judge’s Choice Award (the honorable title, coupled with a iPod Shuffle) that went to the most creative and unusual bug. The competition was not only a success for those who won but also a win for the entire uTest community. Members shared on the page how much they enjoyed the competition. Michael John A Gonzaga posted on the page: “We’re happy because the fun and excitement is always there, win or lose. Thank you uTest.”

As brands turn to social media for better ways to engage with their audience, there is no question that uTest is leading the way in building a loyal and active fan base. Who knew BUGS could have created this much excitement on the Web?

The uTest contest was a success because it was simple to explain, easy to participate in and strongly tied to the brand’s messaging. A social media “lesson learned” from this campaign is the importance of knowing where your audience lives. The uTest audience – testers, potential testers, developers and web and mobile app junkies – really connected with the campaign because it spoke to them and the world they revel in. In turn uTest was able to increase its brand awareness in a way that was both engaging and meaningful as the contest got its participants to do what they love to do.

The uTest competition clearly shows that with a strategic approach to social media engagement, a brand can achieve phenomenal results in a short period of time – it’s just got to bug you enough to get there.

Many companies are using their blogs, campaigns, videos and general outreach to engage with their community in various ways. When companies do think of community contribution in one form or another, it usually takes the form of comments or a like. uTest, the world’s largest marketplace for crowdsourced software testing, is flipping this notion on its head. Believing that an open and global community can offer a knowledge based resource which no closed off company can match, uTest’s community has become one of its most prized assets. To nurture this “asset”, uTest has demonstrated a keen understanding that if you want to have an active community base, you need to engage your community and get them excited about engaging you back. In this post we’re going to focus on three uTest programs structured with just this sort of sensitivity in mind, i.e. that community communication and utilization is a two-way street.

1. The Bug Battle- Bug Battle is a brilliant campaign which actually makes testing interesting for even the non-hardcore, techy individual. Bug Battles pit uTesters against each other in a contest to diagnose a select number of popular web, mobile, desktop and gaming applications in search for the one most in need of a good bug exterminator. Competitions take place quarterly and the latest one sought to uncover the buggiest geo location software from amongst three choice contestants; Foursquare, Gowalla and Brightkite (results due out in mid-June…stay tuned). uTest community members really get into this one. They relish the competition alone, but if that were not enough, there’s always the not-too-shabby prize money of $4,000 to keep them annoyingly giddy for the few short weeks that the competition is under way.  For participating companies, battles usually generate a healthy amount of press, a scrubbed list of prioritized bugs (given free of charge, upon request) and many are pleased enough with the results to become regular uTest clients.
2. Crash Courses- Another relatively new and cool initiative is uTest’s “Crash Courses” for testers. Instead of going through an official certifying body or training company to create their training material and content, uTest turned to select members of their community to seek out top testers with serious bona fides in both experience and the best testers ratings.                                                                    Using the community itself to source their wisdom and talent, uTest was able to ascribe instant credibility to their courses while giving their community exactly the kind of courses they wanted.
3. uTest Blog- uTest makes heavy use of its community with its “guest blogger“ program. Members not only contribute to the blog itself but also play a hand in its direction. Votes are taken on key content issues such as who should be interviewed, and what questions should be asked for the uTest monthly Testing The Limits column featuring outside experts, execs and authors. uTest’s openness in allowing uTesters to continuously contribute to their posts has contributed to their blog becoming a must read in the app-testing world, and has led to the landing of a “Top 5” finalist spot in the “Best Corporate Blog” category of the 2009 Open Web Awards as well as winning the Hive Award for the best blog of 2010 in the “Business Software” category.

What’s most interesting about these programs is their broad demographics appeal across the global testing community. Advanced testers, who have already done their time in the testing trenches, are not necessarily looking for the same community experience as your bright-eyed and bushy-tailed new recruit. By affording veteran testers the opportunity to become Bug Battle judges, course designers and guest bloggers, uTest has created the equivalent of a corporate advancement track for their community, significantly increasing the uTest community’s time frame of relevance for active community members. Creating a community with a mass appeal for its market and which allows its members to actively influence the community itself, uTest has earned a die-hard following of some of the best software testers in the world. Consequently, uTest is now the benefactor of a top tier pool of talent with which they can offer superior testing services to any prospective client. Grant your community a voice to speak and a hand to act, and they will grant you their talent. A solid winning strategy for any company wishing to optimize community utilization – tested and certified by the experts themselves.

Hope you enjoy them!

1st video - Doron Reuveni, CEO of uTest:

2nd video - Yael Elish, VP Product & Social Media Marketing at Waze:

3rd video - Yaniv Golan, Co-Founder & CTO, Yedda discussing what happens when the participating crowds have their own opinion about what your service should be like:

Next Monday, March 15th I am organizing a crowdsourcing session at the famous GarageGeeks venue in Israel. We have four different companies presenting their own view of what crowdsourcing is all about and how they utilize crowdsourcing in their own companies.

We have four speakers:

Doron Reuveni, CEO of uTest - Doron will discuss how online communities are disrupting many industries; will compare the differences between a mob, a crowd and a community; will provide a sneak preview of a live demo of a not-yet-launched version of uTest’s software testing platform.

Yael Elish, VP Product & Social Media Marketing, founder of Waze –  Yael will discuss CrowdSourcing and the use of social and gaming elements to engage users to build a viable service and reach critical mass.

Yaniv Golan, Co-Founder & CTO,  Yedda –  Yaniv will discuss CrowdSourcing and the First Thumbs War – as a creator of a Web service, you’d love to have the crowds breathe life into your service through participation. Yet, what happens when the participating crowds have their own opinion about what your service should be like?

Dan Rimon, Co-Founder,  AllRise - AllRise is an online public courthouse where users can sue anyone and charge them with anything. The crowd debates the case and the crowed decides the verdict. Dan will present how they came up with the idea of AllRise and show examples of some cases that were opened.

We’ve also got a special surprise for you – an iPhone app that will make its special debut during this night showing us geeks (even Blonde geeks) how to maximize our networking skills with the crowd around us.

Please confirm your attendance on the Facebook event page and don’t forget to BYOB (or BYOW for that matter) Sharing is caring

See u all there!