In the previous post we saw the early stages of marketing, now let the fun begin with this post, the second of the two-part series.
Online Marketing Bible – Part 2
Can’t Buy Me Love…
But I can buy me traffic. If you are ready to start buying traffic as part of your online marketing strategy, I’d recommend you check out a company such as Somoto. They develop Download Installers for their partners and then bundles them with tier 1 advertising, no spyware, malware or questionable software. They power over 10 million monthly downloads, and by advertising with them your reach will increase significantly. It’s developed an intelligent algorithm that checks to ensure the software isn’t currently installed on the user’s computer, and checks geographical location too. The rates vary based on how many installs you want and the end-users location.
Buzz Buzz Buzz
It all comes down to this. Once the software is ready you can start to build a buzz around your product. Social Media sites such Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Reddit and Stumbleupon are just a few of the sites that are free to use, and have a community that is willing to share their “finds” with friends or like-minded people.
It’s a full time job maintaining all your social networks but it should be at a very high priority. PR for your software should start a long time before your product is out. Start creating a buzz that something new and amazing is coming out soon. You can start by gaining followers on Twitter, don’t over tweet but have a presence, retweet tweets from influential bloggers and connect with them. By the time you release your software, getting it reviewed will become much easier.
Creating Social Media accounts and posting content on them is only half the battle. Once your software is out it’s equally important to interact with your followers, and become part of the conversation. Answer questions, help people troubleshoot issues. I was having a problem with a certain Symantec product, and I went to their Facebook page, sent a message and within a few minutes they sent a response, pointing me the person who could help me with my issue. This gives me confidence in the future when I decide what brand or product to use, I know that Symantec is helpful and easy to connect with.
Customers like to interact with the brands they like and know that there are people behind the brands, which are truly engaging with them. Take an example from Taco Bell’s Twitter, they seem to be doing it right. There are numerous posts about Taco Bells best tweets; they get buzz from their buzz. It’s all one big snowball.
This isn’t a be-all-end-all blueprint for Software and Online Marketing, but it will put you on the right path.
And please, share your case studies and thoughts!
Featured image from Nomadic Lass via Creative Commons.
