The document discusses the incorporation of social networking into marketing strategies, highlighting the effectiveness of blending traditional and new media marketing methods. It outlines the benefits of social media for businesses, such as increased website traffic, brand awareness, and customer loyalty, while emphasizing the importance of authenticity and community engagement. Additionally, it presents successful case studies of companies like VMware and Firefox that have utilized social networking successfully.

1. Social Networking Media How the software authors should use it? Adriana Iordan Web Marketing Manager / Avangate http://www.avangate.com

2. 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 to name a few “ just for fun ” / “ waste of time ” , “ just noise ”

3. 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

4. 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 working-age 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

5. 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!

6. 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”

7. 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

8. Social Voting Sites: StumbleUpon Social Bookmarking & Networking Website Benefits (examples): More targeted traffic Search engine reputation Attracting “linkerati”

9. Professional networks: Linkedin Linkedin Benefits (examples): Easy access to expert advice Expand contacts Get PR visibility Reinforce business brand Conduct market research

10. Social Network: Facebook Facebook : Benefits (examples): Facebook fan pages, ads and secret groups Sharing content easily 3 rd 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

11. Marketing Mix Launching a new product? A major update? New marketing mix ideas: Differentiate and innovate Release and ask for feedback Think mobile Youtube, Flickr, Facebook, Linkedin Pitch editors directly Twitter account Social bookmarking sites Measure the effectiveness gapingvoid.com

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. Firefox Buzz A real success community really starts when it grows by itself.

17. 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: [email_address] Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/adriana_iordan Some traditional good old marketing: Avangate Digest Newsletter http://www.avangate.com/newsletter