Before you can discuss why Web 2.0 is important to your business you must first know what Web 2.0 is. Web 2.0, a phrase coined by O’Reilly Media in 2004, refers to a perceived second-generation of Web-based services-such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies-that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users.
One of the things that strikes me is how quickly things change on the Internet. Web 2.0 is less than four years old and yet is really one of the most important forms of marketing now that every Internet business must do.
Today people are changing the way they surf the Internet. With social communities popping up all over the place people like to be a part of something and get their information that way. If your business is not involved in marketing itself in some way to social communities you are missing out on valuable traffic.
Today when people show up to a website or a blog they want to be entertained. Think about that and what it means to your business. No longer can you just throw up a web page with a bunch of useless information in a couple of Google ads and say you’re in business.
Now Web 2.0 marketing means being interactive with your customers and your visitors. You entertain them by making your page appealing to them. Certainly useful content is important, but so are things such as graphics, audio, video, polls, and so on.
If you are not really sure how to do this go and take a look at what some of your competitors are doing. You will quickly see a successful website and how they have adapted their marketing strategy to today’s marketplace, compared to a website who still living in the dark ages, so to speak.
The other thing you need to do is to learn everything you can about Web 2.0 marketing and how you can apply it to your business to make it more successful.