Web 2.0, finally is all the rage for big business, but does it really make sense to take advantage of all the social elements of Web 2.0 for your company? That depends on what you feel you can offer that could be a collaborative fun-fest. Yes, it is a good thing to put in the means to allow surfers to spread the word about your company, but unless your company has something cool, interesting or intriguing to send around, then nobody will interested.
Whether you sell robots that carry groceries for you or you are simply a typical brick and mortar type of business, there is always something cool show others. I’ve put together a few examples of what is good/bad to push out in the social world of Web 2.0.
Joe’s Bathroom Fitter Company –
Joe has a bathroom company that places new covers over old and deteriorating cast iron, fiberglass tubs. Joe wants to take advantage of social bookmarking to get the word out about his company.
Won’t Work: Joe’s webmaster submits a page or two of the website to Digg, StumbleUpon and a few other sites. He feels that there has to be somebody out there who is interested in refitting their tub. BUT what Joe doesn’t realize is that basic tub marketing is completely boring to the ADHD crowd of communities such as Digg. Webmaster submits the page with the title of “Modernize Your Bathroom with a Bath Fitter Today!” This would be a waste of time.
What MAY Work: Joe’s webmaster flips through a photo book of all past work done for customers, finds the most hideous looking bathroom photos, looks around the internet for some of the most “extreme” bathrooms and creates a special page containing these items on Joe’s Bathroom Fitter website. Webmaster then submits this cool page to the social networks. Webmaster submits the page with the title of “World’s Most Expensive Toilet!” Stuff like this spreads virally and could increase your web traffic, which may also increase your presence in the search engines.