Here’s a look at a few ways your brand can take advantage of the users you’re currently not talking to.

How much is your brand missing out by not employing a widget strategy? There’s no easy answer to that, but since comScore starting tracking an audience of close to 300 million users, most brand managers have that itchy feeling like all their users are watching a TV channel that they just can’t get space on.

Luckily, brands that haven’t gotten in on widgets or mini-apps are closer than they think. Keeping the premise simple and the audience discourse in mind provides surprising amounts of lift in all kinds of places, which those experimenting with the medium are enjoying with great frequency.

So let’s take a look at a few of the ways brands are making a measurable difference in the space, ways your brand can take advantage of these hundreds of millions of users you’re currently not talking to at all. One of these methods is a micropayment widget.

What are micropayments?  They’re a means of offering something of value for one or two dollars. It seems counter-intuitive to spend time on micropayments as a brand because the amount paid is so small.  But here’s a hook: with micropayments usually comes an audience comfortable with saving its credit card information for one-click quick transactions. You’re essentially making a dollar into a click, which becomes easier for users every time they do it. After all, it’s just a dollar. Why not?

A lot of the micropayment action is happening right now in virtual gifts and virtual items for avatars in multiplayer games. Along the way, they’re already generating tens of millions of dollars in revenue. Micropayments are a big way Facebook – and Facebook application creators – are paying the bills right now.

But Facebook isn’t the only platform taking micropayments all the way to the bank. Even though Facebook has gotten the most press for taking this notion to the social media set, you can’t overlook the way that iTunes has completely revolutionized the entire distribution model of music with micropayments.

Both of these ecosystems depend completely on the convenience of widgets. Without desktop applications tied to the internet, or web-based widgets providing intra-platform ease-of-use, the door is open.

So the question asked of brand managers now is, “What do you make that can be split into smaller objects?”

It’s easy to think of an album split into tracks and sold individually, but what about higher-priced items? Thankfully, all these users have accounts — accounts that are unique. Because of this uniqueness, you can stack micropayments together, like coupons, collecting them until you’re able to make a purchase.

A teenager may not have the hundred dollars he needs for the hot new sneaker, but he does have, on average, 115 friends on social networks that wouldn’t think twice before sending a buck in a click to help their friend get to the sneaker promised land.

In the coming weeks I’ll be discussing how other widgets – like virtual gifts – can help you achieve even greater brand recognition.