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By now, a majority of businesses large and small understand that social media, and particularly social networking, can serve as valuable marketing tools. Further still, social media outreach can result in growth of business and the opening of new markets. Reality Digital is going after the midmarket, announcing a social media platform, Harmony, specifically designed for small and midsize businesses.
The San Francisco-based company says it thinks Harmony will enable SMBs to engage with their customers and extend their brand by developing their own interactive communities that capitalize on video and social networking capabilities, as well as fostering user-generated content. Harmony offers features like 30 preset widgets, a drag-and-drop user interface and self-serve advertising, which one can use to monetize a site by adding advertising widgets.
“This economy has resulted in tighter budgets, reduced staff and scant marketing resources for companies, making it difficult to experiment with social media initiatives,” said Reality Digital CEO Cynthia Francis, in a statement. “Reality Digital Harmony is an entry-level social media platform that makes it easy for businesses to create an online community to enhance their connection with customers in a brand-safe environment.”
Engineered for SMB owners, Harmony includes online video upload and playback, user-generated content and sharing, and social networking functionality such as blogging, events and forums. Harmony’s self-serve advertising allows for content monetization capabilities (SMBs keep 100 percent of the ad revenue), while an administrative dashboard helps with site monitoring.
Dick Rempt, CEO of Netherlands-based social media company Talents Media, said he struggled to find a scalable solution at an affordable price point. “Harmony was the only solution that delivered a rich set of tools that could help our members to connect, share content, and invite members from other social networks,” he said in a statement. “We are delighted that Harmony has helped us realize our goal of instantly creating an interactive environment targeted towards player development, exposure and discovery.”
Harmony is available starting March 2009; the company is pitching the platform to SMBs that may be interested in social networking but are unsure how to apply it to their business. Reality Digital is betting video will be a high-demand feature, saying Harmony’s video capabilities make it ideal for SMBs running multiple video-led marketing projects such as video tutorials, user-submitted video initiatives and viral videos.
“A business can quickly build and configure a site without assistance and start reaching their customers within a matter of minutes,” Francis said. “Harmony is customizable, stable and affordable for both small to mid-size businesses and departments within larger companies and allows our customers to remain competitive and innovative as they promote their brand, without breaking the bank.”