Top Ten Tips for a Web 2.0 Makeover
I've been asked to write an idiot's guide to corporate blogs for Revolution magazine. It can't be too technical the brief is for only 280 words.
This is what I have come up but would welcome any other suggestions. (Is this citizen journalism or open-source journalism?) Anyway let me know what you think:
Top Ten Tips for a Web 2.0 Makeover
1. Web 2.0 is all about having a conversation with your customers so be prepared to engage. And remember, the best way to control the conversation is by improving the conversation.
2. Before you develop a blog set out your long term business goals or marketing strategy and stick to it. This should inform everything you do as a social marketer.
3. Find the most influential bloggers following your company. Read them every day. This will inform you future blogging activity.
4. Once your blog is out there you're an open target to everyone who loves your service/product – and those that hate it. Live with it and deal with it.
5. How different is Web 2.0 from Web 1.0? Not much other than the fact that it's about creating a community around your brand. Expect Web 3.0 soon.
6. Avoid the corporate look – you have a website for that. Web 2.0 has more of a Dress Down Friday feel about it.
7. Invest some time in ensuring your install Really Simple Syndication feeds, links, tags, and trackbacks to other blogs (these are all free).
8. Register with aggregators like Technorati, Del.icio.us and Digg to ensure your blog gains visibility.
8. Add links to other websites and blogs that support you core business proposition.
9. Try to publish a comment every day. This is easy if there are more than one person in an organisation who are blogging – but ensure you set guidelines.
10. Don't fake it. Fake blogs are created to promote a service using a fake character or name. McDonalds did it and got roasted by the blogging community.
3 comments:
Hi Ian,
Good list - and all very valid points.
I'd add one about making sure the organisation is ready, senior decision-makers understand what's happening.
Using social media as a communications channel requires a different corporate culture/mindset compared to the usual corporate broadcast channels.
But now you're well over your 280 words aren't you?!
cheers
sw
Hi Ian
I would urge you to remove the word 'control' from point 1. As Simon W says, social media is not about controlling anything. The fundamental basis for social media is based on full and total transparency.
I would also recommend Antony Mayfield's post on the Edelman/Technorati shindig. He makes two very important points:
1. Blogs are only part of the way that media is changing - the wider developments in social / networked media need to be borne in mind.
2. People try to understand these new forms of media from an old media standpoint - and it doesn't quite work.
Point 2 is key. If you come to social media with a traditional media oulook you won't get it.
It's not about push-pull anymore, but engagement and transparncy!
Also, Technorati isn't an aggregator but a search engine while delicious is technically a social bookmarking site... but I suppose it does aggregate content.
Last point (honest!): trackbacks, RSS etc... are software tools and only free if you know how to add them to the software. If not then you'll have to pay someone (IT guy) or something (Movable Type, Wordpress etc) for the privilege.
Hi Simon(s),
I use control in the vague sense in that when I have a conversation with my children I can dictate the direction in which it goes in - by being more interesting, funny, exciting or silly.
By which I mean if some one says Ian Green is S**T, I would would ask "How s**t? Or what colour of s**t? A nice colour? A bad colour? What do you think would be best?
That's the art of conversation. Comments are most welcome.
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