@Eylon - I've never tried it, our products have been web applications so far so I'm not sure how that would work. It'd be interesting to see where a downloadable program ended up on p2p networks though.

I like these examples -- in a similar way authors who keep blogs about their experiences writing give away content but get great exposure through it. I'd imagine this kind of marketing would work very well for selling books or other creative work, but it's rare that I come across it.

Thanks Mark! It's interesting seeing how you've related these ideas to businesses outside my sphere. When I work with clients in traditional businesses I find social networking is a hard sell. I'll definitely use some of your ideas for adapting these techniques.

I've found people who read blogs and use Twitter find out about us, then talk to people they know outside of our sphere. That secondary word of mouth effect is killer. People who are into social networking and blogging naturally like to share, so if they do the same off-line you're getting excellent exposure.

Some companies with physical products seem to be adapting well to Web 2.0 marketing -- videogame and record companies use Flash for demo versions of their products, other companies have simply have videos on YouTube.