After I go back and re-read what I just typed here, it's really long so, apologies for the length but...
I can't speak for other cases but for Abby, it has not replaced, just enhanced. You are completely right, it can't be the only component.
On average I think I have read that a person sees 10,000 images a day -just look at the webpage you are on right now, you are bombarded with them. So our trick is to continue to find ways to make Abby stand out among that overload of images.
One way has been the "Missing" magnets- we have them traveling on trucks and cars throughout New England and a woodchip truck with a 9 foot high missing poster on it traveling around Northern and Central, NH. We also have been mailing out missing posters to anyone who wants them. If any of you are interested in them, when people ask me how they can help with that, I ask them to hit bus stops, train stations and airports first. I know they have them at some airports already. It's also the reason I have the posters for her at the website- posters shared on facebook are low resolution pictures that print pretty badly. You need a print-resolution pdf (ideally 3 times as dense as your computer screen) and by having those on the website I can tell people "when you go to Staples to get posters made, tell them to get the pdf from the website" rather than making copies, which degrade in quality.
People adding it to their blogs as a side banner has been helpful too. When I look at the demographics of who has hit the bringabbyhome.com website and see it's pretty much every state in the country except a couple out West, that's helpful too. I can also tell, through the use of technology, how people are viewing the page, whether they are on a smartphone or on a computer. That's important to know so that I can present the site in a way optimized for a smartphone or tablet, as that's over 60% of how people get to us. And what I am doing here isn't some secret voodoo science, it's just the cool behind the scenes capabilities you can get now with technology.
I also am trying to use a balance- if you happen to look at my own Facebook page you will notice that I try and post something "different' about Abby every day now. Some of it are feel good stories, yes, some are facts but by doing something different, people notice it and it doesn't just become the same thing every day. The only thing worse than not doing any posts is just repeating the same thing every day- people will stop seeing it. It's also the same reason we don't do a vigil every week- people have asked about that. if we did, it just would become commonplace.
Marketing is half art, half science and you never know what will work and you need to stay agile enough on ideas to change to whatever works. It's another reason why I will talk to *anyone* about this case- especially media-wise- because I can be out there blabbing, staying on message while they show Abby's picture and it keeps her out there without having to put family through daily interviews, which I know is draining. Save the family for important stuff. The media has been great about covering this, btw. They all have kids too.
So, anyway, it's not all perfect obviously none of it will really matter until Abby is found but we'll keep throwing stuff out there until it sticks. It's why I always want new ideas. Some are feasible, some aren't, but ideas are always good.
If you want to get a small glimpse into the social reach about Abby, go to this tagboard:
http://tagboard.com/bringabbyhome
It doesn't show everything as some of it is private and not everyone remembers to use the #bringabbyhome hashtag but you start to get a small glimpse into who we are reaching online and how. This is obviously useful for getting the word out but it's also useful when I go and approach a new media outlet to be able to concretely show them that this is a story they should cover.
