Grace O'Dwyer's Blog

I recently attended Barcamp in Arclabs in Carriganore (where I work). I think a great day was had by all and the atmosphere was really good around the place (perhaps helped by the beautiful surroundings in Carriganore!). I spent the day demo’ing Zinadoo (www.zinadoo.com )so I didn’t get to see that many talks. Coming from a business background I think a lot of the discussions may have been too advanced for me.

 

 

But I did see an interesting talk about “Starting a web based company”. One member of the panel discussion encourage marketers to be bold and use crazing publicity stunts, he also pointed out that he has gained a lot of exposure from attending conferences and being lucky enough to get a speaking spot.

 

 

A big thanks to Gerry (the juggler) for attempting to teach a few of us to juggle …. I don’t know about everyone else but I won’t be giving up the day job… yet ;)

 

So this is my first entry to my blog. I'm not sure what to write about yet so I think I'll keep it general for a while and then focus on a topic. My main area of interest will probably be marketing related.

I work on a service called www.zinadoo.com. I've been doing a lot of research for the last while on successful marketing campaigns. Like a lot of web based company's it would be great to replicate the success of services like MySpace and Bebo (you can say that again!!) and i think zinadoo is well position to have the same viral effect in the marketplace that these companies have had. But the question is how!!!

 I read an artcile recently  written by Scobleizer - Microsoft Geek Blogger » Secrets behind MySpace’s success . This article discussed 4 reasons for MySpace's success (outlined by MySpace's own CTO  - Aber Whitcomb).

" 1) They made sure influentials in Hollywood (stars, bands) were among the first users.
2) They listen to their users and add features frequently (usually noticeable new features every week).
3) They let the users tell them what to do. He mentioned that other services, like Friendster, tried to tell their users what not to do.
4) When MySpace visitors first log on they already had a friend: the founder Tom. That was in contrast to other services where you had to work to find your first friend. His page also gave you a template to get started."

 I don't know any Hollywood stars.... but maybe the local soccer club/band might do

 I think i will continue to talk about viral marketign campaigns