Final Post and Blog Essay

Social Software and Its Role in Product Promotion
Gregg Whitehead

Social software can hold a major role in the common world of advertising and marketing. Promotion of products and services can be an expensive endeavor. The cost of a single television commercial , a thirty second radio spot, a print ad, or any other traditional form of marketing can be astronomical, and a serious financial burden for new companies, and even the seasoned product veteran. New forms of off-the-wall marketing can be a financially feasible way for anyone to market.

Whether it’s a band with a new single, a skateboard company with a hot product, or a girl selling her own line of clothing, social software is a great way to market. On my blog, I have covered these topics and requested reader feedback on a few of them. One of my readers commented, “I'd definitely add products as friends. Myspace is too cluttered with ads. I don’t click any because many of them are the spam kind (FREE IPOD!!!), making you fill out your personal info just so they can email you tons and tons of spam.”

By using social networking software, marketers can advertise to users. By sending friend requests to myspace users who have interests matching the product, users can chose to add the particular account as a friend. Those who accept the requests are interacting with the product account as a friend. The user can look at the product’s profile, see what new products, services, or even songs are available, and thus, interact with the brand. This form of marketing is friendlier to the users, as well. As my reader commented, she would add products as friends, but can not stand the traditional banner ads displayed on many sites. As apposed to being annoying to the user and attacking them with a barrage of banner ads, this form of advertising allows the user to decide, making them more likely to consider the product. Relevant issues in today’s online community, such as the over abundance of popup advertisements are avoided with this form of marketing.

The promotion of goods through this form of marketing can be wonderful for the up and coming entrepreneur. I made a post on my blog several weeks ago about a girl who goes by the name Forbidden on myspace. Forbidden sells her own line of destroyed denim jeans, a style that is quite popular today, and can be found in many stores, such as American Eagle, and Abercrombie and Fitch. Forbidden markets her line on myspace and has 819,475 friends. When she posts a new message on social networking site myspace, every one of those nearly 820,000 friends sees it. That is nearly 820,000 impressions from one post, and the cost to her: zero.

One of my other important topics was myspace music. I have received many friend requests from bands, and accepted many of them. This is a great way for bands to reach listeners, and attract a following. Social networking site users can listen to the band’s newest song, and in some cases, even purchase albums. As I wrote in a post on February 14, 2006, “By adding bands to the friend list, the artists receive free promotion. Opinion leaders in the music world (friends of Myspace users that know the best music), help facilitate this promotion when their friends view their profiles.” It can be easy to target opinion leaders by simply looking at users interests. Bands can link other bands as friends, friends of those bands can add the other bands, and so a social network is built; a community of friends that enjoy the same music.

New companies can have great success by marketing on social networks. An example from my blog is the post on Morristown Nightlife. Morristown nightlife is a new website that targets a specific demographic; the college aged male or female living in the Morristown, New Jersey area. This site has information about the bar, club, and restaurant scene in the area. The site launched early in March, but since the beginning of February, their myspace account with the name “Happy Hour is No Longer Just an Hour,” has attracted more than 3,000 friends. That is a group of over 3,000 people who are interested in their new site, and who were looking forward to its launch.

Blogs are another great form of social software. Many companies use blogs to communicate with customers. Establishment of a blog on a company site is a great way to encourage customers to engage in conversation with other customers and company employees about available products and services. This form of communication can help companies tailor products to the needs of its customers. Blogging is also a great way to test product ideas prior to release. Customer interaction is an extremely beneficial way for companies to reach its product users.

One particular class discussion comes to mind with respect to social software and blogging. Ethics are becoming an increasingly important part of internet marketing. As discussed in class, it is important for company employees to identify themselves when engaging in discussion with customers. It is also important for customers on the receiving end of free samples of new products make their status known to the social networking community. It would be unethical for a company to manage a blog where company employees posted comments praising products without identifying themselves. This presents a question for the users of social networking software. How credible are the sources on networking sites? People who post comments on myspace accounts and blogs must clearly identify themselves. As more instances of unethical behavior surface in social networking communities, credibility of the ethical users is lost, and marketing through these means loses its viability.