Using Social Media to Market New Software

Pick up some tips and tricks from software marketing experts at Linkury

Try this for a fun exercise; think of social media and then see how many social media sites you can rattle of the top of your head without having to Google the topic. Well, how many? Three? Five? Seven? More than ten? The most popular and well known social media sites include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, Instagram, Vimeo, and Tumblr; and we have barely scratched the surface. It seems as though every five minutes another social media site has been opened or is in the process of opening.

The big boys of the social media space already have well over a billion members spread across the four corners of the universe. Consequently, social media is a marketers dream; however, in many respects, it is also a marketer’s nightmare as social media is open to everyone or virtually everyone, and the requirement to pay a marketer to market your product is no longer a necessity. And so is the case for new software. Software is a product like any other and is open to marketing by social media. So, how should you go about it?

Start Early

When using social media to market new software, get in at the evolutionary stage; when you are still deciding exactly which features to put in the software. Online communities are a perfect place to test out your ideas without giving your hand away as to exactly what you are planning. Similarly, running a survey on LinkedIn can help you gather plenty of actionable data from a knowledgeable audience for free or next to nothing. This is marketing gold for you and your software even before it has been developed.

Don’t Just Look

Don’t let the voyeur in you get the better of you. It is great to lurk and learn but you will learn most and get the most bang for your buck in marketing terms when you participate in online forums and communities that pertain to your software.

Once you become an expert in your field via social media it means that you will have your community waiting for the big launch of your software. Assuming the software meets the lofty standards you have set for it, you have a ready-made market and a market of adherents just waiting to preach the gospel of your software. Te best credibility you can get online is when you have real people doing your bidding for you, as nothing succeeds better online than the human element.

Choose Wisely

Select which social media forums you use wisely. Twitter can be used once you have a following to keep them updated of your advances but it is best to use something like Facebook, Youtube, or LinkedIn to get a following as they give you more functionality. You must also select which social media is right for your software; business software is best marketed on LinkedIn rather than Facebook for example.

Social media has leveled the playing field and lowered barriers to entry in every field. It is a most powerful tool but only when used intelligently and as an integral part of your software marketing strategy.