Aleks Szymanski, managing director of itineris, an award-winning digital marketing agency with offices in central London and Suffolk, looks at how businesses can get maximum return on their investment in the next generation of web technology.
What is web 2.0?
Web 2.0 is neither a technology nor an application; it is a broad framework for the digitally networked economy.The phrase was first coined by O'Reilly Media in 2003 and refers to a second-generation of web-based communities and services such as social networking, wikis and folksonomies that facilitate collaboration and sharing.
Web 2.0 is best seen as a set of principles and practices which exist both in and beyond the web environment.But due to the blistering pace at which this landscape transforms itself, the challenge for businesses is to stay up-to-date; embracing the opportunities which exist whilst making wise investments.
Here are just a couple of areas to watch:
Social media
Whilst the 'buzz' around social media and network marketing has been extraordinary, when you examine the business significance it becomes much more fuzzy and fragmented.
The challenge:
Many well known brands have attempted to make Facebook, the UK's most popular social-networking site with 8.5 million unique users, work for them.But a vast number of brand applications are 'old bangers', failing to take-off among the 22,000 existing applications and achieving less than 5 daily users. In fact there are no brands within Facebook's 50 most popular applications.Whilst applications can cost anything from £2,000 to £30,000, a higher level of investment doesn't necessarily guarantee success.
Social networks are now rushing to embed themselves into a new social layer that sits beneath the rest of the Internet. The hope is that where a person's profile is, there his trust will be also. By enabling users to share their profile data, friend lists, and privacy settings with applications all over the web, social networks hope to enable new classes of web applications that take advantage of the deeper social context.
The solution;
To be successful, B2B companies should look at either exploiting the social side of the networks or provide users with a means of self-expression.
Career site Jobster.com gets other businesses to pay for access to Facebook users.Their Facebook app, called Jobster Career Networking, allows users to post their CVs and declare career ambitions. Jobster then feeds those CV to companies such as Microsoft, Nike, GE, and Merrill Lynch, which pay a monthly fee to access young workers with perhaps non-traditional backgrounds.
Microsoft® Office has a Facebook application called Office Poke. A 'Poke' is an online 'nudge' to attract the attention of another user.The Office Poke application gets around 3,000 daily users and lets them send funny work-related pokes to friends, like 'Throw a Stapler', and climb up the 'Corporate Ladder' by pulling pranks, filing reports, and backstabbing their co-workers.Microsoft's investment has quite successfully harnessed the social power of Facebook to drive them to download a free trial of their Microsoft® Office 2007 system.
There is an increasing shift for businesses to piggy-back existing successful applications like FunWall and Superpokewho have already established a reputation.Advertising costs vary enormously in this embryonic marketplace.
There are signs of social network fatigue as users are rejecting traditional advertising and finding the sheer amount of trivial information a turn-off.Niche sites are becoming increasingly popular and a more specialist site is more relevant to your market.
Ignore the social media phenomenon at your peril but, if you want to play, do your research, invest carefully and use specialist help.
Atomisation, distribution and re-configuration
There has been a relentless long-tail of new digital tools like Ajax, RSS feeds, Mashups and Gadgets.But what do they do?
The technology
Ajax, which stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, enables websites to offer the interactivity and speed of response of a desktop application.In simple terms, users get a more fluid and personalised customer experience with drag 'n' drop abilities and smart interfaces.
A Mashup originally referred to the practice in hip-hop music of producing a new song by mixing two or more existing pieces.A Mashup in Web 2.0 terms is similar; a web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool.
Personalised customer experience
The new BBC.co.uk home page harnesses Ajax; allowing users to personalise their home page.The important element of Web 2.0 here is the level of speed and usability which can be achieved.BBC users can create a tailored online experience which brings real benefits to them on a daily basis. Dell.com and Autotrader.co.uk are also using Ajax to enhance their customer's online experience.But not only this, they are using the digital technology to create enhanced access to, and understanding of, complex products and services.
For B2B Mashups, the focus should be on engaging with the user and offering them something useful, interesting and easy to use.An example of a Mashup is the use of cartographic data from Google Maps added to location information of property finder websites; creating an incredibly useful web service that was not originally provided by either source.
The key
By using the right technology to create sophisticated web experiences, B2B companies can allow users to be in control.The majority of customers want to buy rather than being 'sold-to'.Businesses that welcome new applications and adapt their online marketing activity accordingly will reap the rewards.
What to watch out for
When it comes to embracing the opportunities with Web 2.0, it's all about the people.The Web 2.0 generation demand rich, sophisticated and personalised online experiences from their suppliers.
Decisions to invest in Web 2.0 should be driven by proper channel objectives, user needs and not by a whim to use the technology.
But for those B2B organisations who are smart enough to avoid the 'bangers' and brave enough consider the 'mashup's', the rewards are greater than ever.
Next Steps
Ready to embrance Web 2.0? Then get in touch with us and let's make digital work for you.