As you are likely aware, the world has not come to and end. Whew!
I wanted to share a fun viral marketing effort we embarked on a few days ago to promote a new product we’ve launched called File Ignition. File Ignition is a file collaboration and sharing system for businesses who need to securely work together with their clients on files (legal contracts, financial documents, taxes, etc.)
The concept:
With the Mayan “apocalypse” upon us, we devised a way to target IT staff via a viral campaign we call Off World Backup (a play on “off-site backup” -- something all IT staff are familiar with).
We conceived of Off World Backup as a “tool” to allow businesses to store their critical business files off-world in the event of a cataclysmic event on December 21st, the day the Mayan calendar ends. Our “system” involves a “Schrodinger satellite network” which sends files to Martian data centers. (Of course, there are some strict terms and conditions for its use.)
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We bought the OffWorldBackup.com domain, and created a quick and fun website with a countdown and a real-time system “status” page, staff bios, and technical specs. The site offers various plans as well as an option to make a $5 donation to an environmental cause (in the event the world doesn’t end). Then, we created a themed version of File Ignition to support the necessary satellite synchronization. We set up a Facebook page and got to work, launching the effort 6 days ago:
- We set a $500 budget for Facebook ads
- We created and scheduled a series of humorous posts
- We added a few comments on a variety of blogs and sites such as Reddit
- We emailed the site to a few bloggers
The results:
- 400 Facebook fans in 6 days
- Total reach of 350,000 on Facebook
- Total reach of 50,000 on Twitter
- Picked up on major blogs around the world, including NPR, io9, globo.com (Brazil), and more
- Considerable word-of-mouth (type-in) traffic - 28% of all traffic
The bottom line? We’ve logged 33,000 site visits (and climbing) over the last 4 days, and have signed up over 400 new File Ignition accounts. If you would like to learn more about File Ignition or discuss how social media or technology can augment your campaigns, please contact Tecture.
Ben Rowland is co-founder of Tecture, a Chicago web/mobile design and development company.
