Using Web 2.0 to Out Serve Your Competition

Web 2.0 technologies have brought business and consumers closer together than ever before. Instead of bombarding the internet and traditional media with advertisements, businesses can now reach potential customers in much more subtle and sophisticated ways.

Perhaps more importantly, consumers can now interact directly with businesses and increasingly shape the directions businesses are taking. Web 2.0 possibilities, such as blogs, RSS feeds and other two way interactions, are allowing businesses to give their customers a voice that helps them improve their products, sales, and customer satisfaction.

However, if you decide to engage with your customers using these techniques, you will have to take the good with the bad because you will receive both positive and negative criticism.

The following are some of the best ways you can increase interaction with your customers using Web 2.0:

Blogs – Thousands of companies have already embraced blogs as a way of interacting with customers. A blog could be about a particular product or service or group of product or services. While keeping customers up to date, blogs also allow customers to post comments and leave feedback which can be responded to.

Search Engine Optimization – Make sure your site is optimized so that you can be easily located on the major search engines.

Personalization – Web 2.0 technology allows for delivery of different content to different types of customers.

RSS – Keep your customers in the loop by offering an RSS feed on your website—allowing you to automatically send news, opinions, and advice.

User communities – You can also allow your customers to interact with each other by setting up a user community on your website. Even a basic forum will allow customers to exchange views and help each other. Do, of course, monitor all discussions to pinpoint customer concerns to correct mistakes or highlight customer raves.

Interaction – Allow your customers to interact with your members of staff directly through real time chat.

Podcasts and video – Create audio and video bulletins to keep your customers up to date.

Tagging – Tagging can help you monitor the usefulness of the information you are providing to your customers by allowing them to rate it.

These are just some of the ways that you can interact with and monitor the opinions of your customers. Also consider establishing a presence on social networking websites, or using wikis.

How effective the above methods execute for you will depend on what kind of business you have. However, there should be at least one technique that will allow you to use Web 2.0 to serve your customers better.

 

Written by: David C Skul - CEO

Back to Articles | Next Article | Relativity | Watch the Video

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Do you want more? Do you want to be notified of new blog postings and other exciting developments weekly? Do you want the competitive edge over your marketplace?

Sign Up for Our Newsletter and get Free Gifts when you Sign Up and Confirm Your Subscription:

Name:
Email:

• Monthly Updates and Informative Articles and Videos from our team of experts.
• White Papers and Free Training Offers
• Special Discounts and Incentives on our Services and Products
• Special Discounts and Incentives from our Channel Partners
• Monthly Prizes and Incentives for Blog Postings
• Much, Much More

Have questions or suggestions?

Contact Us By Email:

Email :
Company:
Name:
Phone :
Site URL:
Question or Request:
	I have read and agree to the terms of service