Unisfair Releases Enhanced Virtual Event Platform with Social Media Integration to Extend Reach of Marketers

New Research Shows Nearly Half of Marketers Plan to Increase Use of Virtual Events and Environments in 2010

Menlo Park, CA, September 14, 2009 – Unisfair, the leading provider of virtual events and business environments, announces the availability of its latest platform release. It features social media capabilities, such as Skype integration, enabling live voice and video chat. Facebook and Twitter links allow participants to share a virtual event with friends and followers in real-time. The new platform release also offers social bookmarks and “Follow Us” icons, allowing registrants to share event news with their community and help event organizers and sponsors build attendance.

“Marketers today are looking to squeeze as much value as possible out of every budget dollar,” said Hoang Vuong, CEO of Unisfair. “As a result, they are relying on marketing programs that increase reach and drive pipeline. Our platform meets this requirement by allowing the impact of any virtual event to be amplified with social media tools.”

To complement the new release—and in an effort to better understand the needs of marketers—Unisfair conducted an original survey of more than 100 marketing professionals, inquiring about their plans for 2010.

Based on the results, virtual events will play a significant role in the 2010 marketing mix, with 48 percent of marketers planning to increase their use of virtual events in the coming year. The most popular reasons for adopting virtual events are to extend marketing reach (32 percent) and increase lead volume (15 percent). For those not embracing virtual events, barriers include not knowing how to organize a virtual event, the perception of a complicated set-up process and a lack of a virtual event provider.

Other findings included:

• Marketers will be increasing social media outreach (75 percent), SEO efforts (51 percent) and email campaigns (49 percent) in 2010.
• Lead generation and customer retention/engagement are the most critical objectives for marketers today, with 60 percent and 48 percent respectively ranking them as very important on a scale of one to five.
• According to 26 percent of marketers (the highest percentage for any one method), LinkedIn is the social networking tool proven to add the most marketing value. Facebook came in a close second with 23 percent.

The role of Social Media, combined with virtual events and how this fits into the larger marketing mix, will be the focus of a virtual showcase taking place on Wednesday, September 16 from 12 pm to 4 pm (EDT). The event is co-sponsored by Unisfair and Cramer Online, a top marketing and event solutions agency.

The virtual event will be keynoted by Jeremiah Owyang, former social media analyst at Forrester Research. Q&A will be led by Josh Bernoff, co-author of “Groundswell” and VP of Idea Development at Forrester. In addition, a panel of Unisfair customers will discuss their experience with virtual events. Panelists include Traci Oziemblowsky, Senior Marketing Manager, Global Events, Ariba; Eric Meyers, Director of Internet Marketing, Quest Software and Scott Kiekbusch, Director of Internet Marketing Solutions, Cramer.

“Social media has spurred new forms of communication. Yet, marketers are finding it harder and harder to get through to their targets and maintain a constructive dialog with their customers,” said Scott Kiekbusch, Director of Digital Marketing Solutions, Cramer. “For this reason, virtual events and environments are becoming a critical piece of the marketing mix as they create a sense of community among existing and potential customers, which in turn leads to more qualified – and closed – leads.”

For more information, visit www.unisfair.com