Pet Product Raves at Rallyin

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

The Event Barkers team has an interesting new challenge. We're all rallying around Rallyin.com! This is the place where you can "Rant, Rave and Rally around the products and brands you love"--taken from the Rallyin website tagline. That's the short version. To be more precise, you can actually post your own dog product review, demonstration, comparison, or even place a free advertisement or product offer (if you're a reseller that meets certain criteria). Here's the menu:

Many of these options work for both users and brands, so come one, come all! Pick your passion. Rallyin.com is the emerging place where both sellers and buyers meet to share their favorite products, check out the faves of other users, comment, question, or rave. You can elect to follow specific products if you'd like to watch the conversation, making sure you don't miss any pertinent comments. I love this concept and just followed @RallinDogs to keep up on their new brand parade!

Just recently launched, Rallyin is in Beta, offering a limited number of Lifestyle categories for passionate users to post in. Soon they'll be Rallyin in all sorts of new areas. For now, Rallyin users are sharing their passions and that's what Rallyin is all about. Based on that, I didn't expect to find quite so many areas of coverage, and was pleasantly surprised to see that at least 8 of the lifestyle categories already in live action are appropriate for dog lovers. 

For example, dog products are posted for running and Dog Lovers, while they could also fit into Hiking, Hunting, and many more in the variety that they currently offer. You can easily view all the options in whichever category and type of information you wish: Review, Demo, Comparison, Advertisement or Product Offer.

Lifestyle categories currently run the gamut from Crocheting to Micro-Brewing. There's something for nearly everyone at this fun new site where passionate users come together to share their thoughts on the products they love most. You'll find more answers and conversation about Rallyin on Twitter and Facebook. 

Today I'm going to share with you my first experience using this interesting site, step by step. I created a product review for one of my favorite products in just a few short minutes; this is how it went:

1. Sign up was quick and painless; no long list of ridiculously unimportant information. Yay!
2. After you sign up you'll receive an immediate activation email that assures no one will ever sign you up for the service without your permission. I like this privacy and safety feature almost as much as their closing line on the email: Fist bumps,
   The Rallyin Team. Now I'm ready to go.
3. To make sure you're easy to follow, be sure to fill in your profile. This will allow your username to appear on the Rallyin review or other features you use. With a click of a mouse, readers can share your review, as well as comment on it, or follow you to see what other items you review or demonstrate on the site. I think I'll try a product demo next time :)
4. The interface for completing my review was super simple to use. Everything I needed was in view, so there was no hunting around to figure it all out. I simply selected the categories appropriate for the product, uploaded a photo and wrote the review in a matter of minutes. It took far less time to share my thoughts there than it did to write this blog post :)  And coming soon, Rallyin will be offering the ability to edit your postings with updates after they have been published. Watch for this feature when Rallyin moves out of Beta.
5. What's more, when viewers mouse over the review, the information on the person who created the review is all there from their profile, including a logo or image if you like. You'll see my logo and blog name when you locate our Review. Click on the box to reveal the entire text of the review. The other widgets work the same way--product demos, advertisements and offers.
6. Check out the different lifestyle choices to see more products or select the way you'd like to see them presented: reviews, demos, comparisons, etc.
7. What's next? Shop! If you find a product you simply cannot live without, you don't have to go hunting down a retailer IF the company has partnered with Rallyin to market via this neato website. You'll be able to purchase the product directly from the company via a Rallyin Product Offer. Cool? Totally! I'm all about expeditious shopping; no time in my schedule for comparing 20 sites in order to try to save a buck fifty. But wait! Rallyin users can also share product comparisons! How awesome is that?!
8. Brands who would like to be a part of this experience need only jump in and participate. They are free to post product offers, FREE advertisements (Yes, you read that correctly!), product demos, reviews, and comparisons, just like you and me. 

courtesy Rallyin.com

The end result is a conversation between brands and consumers. You comment. The brand asks a question. You fire back with a followup and they answer with the details you request. Have a suggestion for a brand? Share it! 

Find a product on Rallyin that you'd like to continue to learn more about? Follow the conversation and you'll be kept up to speed on new comments, opinions, questions and posts about that particular item, but only if YOU opt to. Feel free to jump back in anytime. Now you're Rallyin!

Event Barkers, our partnership with Dogtipper.com, is assisting Rallyin with getting some valuable PR via this review, a giveaway opening soon, and a Twitter Chat to be announced shortly. We are testing a new concept, as well, and are not being compensated for this exposure of Rallyin.