Social Media Strategies

Without discrediting any of Google Chrome’s efforts, I just wanted to talk about how Mozilla Firefox planned its v.3.0 launch mixing the perfect marketing elements.

The myth behind event marketing asks for a decent amount of finances for an effective marketing strategy to be executed. However, Mozilla launch of Firefox v.3.0 proves quite the contrary. By setting up a Guinness World record of the most amount of software downloaded in 24 hours, Mozilla has proved that a good marketing strategy can get you what money can not. The download of 8 million in 24 hours confirm to this theory.

The basic driving force behind the success of this strategy was the involvement of the users. By clearly outlining the objectives of the campaign and defining the key features of the new browser, they managed to create a lot of hype amongst the people. They created a good promotional website, spreadfirefox.com. Their key features provided attraction for the users and in fact prompted him to spread the word.

The seeds had been sown. The army of supporters had gathered. So how did these evangelists show their diligence? Mozilla encouraged the community members to paste Firefox buttons, wall papers and links on their personal websites or even on their blogs e.g. on myspace and twitter. The advantage outlined here for the user was the idea of earning the maximum points on the “Roll Call”, through which Mozilla would direct the traffic on to the websites of the “top 5 climbers” and the “top 5 affiliates”. See, how along with fulfilling their own purpose, they also catered to keeping their users satisfied.

Even though Mozilla made perfect use of the phenomenon of “global village”, the spread of firefox was not just confined to the web; they involved print media in the picture too. Flyers, posters, banners, stickers of firefox were provided to the evangelists for marketing amongst their own social circle. Organic marketing through the evangelists also helped to encourage non-firefox users to switch to firefox v.3.0 as their default browser and participate in the Download day.

Furthermore, word of mouth marketing was also applied as a credible technique, as Mozilla encouraged its enthusiasts to speak up in conferences and interviews. By involving the end-user in to their marketing campaign, Mozilla was able to secure the success of the latest version of firefox. The community marketing website was a prudent step taken by Mozilla to keep the user involved and informed about the on-going promotional campaigns.

The harvest is infront of us: Over 8 Million downloads in the first 24 hours and the rate does not seem to drop. Thus, it proves that your strategy and involvement of your end user is the pre requisite for success; and not just money. At this very moment the number has mounted up to 654300882! Success speaking for itself!

Simon U Ford (SUF.EDBD)

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