Social Software and its Role in Product Promotion

Final Post and Blog Essay

2006-04-28T19:19:00.000-07:00

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.

Social Software against Social Software!

2006-04-07T19:09:00.000-07:00

I was sent a link (by an important person, Kim Gregson, Associate Professor, Ithaca College) to an article entitled Anti-Social Networking Gets Hip It seems that those angered by social networking sites are creating sites against them, where people can share their gripes with other haters.

I find one thing interesting about these new sites...People are making sites where others can socially engage in conversation about sites where people socially engage in conversation. Sounds to me like the haters are just as bad as the users! The site is called Snubster, a site that looks like a message board, where users can register with email addresses and communicate with others.

WHAT DO YOU THINK???
Are snubster and other sites simply a bunch of haters of the beauty that is social networking software?

Can snubster and others be used to market products to users?

Would you join a site that is hypocritical?

My TEST of social software and its MARKETING abilities!

2006-04-01T15:41:00.000-08:00

SO... I have been operating this blog for a few weeks! What most do not know, is that I have been testing the marketing capabilities of social software since day one!

After my first real post, I began sending messages to all of my friends on both myspace and facebook. These messages said whay my blog was, and asked people to read and comment. As anyone can clearly see, I have many comments on my early posts. This is from my method of marketing.

After a few posts, I ended my marketing strategy. I ceased the sending of messages telling people about my blog. Obviously, it is clear what happened. People stopped looking and commenting.

After completing this project, my conclusion is well founded. SOCIAL SOFTWARE IS A GREAT WAY TO MARKET!

Sending messages to many people, I managed to draw a readership, but did not manage to hold it! Had I continued to market my blog, my number of comments would have dramatically increased, possibly to the point where people would check it without prompt from my messages.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Had I continued to solicit comments, would people have continued to read?
Is this a good way to determine if something, such as social networking software, is good for marketing?

The NEW Wisdom of the WEB!

2006-03-29T16:54:00.000-08:00

The most recent cover of news week read, "Putting the 'WE' in WEB!" The article associated with this exciting headline is in respect to SOCIAL SOFTWARE! It discusses the change in online trends, and tells the tale of the early days of social software, such as, my personal favorite, Myspace, and flickr!
By Steven Levy and Brad Stone
Newsweek
April 3, 2006 issue - A little over two years ago, even the most sensitive entrepreneurial radar could not pick out two pairs of people on opposite ends of the West Coast starting companies that would make plenty out of nothing. In Santa Monica, Calif., dot-com survivors Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson were hatching the idea of taking on biggies like AOL and Yahoo with a Web site consisting only of stuff that people would bring to it. And up in Vancouver, B.C., married collaborators Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake were just figuring out that the online game they were developing might work better as a way for people to share their digital photos with each other.

Now both fledgling companies are leading a charge of innovators making hay out of the Internet's ability to empower citizens and enrich those who help with the empowerment. The southern California guys head MySpace, the prime hangout for 65 million (mostly young) people, and thousands of rock bands, movie stars and marketers begging for their attention. Canadian-born Flickr, by building a 2.5 million-member community solely around a passion for sharing photos, has become a poster child on how a well-executed Net effort can make big changes in people's habits. Welcome to the new tech boom.

Oh, and unlike the old boom, where entrepreneurs couldn't get to the IPO broker's office quick enough, these crafty duos have already taken the money and stayed. Yahoo has snapped up Flickr to bolster the portfolio of services it offers to its half-billion users. And the new owner of MySpace is that wild and crazy (like, um, a fox) digital punkster, Rupert Murdoch—hedging his bets on what might be the next Net-powered media upheaval.

(I borrowed this from newsweek! Clearly, I am not a writer, and this could not possibly have been written by me!)
There is more to this article, which can be found at www.newsweek.com!

What does all this mean?!

I am excited! I am hoping that soon enough, Myspace may become a publicly traded company, at which time I will become very rich!!! SEE...Social software is marketing itself! If the stock sells (and IT will!), profit can be wonderful!

When this company becomes publicly traded, the simple act of people keeping in touch with other people, in the most amazing, yet most simple form, will make money for many! Picking the companies early is important (thanks dad)!

SOCIAL MARKETING..........for teachers?!

2006-03-29T16:30:00.000-08:00

It is true, social software is designed to keep the procrastinators procrastinating, and those laden with boredom excited about the next moment they will have to sit before their glowing box, and enjoy the lives of others!

Beside the social and marketing aspects that I have discussed, there is another important form of marketing taking place on places such as Myspace, ratemyteachers.com, ratemyprofessors.com, ratetheteacher.com, and many more. That’s right, if you haven’t guessed it already; social software is taking EDUCATION and marketing to a new level!

Considering myself a relatively honest person, I admit, I have rated my teachers on MYSPACE! [See the image below]

For college students, this is a wonderful form of marketing! Not only can students make an educated decision about which professors they definitely want to have in college, but myspace can generate revenue by showing banner ads (which I have cut out of the above placed image)!

As for the other sites…I have looked at them, and quite frankly, I think they are WONDERFUL! I was so excited, and bored, that I went on and rated almost every single teacher that I have ever had (since freshmen year in high school, that is!).

WHAT DO YOU THINK?
IS this a good way to sell students on particular teachers?
IS this a good way to gain impressions for advertising messages displayed on social networking sites?

Blogging for Product Promotion!

2006-03-18T10:45:00.001-08:00

IF you can consider Bloggs to be social software, which I DO, you will agree, for any company incorporating an Integrated Marketing Communications plan into their marketing strategy, blogging is a great way to stir up some talk about a product!

I feel that bloggs are a useful form of social software! By setting up a blog for a product, companies can encourage users to engage in discussion about their products, providing beneficial feedback, and, of course, completing the communications model.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Is blogging a form of social software?
Do you operate a personal or business blog to keep intouch with others?
IF a company had a blog related to a specific product that you use, would you post comments, or engage in discussion with other product users?

Social Software and Sales

2006-03-18T10:38:00.000-08:00

Due to a recent death in the family, I have been having difficulty coming up with things to post. MY mind has been wandering and it has been making it difficult for me to think. For this reason I turned to the bloggs!

I ran a search on bloggspot for social software and marketing, and I found an interesting article that I wish to share with you. HOwever, there will be no questions for you to answer. Just give me an opinion!

Very interesting read. It's great that Hamid disclosed so much information. I worked at a firm in the past where a client came up with an idea for a free online promotion. (David probably remembers it more than I) They had to kill that promotion overnight after 1000's (10,000s???) of orders came in creating a logistical nightmare. Some free promotion sites posted it on their message boards and it spread like a virus. Thank goodness it wasn't our idea. :) This was waaaaay back in the day before Digg, blogging, etc. I'm not even sure if Google was around then. I can't imagine that client doing the same promotion when considering today's blogosphere.

This post came from jemos.com (http://jemos.com/2006/03/17/SocialMarketingExperimentSelling13MOfSoftwareIn3Days.aspx)

I have been attempting to convince you, the readers, that marketing through social software is a great idea. This information seems to prove the theory!

MYspace GROUPS?!

2006-03-15T17:10:00.000-08:00

So called groups on social software services are no more than a bunch of people! WRONG!

I am a member of several myspace and facebook groups. I, as I am sure you do as well, only join groups that I can associate with, or find interesting. This, however, does not mean that I live for these groups, and spend all my free time talking to people from them!

For marketing, groups located on social software are a wonderful tool! What better way to reach a target market then to send out a message to a group corresponding with the product for sale.

There are many ways to market to social software users!

WHAT DO YOU THINK are some good ways to market to social software users, (aside from the ones I have mentioned)?

Sellers Voice

2006-03-01T17:15:00.000-08:00

My most recent friend acquisition on Myspace is Sellers Voice! Another wonderful service catering to the eBay community. Sellers-Voice allows eBay sellers to ad a vocal track to their eBay auctions, making it impossible for buyers to miss the important details.

This wonderful product is being marketed on Myspace! The account manager for their Myspace marketing added me as a friend, possibly because I am in an eBay club on Myspace.

The service has 2080 friends on Myspace. As I have always mentioned, the friends of friends effect is taking par. Those 2080 friends have other Myspace friends that see this Sellers-Voice, and are possibly intrigued.

This leads me to think of one more way to target specific demographics. What groups do people belong to on FaceBook and Myspace?

My Facebook list is a mile long, and grows whenever I have nothing better to do! I get messages from group leaders about things that may be happening on campus. I may or may not check these things out!

What do you think?

Is targeting advertisements on social software through groups a good way to market products or services, such as Sellers-Voice?

If you received a friend request from a product or service that was a member of, or sponsored by a Myspace or Facebook group to which you belong, would you accept the request?
Would you look at the product and deny the request? (you - the target demographic are still VIEWING the ad!)

Even though you may not wish to see the ad for the specific product, you may have seen it anyway!!! Do you remember things like this, or do you not even look, and ignore these types of requests?

Morristown Nightlife Advertised on Myspace?

2006-02-27T17:06:00.000-08:00

This particular post may be of less interest to anyone outside of Morris County, New Jersey, which, as far as I am concerned, IS the best place anyone could dream to live in the United States of America.

MorristownNightlife.com is a new website that has not yet been launched. Their plan is to unite all people who are interested in the club, bar, and dining out scene in Morristown.

Clearly, this site has the potential to be a big success, and I will watch it, as time passes, to determine whether or not they have successfully used the power they have chosen by selecting Morristown.

Three men from the area have began a development process for a site that will give surfers an easy way to figure out where the party is, what the specials are, and when it is all happening. These individuals have chosen to get the buzz on their site started before its initial release to the public.

They have added me on myspace, because I am from the Morris County area, and I fit their target demographic. I have accepted their friend request, because I am interested in what is happening in the area, and I feel that their site could be a success.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Is it a good idea for these people to advertise their site that is not even available to the public yet?

By adding locals on myspace, will it help get the word out for their idea, or will people be upset that their instant gratification needs are not being met?

Services that make Myspace Marketing Easier?!

2006-02-14T19:51:00.000-08:00

As I have pointed out, social software has become an extremely important way to market in today's society. Introducing…

Paragon Myspace. Paragon Myspace is a company that is capitalizing on the capitalization of Social Software. Myspace's tagline is "a place for friends," clever Paragon Myspace tags themselves, "A Place for Marketing."

The software they offer has many features for those who wish to market using Myspace. For only $25, users can take advantage of the following features:

Target your marketing based on age, gender, geographic location, interests, and more.
Gather friend id's from browsing, groups, forums, friend lists, or any other area of MySpace™.
Optionally add a message to friend requests to increase the number of accepted requests.
Option to disable browser images for increased performance.
Doesn't send friend requests to the same MySpace™ member twice or to your existing friends.
Unsent friend ids that have been gathered are saved and carried over to the next time you run MySpace™ Friend Adder.
Tracks and displays number of friend requests sent per day and for all time.

(as seen on http://www.blogger.com/www.paragonmyspace.com)

This program features useful tools for those who do not have the best knowledge of social software. By providing these easy to use features, marketers working within time constraints, can rely on the software to cut down on friend search and add time.

WHAT DO YOU THINK???

Most people feel that friend requests are personal. Is this use of software to gather social software acquaintances ethical?

IS marketing through social software becoming less useful?

Do you find yourself ignoring product, or service based friend requests?

BANDS AND MUSIC

2006-02-14T19:42:00.000-08:00

Aside from simple advertising on social sites, many people make accounts to promote their bands and radio stations.

Here is a list of the bands that I have personally friended on myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/thebronx
http://www.myspace.com/savestheday
http://www.myspace.com/kervin
http://www.myspace.com/deccatree
http://www.myspace.com/halfbaked
http://www.myspace.com/insecthobby
http://www.myspace.com/anotherdaylate
http://www.myspace.com/crashingdownnj
http://www.myspace.com/skylinenj
http://www.myspace.com/silentwitnessnj

Each of these bands has music that plays as soon as their page loads. There is a picture of the album cover, and an option to play different songs by the band. Music has become so popular on Myspace, that Tom, the creator of Myspace has created a record lable, known as Myspace records. On this profile, there are advertisements for bands that are signed to the label, or can be found on the compellation cd.

THIS IS DEFINATELY ADVERTISING!

They also sell t-shirts, and, of course, the Myspace compellation album!

As for the bands…

People can add any band as a friend (as I have done). This helps to promote music. 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.

QUESTION:

Clearly it is a good idea for bands to advertise using social software. Would you add a band to your friend list?

IF you heard a band that you enjoy on myspace, would you purchase their album?

HOW do you feel about playing music on myspace profiles?
Would you/do you have a song that plays when your myspace profile loads?

Does it bother you when people have too many effects on their user profiles? (page takes too long to load)

Transworld Business: Myspace Marketing

2006-02-14T18:43:00.000-08:00

It seems others besides Forbidden are using Myspace for their marketing! The article which I have linked below is from Transworld, a skating magazine. The article is about Bones, a skate company who does a great deal of marketing through Myspace.

Rob Washburn is the Team Manager for Bones Skateboard Wheels, who claims that at least half of the hits received by the main site, http://www.bones.com/, come from the Myspace page. They have over 1,000 friends, who Washburn claims to personally post comments for all of the friends. His goal for the Myspace account is the goal of any marketer: brand interaction.

According to “Myspace Marketing,” written by Cullen Poythress of Transworld, Washburn tries to promote the brand through weekly contests, and giveaways, but he tries to do so without making it obvious that he is trying to push the company.

Washburn’s favorite aspect of the Bones Myspace account; its cost. It is free, it gets the name out there, and of course, whenever people add the account to their friends list, Bones can be seen by another group of Myspace friends.

Poythress also tells the story of other Myspace skate companies and even skaters who use the service to sell their products. “Listen Skateboarders” claims “that [it] has looked to myspace.com as an avenue for mass promotion and it’s currently playing a key role in the company’s growth.

Skaters Salman Agah and Dave Metty have created a Myspace of their own, geared specifically towards the skating world. Their site, called Icelounge.com, targets skateboarders specifically. This would be a great place for skating companies to interact with skaters, and even get some brand interaction that marketers are so desperately seeking.

A question to all readers:

Do you feel that interacting with a brand on a site like myspace would make you more likely to try a product?

Personally, I feel that a myspace profile gives the brand or product a face it can be associated with. Bands advertise on myspace, not only through their songs playing on users profiles, but by having profiles of their own. (music may be the topic of my next post!!!)

I like to check out pictures of people and read their blogs, or posts, and see what is going on in their lives. Why not do the same for a product or service?

It is cool to see what is happening next, what the newest product is, who is using it, or when it is going to be on sale to the public!

WHAT DO YOU THINK? IS MYSPACE A GOOD PLACE TO SELL PRODUCTS, or DOES ITS USE FOR PRODUCT PROMOTION SIMPLY ANGER PEOPLE?

WOULD YOU ADD A PRODUCT, OR BRAND (IE:BONES) TO YOUR FIRENDS LIST?

PS: I dont care if it is against the rules, DAN! lol.

Marketing through social software?! CAN IT BE?

2006-02-11T07:36:00.000-08:00

Recently I have been quite a fan of My Space, a wonderful friend linking site that allows users to meet new people, as well as add their own friends to their personal list.

While visiting my college roommate's My Space friends list, I came across an attractive female whose display name is "ForBiddeN." I asked my roommate who she was, and he told me to check out her profile.

Forbidden is a girl in California who makes destroyed denim jeans. For $100 she will destroy a pair of jeans for anyone and ship it to them. If you supply your own pants, she will do it for $75. She also has her own line of t-shirts and other trendy clothing items and accessories. Forbidden has 740,186 friends as of now. Hypothetically speaking, if each friend from her list bought one pair of destroyed denim jeans, Forbidden would be very busy! And quite rich, too! Her total revenue would be $74,018,600. Quite a bit of money for a girl who does her advertising for FREE on My Space via account!

Forbidden, however, does not rely solely on My Space. Her My Space account has a link to her web page, http://www.destroyeddenim.com/. Here you can purchase any of her merchandise.

Clearly, this is not the type of marketing I am here to blog about! I want to know what you think.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Would you purchase a pair of jeans that some girl destroyed in her basement for $100, just because you saw them on My Space?
I WOULD! Just because I like to be trendy, I am actually considering buying a pair. I personally do not find the girl that attractive, too much makeup, etc. It is my personal feeling that she deserves my money, simply because of the sheer brilliance of her marketing scheme!

Users of the Face Book; you've all seen the ads on the left side of the screen that are designed specifically for your school. What do you think of these? Have you ever followed a link or gone to an event at your school from The Face Book?

My Space users; do you feel that there is too much advertising? There are banner ads everywhere. Does this stop you from using the service? Do you just ignore the ads? Do you visit any of the links?

Users of other services, ie: Friendster, etc.; what do you think about marketing through this particular medium?

C'est moi!

2006-02-10T06:39:00.000-08:00

Aren't I hot?! Interesting enough, I will wash your dishes if you make me dinner! Post on this blog so I can get a good grade!