There is more to Web 2.0 than a fancy name and scary technology. Web 2.0 is about bringing the internet to people and making it more accessible. These technologies provide businesses and other organizations with great ways in which to make a radical improvement in the ways that they interact with their customers. You can have better customer service and consequently more sales and higher profits by making proper use of Web 2.0 technologies.
The term ‘Web 2.0’ embraces a whole raft of new technologies which allow you to personalize your Interne presence and interact with your clients and business partners. Social networking on places like MySpace and YouTube are popular parts of Web 2.0 as are blogging and Wikipedia entries. For businesses, the trick is in harnessing all this potential to present a coherent, professional brand that people will trust.
You can be helped in this by the interactive nature of Web 2.0 as it allows you to get feedback from people about how your company s doing and how it is perceived. Don’t be scared by this feedback. Embrace it and use it to tailor and improve your services.
Here are the Top 10 ways to use Web 2.0 to improve your company brand and give a better service to your customers:
Be interactive – real time chat, linguabots or even instant messenger can all be used to really chat with your customers, find out what they are thinking and act upon what they tell you. That way you know you are giving people what they want.
Personalization – tailor the content of your online presence by reacting to the feedback you get. Answer queries personally, not just with standard answers. Give out special offers and provide people with the information they request.
Use RSS feeds – this is a great way to update your website regularly and automatically so you show your business is keeping up with relevant developments in the real world.
Build user communities like chat rooms and newsgroups where people with like-minded interests can be of mutual support to each other.
Blog away – get in touch with your clients trough blogs relevant to your business. Find out what they want and show them that they can get it through your business.
Link up through social networking – tailor the information you give out to people but then put it out there so people know who you are, what you do, and how to find you.
Search engine optimization – make sure your website content is tailored to the content that people are searching for. Direct people easily to the pages they want to see.
Allow tagging – let people rate how useful your content is. That can give a real boost to your online presence and search engine ratings, as well as helping you to refine and improve your content.
Use wikis to show you know your stuff technically and let people know what you do.
Use podcasts and videos to give the most dynamic, current information updates possible.
Web 2.0 is a concept that originated from discussions between the Tim O’Reilly School and MediaLive International. What was noted as interesting in these discussions, about the web, in the past, present, and future, was that the web never really “crashed”, but rather went through some very significant changes or turning points that today have a major influence on how companies market their services and goods, as well as conduct business on the internet. From the observations of web activity, O’Reilly and MediaLive were able to identify some commonalities between companies that had survived the so called dot.com collapse. From this emerged a formulation of practices and principles of those companies that made it through that significant web changes.
We can look at the principles and practices of Web 2.0 like they are threads that tie together internet sites and users like they are all a part of the fabric of interconnecting thoughts, ideas, communications, and goals. There are seven of these practices and principles that seem to be very common among all successful Web 2.0 internet businesses. Not every company possesses each of them however. Some do possess all, while others may only possess a couple of them. The point is that there exist identifiable characteristics of the Web 2.0 company. Let’s take a brief look at those basic principles and practices that will make a Web 2.0 company a Web 2.0 company.
Services
Packaged software is becoming something of the past because the web itself has become a platform for most applications. For example, in the early years of the web the consumer would have to go to their local computer software distributor to obtain the desired software packages to meet their needs, whether those needs were for local applications or the internet. Today, the majority of that same software can be purchased and then downloaded, into local systems, through the web. Additionally, these services are now more aimed toward the outside edges of the web (all users) rather than being centralized (specific users).
Control
In the early years of web design and business, vendors had a monopoly over computer and web products and what the consumer needed and bought. If the consumer needed a specific application that consumer had to go directly to the company that produced it. It was a one ended transaction. Today, because the web is a platform, the monolithic approach is no longer a solution. Vendors that control both ends of a transaction are in the best position to build a dedicated user base.
User Trust
Another element of Web 2.0 is that vendors are realizing that many users can make positive contributions to the growth of web based applications, often surpassing the professionals. Wikipedia is perhaps the best example.
Collective Intelligence
User trust opens the door for a company to harness the collective intelligence of the users that participate in their websites.
Focus On The Long Tail
Successful Web 2.0 companies find a substantial profit in selling small volumes of hard to find products to many customers.
Software Is No Longer Limited To A Single Device
Another feature of Web 2.0 is that software is no longer bound by the single PC platform. Software can be written on the web, rather than being limited to being written on an individual computer.
Lightweight Interfaces
Lightweight interfaces allow for innovation in assembly. With lightweight interfaces it becomes easier to snap together two existing services, for example.
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