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GLEE.com – Gay Lesbian & Everybody Else

Business

GLEE.com is a social and professional networking site for the gay, lesbian, bisexual & transgender (GLBT) community. They are the fastest growing social site in the GLBT vertical market and have grown into one of the largest gay sites on the net. GLEE.com is the only major gay social-networking site with a population that mirrors the offline GLBT population. The site has also formed partnerships with many national brands looking to market to their audience. Members join social groups, share experiences, and find friends online.

Community Connect, Inc. is the owner of GLEE.com and is an online leader in publishing niche-targeted social communities, such as Blackplanet.com, Migente.com, AsianAve.com and Faithbase.com.

Approach

In the past, GLEE.com had used search marketing to support their brand and attract new members, with limited success. Sponsored search had traditionally been very competitive in this market, with many GLBT dating sites bidding for highly sought after keywords, which drove up the per-keyword cost. This saturation on the national level made the efficient acquisition of new members a challenge.

Path Interactive responded with a detailed search campaign architecture that targeted several key markets for GLEE's audience. Using the PathLocal system, we developed deep keyword lists that served up dynamic advertising copy that was customized for each marketplace that we targeted. By tailoring our copy to the interests of key user groups on GLEE.com within specific cities, Path tapped into the local roots of the GLBT lifestyle. To support this effort, a series of landing pages were created to support each market and its unique content objectives. These short-form landing pages bolstered the creative focus on each GLEE.com user group, a strategy that yielded additional synergy by stimulating online discussion and new member interaction.

Results

Path exceeded expectations and targeting metrics across the board for GLEE.com. Path’s winning combination of keyword selection, dynamic creative content and niche landing pages resulted in conversion rates that doubled all other forms on online acquisition for the brand. What started out as a small test campaign in a single market grew quickly into a comprehensive multi-market program. Each market effort spurred new user group interaction and the quality of the traffic was excellent. In Q1, 2008 path accounted for almost 60% of new member acquisition from online media and delivered the highest ROI.