Social Networking Media
How the software authors should use it?
Adriana Iordan
Web Marketing Manager / Avangate http://www.avangate.com
Social Network Media?
Social media involves
technology conversations sharing of information
Social media:
Web 2.0 applications: Flash, Ajax, feeds, web services, RSS, mashups wiki, podcasts, blogging & microblogging
-
“just for fun” / “waste of time”,
“just noise”
Just to name a few
Traditional & New Marketing
Traditional + New Media Marketing = Effective Marketing Mix
Traditional (examples): • one way communication • “corporate talk”; formal • company created content • newsletters / e-mails • “doing communications” • limited distribution channels New Media Marketing (examples) • multi directional communication • authenticity & transparency; informal • user created content (co-creation) • blogs, social networks, SMM •“building communities” • Unlimited distribution channels
Gapingvoid.com
Why incorporate Social Networks?
Consumer Internet Barometer (2008) surveys:
• At least 1 out of 5 social network users log on to blog or meet new people. • Among the 30 and over workingage population, 1 out of 8 uses social networking sites to conduct business. • Currently, 1 out of every 4 people online visits social networking sites
ComScore:
Facebook: 123.9 million unique visitors / May 2008 MySpace's 114.6 million unique visitors / May 2008
Why incorporate Social Networks?
What are the benefits?
• Targeted increase of website traffic • Creating positive brand association • Growing brand awareness • Conversions and sales • Control of the search results • Business development • More loyal users
Social media profiles in Google
People prefer doing business with those they know!
Basic rules on New Media Marketing
Basic rules of New Media Marketing
• • • • • • • • Transparency & authenticity Learn to listen, have a personality Develop relationships Encourage the conversations Try to add value to your industry and community Connect with the influencers / help them find you Create content and products worth talking about “Build communities” instead of “doing communications”
Microblogging for lifestreaming
Twitter – social networking tool + micro-blogging
Benefits (examples): • Request instant feedback • Build connections & reach prospects • Increase brand awareness • Customer support (respond to customer queries) • Improve reputation
Social Voting Sites: StumbleUpon
Social Bookmarking & Networking Website
Benefits (examples):
• More targeted traffic • Search engine reputation • Attracting “linkerati”
Professional networks: Linkedin
Linkedin
Benefits (examples): Easy access to expert advice Expand contacts Get PR visibility Reinforce business brand Conduct market research
Social Network: Facebook
Facebook:
Benefits (examples): Facebook fan pages, ads and secret groups Sharing content easily 3rd party applications (widgets) quickly replacing specialized websites Competitive advantage: conversational marketing Demographic targeting: ads and flyers Homepage sponsored stories (news feeds) Top 100 most influential bloggers are on Facebook
Marketing Mix
Launching a new product? A major update?
New marketing mix ideas: 1. Differentiate and innovate 2. Release and ask for feedback 3. Think mobile 4. Youtube, Flickr, Facebook, Linkedin 5. Pitch editors directly 6. Twitter account 7. Social bookmarking sites 8. Measure the effectiveness
gapingvoid.com
VMWARE Success Story
Social Networking is of such importance for the VMWARE company that it has build a meeting place for all its communities: www.vmworld.com
VMWARE BUZZ
VMWARE managed to create buzz around itself in the real sense of the word. It manages 18 blogs and has more than 10 specialized communities build on it’s own web platform. It can be found on all major social media platforms
Firefox Success Story
With the help of it’s huge community, Firefox managed on June 18, 2008 to break the world record for most downloads in one day: 8,002,530
Mozilla Social Networking Strategy
Social Networking strategy:
Firefox Community portal Firefox fan page on Facebook Firefox fan page on other social networking Firefox Twitter page Official Firefox YouTube channel
+ Traditional public relations
Firefox Buzz
A real success community really starts when it grows by itself.
Conclusions
Immediate actions to take:
Use an RSS Reader and subscribe to feeds Start a free company / personal blog / start micro-blogging Open a free page on Facebook Create a free Linkedin account Check your website content and start networking!
Connect with me!
Adriana Iordan, Web Marketing Manager / Avangate Email: adriana.iordan@avangate.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/adriana_iordan Some traditional good old marketing: Avangate Digest Newsletter
◦ http://www.avangate.com/newsletter