The Homa Files

Key Takeaway: Looking to find a way to help increase customer interaction with your brand while, at the same time, take advantage of the social media boom?

The secret to answering these crucial questions may be through the use of virtual currency.

The social media crowd, especially women, tend to love the notion of virtual currency that can be used to obtain coupons and promotions, purchase virtual gifts for friends, or simply advance their game progress. Brand managers, if successful, could potentially turn the gift of virtual currency into a real-money transaction.

Take that, Monopoly!

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Excerpted from BrandWeek, “Women Clicking to Earn Virtual Dollars” by Stacy Straczynski, November 10, 2009

Women are jumping at the chance to earn online points and virtual dollars, according to a new report from online marketing firm Q Interactive. The survey, released at this week’s Social Media World Forum, found that 78 percent of women who play social media games clicked on an ad or signed up for a promotion to earn virtual currency.

“One of the primary ways marketers can leverage [social media] interaction is through virtual currency,” said Matt Wise, president Q Interactive. “If you take a look at some of the big game platforms, like Zynga, they comment that a third of their revenue is generated by lead generation, which is advertisers and brands interacting with consumers.”

“It talks to the fact that women are interacting with these games,” said Wise. “If you can create a positive brand experience, it’s an excellent way to weave advertisements into a game because you’ve got the attention of the consumers. . . . It’s a positive experience for the consumer and keeps the consumer engaged in the game by getting more virtual points and ideally playing some more.”

Women mainly attributed their virtual currency usage to advance in their games (37.7 percent) or give virtual gifts (17.3 percent), while many (39.7 percent) use it for both. Recipients claimed that using virtual currency was “fun” and “addictive” (33 percent) and they enjoyed being able to give gifts (25 percent), as well as advance in their games (24 percent). Virtual currency also sparked feelings of competitiveness (8 percent) and personal wealth (8 percent).

Top social media games on Facebook for Nov. 10 were Farmville, Causes, Café World, Mafia Wars and Aquarium, according to AppData.com, which tracks daily metrics and trends for Facebook applications.

Edit by JMZ

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Full Article:
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/direct/e3i8d89a411d4e37fb51572ae37de27a3cf

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This entry was posted on December 18, 2009 at 7:44 am and is filed under Internet - Soc Networking, Mktg - Promotion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.