Harnessing the Publicity Power of Social Media: A Pre-Launch Case Study
Steve Hards of SteveHardSoft.com asked me to Beta Test his new PowerPoint Add-In product. The fun new product applies a Gaussian “opaque glass” blur to PowerPoint shapes. You can see the results at YouTube. Fun stuff.
Now, let’s talk PR! But let’s put the demo aside for a moment and talk about what David Meerman Scott might call “The New Rules of PR“. Steve Hards is tapping into the power of Social Media in the pre-launch phase of promoting his new product.
Here’s what Steve Hards did, in three steps:
- Last week, Steve emailed to ask bloggers who cover presentation techniques (like me at Maniactive and Geteesh Bajaj over at Indezine) to post about a contest for naming his new PowerPoint add-in product. Geteesh and I asked our readers to check out Steve’s demo and vote on a name. Steve promised online voters a 50% discount after the new product launches.
- When the voting was over, Steve stayed in touch. He Skyped me to tell me the results of the voting — which, of course, yielded yet another post.
- Further, Steve also asked bloggers to help Beta test the new product. I gave it a whirl, enjoyed my experience — and posted the results at YouTube.
The new product, named Opazity, has yet to launch. But Geteesh and I attract thousands of readers every day who are interested in PowerPoint — so Steve is earning some buzz in a very targeted niche. He also used the contest to build an email database — earning permission to email voters who expressed an interest in his product when it launches in a few weeks.
How are you tapping into the power of social media? Are you developing relationships with key bloggers in your industry? Do you subscribe and read their blogs? How often do you take time to post relevant comments on other people’s blogs? Do you pitch story ideas to bloggers? Are you developing action items (vote, test, download, sign up) to continue conversations with bloggers and prospects?
And what PR tactics do you suppose Steve has in mind for the Opazity post-launch? What would you do? 
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Comments
I see Laura has analysed my strategy very neatly! Part of my approach is also to turn what other people would think of as weaknesses into virtues. In a month or so when all the activity around the launch has died down I’ll be happy to reflect on what I did, what worked, and what didn’t.
Steve
Yes, indeed. This is a great example of the new rules in action.
Cheers, David