Brian Solis
September 17 12:10PM
If a conversation takes place online and you’re not there to hear it, did it really happen?Web 2.0 has changed the landscape for how companies broadcast and respond to customers, stakeholders, and influencers.
People, aka the new influencers, not only have access to the Web and a shed full of social tools to publish and share experiences online, they also have the power to shape perception and evoke emotion that can positively or negatively affect even the most seemingly invincible brands.
Web 2.0 has sparked social revolution and it’s forcing companies to evolve and redesign any and all outbound and inbound communications strategies.
If necessity is the mother of invention, then observation, mobility, and reaction are the attributes for Darwinian evolution.
Marketing and PR are shifting from an inbound, one-way channel into collaborative streams of market, product, and service-related conversations. Socialized media is yanking brands into new territories providing representatives with the ability to contribute to and shape public perception, one very public conversation at a time.
Those companies that apply resources to help steer and bolster their brand across the social Web will create relationships that will ultimately pay dividends in the form of customer loyalty and referrals. Those companies reluctant, naïve, or ignorant to the conversations taking place without them will be introduced into social media out of necessity –- usually in the form of damage control.
It all starts with listening and observation. The conversations and relationships that take place with your participation are investments in the enhancement of business development and processes that help companies stay customer-focused, empathetic, and most importantly, ahead of the game.
The social Web gives us the opportunity to inspire communities populated by active brand ambassadors. People are the new influencers and their collective voices contribute to the improvement of everything we do and most importantly, everything we are.
Web 2.0 is humanizing companies, brands, and the products that define them.
We’ll review the landscape of strategies, communities, and tools to observe, listen, and build strategies for meaningful engagement in order to contribute and shape your brand in a Web 2.0 world.