Strategy
The question is no longer ‘Should we,’ but ‘How shall we.’
Over the past few years people have been in a dabbling phase when it concerns web 2.0 technologies and integration. They see a cool new trick and say… lets try that. For people who want to have a successful approach, those days are over. The web is a huge business. These technologies require not just technical work to execute them properly but require business savvy.
One notion that I think it is important to dispell instantly is the thought that the viability of Web 2.0 and Social Platforms as a marketing tool is still an unknown. This category of New Media for marketing is in actuallity no longer ‘new’ in concept. While new tools are constantly emerging, and that could be the potential reason for the name, the idea of marketing via the internet has been around for over ten years now. The viability of the internet as a marketing platform has been tested by fire, and is sound. The devil is in the details of implementation, and that is where the rubber hits the road. The question is no longer ‘Should we,’ but ‘How shall we.’
Prominent web strategist Jeremiah Owyang (Forrester Research) talks about in a recent report and blog posting about the “5 eras of Social Web.” He defines those ares as the Era of Social Relationships: People connect to others and share (began in 1995 and matured from 2003-2007), the Era of Social Functionality: Social networks become like operating system (began in 2007 and will mature (2010-2012), the Era of Social Colonization: Every experience can now be social (begin this late year and will mature in 2011), the Era of Social Context: Personalized and accurate content (begins in 2010 and will mature in 2012) and the Era of Social Commerce: Communities define future products and services (begins in 2011 and will mature quickly in 2013) You’ll notice that the ears overlap and each era’s reign at the top is shorter. He talks about how social media will continue to evolve and how technologies like Open ID (sharing one id throughout the internet) and Facebook connect are the beginning of a shirt of consumer empowerment. Where consumers will rely on their peers to make decisions about which products to buy and which shows to see. He also talks about how companies and brands won’t have a choice in the matter. They will be part of this new social world whether they want to or not.
Creating your strategy:
Framing Your Approach
