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Posts Tagged ‘web 2.0’

We are all publishers Monday, January 5th, 2009

In the digital age, if you’re a marketer you’re also a publisher. Rebecca Lieb has written a great piece in ClickZ which was republished the other day, and is well worth a read.

She argues that “Marketers have been creating content in all sorts of media in all kinds of channels since the beginning. But now that virtually every brand, manufacturer, service, and product you can think of is online (and likely runs its own Web site), content has blown wide open. Almost anyone involved in any type of online business can no longer hope to survive without a solid content strategy.”

In the 21st century equivalent of custom publishing, big brands such as Budweiser in the US even have their own online TV channel. Lieb writes: “Think of it as the online equivalent of a Disney or Warner Bros. theme park. You know the rides and merchandise are selling you something, but few people care about the church-and-state divide on branded territory.

“….Strong, well thought-out and executed content strategies create rewards for marketers. They go viral. They attract community. They can blow out SEO (search engine optimisation) to epic proportions. Rather than a company’s Web page showing up in organic results, content can generate page after page of relevant results.”

She concludes: “As an editor/marketer hybrid, I may have some bias here, but I’d be hard-pressed to think of a marketing problem that couldn’t be tackled head-on with a solid content strategy.”

Couldn’t agree more.


Web 2.0 for… those less experienced Sunday, December 28th, 2008

I came across an article in the Wall Street Journal, of all places, that provides a great primer for companies thinking about Web 2.0 and social media. The headings are great:

  • Don’t just talk at consumers - work at them throughout the marketing process
  • Give consumers a reason to participate
  • Listen to - and join - the conversation outside your site
  • Resist the temptation to sell, sell, sell
  • Don’t control, let it go
  • Find a ‘marketing technopologist’ (someone who has strengths in marketing technology and social interaction)
  • Embrace experimentation

Highly recommend anyone wanting to find out about the potential of marketing technology but unsure about how to go about it to read this article!


Web 3.0 means bringing it all together Wednesday, November 26th, 2008

Confused by all the hype around Web 2.0? Still trying to get you head around the differences between Web 1.0 and 2.0? Totally flummoxed by the prospect of Web 3.0? Well, worry no more - Web 3.0 doesn’t mean a new suite of technologies to come to terms with. It means integration and consolidation of existing technologies into a form that can be used - and understood - by business.

Razorfish CEO Clark Kokich’s view of Web 3.0 is that “It’s not a new technology or a new technique. Rather, its how clients and agencies are using digital to transform how brands deal with customers.”

In a recent interview with iMedia, Kokich said that at the heart of Web 3.0 vision is full integration of all the aspects of interactive.

“Web 3.0 will be much more focused on business solutions and less on marketing communications,” he said. “We’re at a point now where you take all of these tools - websites, search, mobile, targeted ads - and put them together in an integrated fashion.”

Kokich said clients want to work with digital agencies “because they offer the ability to look immediately at the metrics to determine if a campaign is working.”

“There is much more of an appetite on the part of clients for programs that deliver strong short-term ROI,” he said. “Right now, marketers are moving more toward programs that can cut the cost and marginalize costs in the short term.”

A good takeaway from this interview is that companies have to be willing to fail in order to innovate.  Kokich argues that the path to Web 3.0 - and a new level of integrated marketing communications - will be blazed by risk takers. Are you willing to take a risk on digital in the current climate? He reckons the benefits are definitely there.


The Internet generation takes office Thursday, November 6th, 2008

The world has breathed a sigh of relief as the US has agreed with the rest of the world that Barack Obama has the best shot at getting America out of the mess it is in and engaging with the global community.

Politics aside, this election marks the triumph of the Internet and Web 2.0. Obama used skills honed as a community action group leader in Chicago in his younger days to build a powerful network of supporters, both financial and physical, through the Internet. His team collected a record amount of donations via the long tail of the Internet - a few dollars from a huge amount of people - and used email, SMS and YouTube to great effect. Nice to see someone of Obama’s advanced age (47) recognised the critical importance of online, particularly in organising youth support. A lot of businesses could learn from this example - I’m sure someone will write a book about it and make a squillion - I’d probably buy a copy.