Social media and WOM Marketing in video game industry ...

My marketing plan is to propose Microsoft to add the free-to-play, or “freemium” business model, to its existing console and digital gaming platform, Xbox LIVE.With the emergence of mobile (smartphone and tablet computers) as a viable gaming platform and the growing casual gamer market, this new free-to-play model will not only help to capture new customers who previously would not join the Xbox LIVE family due to the upfront console gaming costs, but also provide a new revenue stream in addition to its premium service charges and digital content purchases. Details are as follows:

Now we all know that Xbox Live is on our Windows smartphones. Soo if you don’t have an XBOX console but a smartphone you can just register on Xbox live, create your account and can enjoy games through our free-to-play model. By doing this Microsoft will not only capture new customers who previously could not join the Xbox LIVE family due to the upfront console gaming costs, but also will provide a new revenue stream in addition to its premium service charges and digital content purchases.

In an attempt to reach the casual gamer market in a more efficient way, the Facebook Connect and Twitter components of Xbox live should be unlocked and made available to all free users to help stimulate word-of-mouth advertising. While the features are a convenient way for gamers to seamlessly transition between game playing and Facebook you surfing, the word-of-mouth advertising that the unlocked Facebook Connect feature would generate by automatically posting to a user’s Facebook wall what game they are playing, or achievements they have earned within the game played, would generate a massive amount of product awareness for Xbox live as well as increase salience of the brand within the gaming community

Moreover, Xbox Live is on YouTube since 2009 for constant updating to its gamers. Thus, keeping the same trend Microsoft can use YouTube in announcing its Xbox Live followers/fans about the updates of the Free-to-play gaming model. They can tell them about introduction of any new downloadable game or about any new purchase-able content (like weapons, a new hairstyle for the game character, a cool pet, or a different finish on a weapon) within the existing games at regular intervals.