Tax-preparation software seller TurboTax is diving into social networking this 1040 season with a MySpace page that offers registered friends free music, free prizes, and free federal tax work via the TurboTax Online free Edition.
Visitors to the MySpace page are able to friend the profile and get enrolled for alerts about upcoming MySpace Secret Shows, unannounced small-venue free shows that the social network has been running since 2006 with bands of the caliber of Franz Ferdinand, Slayer, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Members of FreeLoader Nation will also be entered into a contest that will award a grand prize of triple the amount of the winner’s TurboTax refund up to $25,000.
“FreeLoader Nation isn’t just a product campaign, it’s a state of mind,” TurboTax director of online marketing Seth Greenberg said in a release. “TurboTax makes it easy to get something you really want for nothing, whether that’s free federal tax prep, great music or some really cool prizes.”
The page includes a branded MySpace widget that lets users sign up to receive notice of the MySpace secret shows 48 hours before they happen. Admittance to the shows is free but on a first-come, first-served basis. MySpace has hosted about 200 of the shows since their launch and now reports nearly 500,000 Secret Show friends.
The MySpace FreeloaderNation page also incorporates video, including an original song, “Freeloader nation,” by Internet music star Tay Zonday of “Chocolate Rain” fame.
TurboTax is also sponsoring free music downloads on MySpace Music and allowing MySpace users to share those songs with their friends. Users will have up to seven days to accept a shared music stream from friends; once downloaded, the songs will not expire in playlists. TurboTax ads will appear on the MySpace Music page, the MySpace personal music player, and MySpace Video.
“This innovative TurboTax sponsorship of MySpace Music’s most popular offline and online programs will enable them to reach an engaged and active community of young people to create a new and different dialogue around filing their taxes,” said Angela Courtin, senior vice president of marketing, entertainment and content at MySpace in a release.
While this is TurboTax’s initial sponsorship with MySpace, it’s not the first tax season that the company has set to music. In 2007 the company sponsored a YouTube “Tax Rap” contest hosted by Vanilla Ice that awarded a $25,000 grand prize for the best user-generated rap song about taxes. The winning video in that contest is still up on YouTube and has gathered almost 350,000 views to date.
The FreeloaderNation.com site also links to a number of YouTube videos produced for the TurboTax channel over the last year.
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