Meebo and market research. The two go hand in hand, and I've been saying as much for quite a while. Meebo found a new way in which to monetize its instant messaging client by offering branding opportunities for its Meebo Rooms and custom Sponsor Rooms, which allow for easy media-sharing in an environment that can be created by a particular marketer around specific content. A new song release, for example, can be promoted through a Meebo Room, where users can hear the song, talk to other users about it, and subsequently spread the word.
This week, at The Conversational Marketing Summit in New York, Meebo is announcing its new marketing platform that will make branding through the Meebo chat client a little bit easier. There will also be more extensive data collection, so participating brands can better track user behavior and content uptake through Meebo. It's a direct way in which brands can enter social media conversations, and such interjection is something that brands are looking to do with the online medium. This actually works by having an expandable ad that displays at the bottom of Meebo's website, which reveals shareable media.
Meebo's looking to some of its newer media-sharing tools to make it easier for users to in fact find, engage and share branded content with their friends across IM conversations. This may eventually be made easier with the presence of the Meebo platform, which allows third parties to create interactive applications to be used with Meebo's chat tools.
The launch partners for the new marketing platform are some heavy hitters, including Havaianas, Sony Electronics, Universal Pictures, and the band Weezer. More big name brands are on the way. It's important to note that the type of brand that can find useful ways in which to connect with end users through a chat client are pretty specific themselves--it takes a certain kind of brand to be able to provide the type of content that will actually work and become readily shareable within a Meebo environment. Most of these brands are rather media-centric, so you'll see a good deal of music and film companies that experiment with this type of advertising.