The phone was designed for two-way communication and since social media marketing is a two-way dialogue, it’s a natural extension to have mobile cell phone applications for social media programs that allow you to view and post to various social media sites.
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Posts Tagged ‘Web 2.0’
Building A Cast For Mobile Social Media With Your Company
Posted in Anticipating the future, Competitive Advantage, Future Tech, Marketing, New Tools, Social Media. Tags: Burrus, Business Growth, Business Marketing, Business Strategy, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, guidelines for social media, Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Web 2.0. 1 Comment »
The Driving Forces of Mobile Social Media Marketing
As more people realize and embrace the fact that social media marketing is a real time experience rather than a “wait till I get to my computer” experience, they’re taking advantage of the processing power today’s mobile phones have to offer.
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Posted in Competitive Advantage, Future Tech, Marketing, New Tools, Sales, Social Media. Tags: Burrus, Business Growth, Business Marketing, Business Strategy, Communication, Competitive Advantage, Customer Service, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, guidelines for social media, Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Success, Technology, Technology-driven change, Web 2.0. 3 Comments »
Social Networks That Boost Your Business (Part II)
The business use of Web 2.0 represents a new trend called “Business 2.0.” Aside from being the name of a defunct magazine, Business 2.0 is about using the new web-based social networking applications (many of which were originally created for personal use) in a way that fosters teamwork, customer touches, and internal and external collaboration in a low-cost seamless way.
Last month I shared a few personal Business 2.0 tools with business applicability. This month I will share two more personal tools along with some purely Business 2.0 tools that will help create collaboration in a low-cost seamless way.
TWITTER
Twitter is a micro-blogging service that allows friends, family and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of short, quick answers using no more that 140 characters per message. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or co-workers. Users can receive updates via the Twitter website or other social networking sites such as Facebook. Young people use Twitter for answering the question: What are you doing? Business 2.0 use: Business users could change that question to: What problem are you trying to solve? Several companies have used this as a fast way to solve problems. Hotels, airlines, and airports are using Twitter to pitch services, travel updates, and respond to travelers needs.
Ask yourself: Could we use Twitter to solve problems faster with our organization or our customers?
DELICIOUS
Delicious is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing and discovering web bookmarks. It uses a non-hierarchical classification system in which users can tag each of their bookmarks with freely chosen index terms. Business 2.0 use: Business users can share their most useful websites with co-workers or business partners. If a customer purchases a product, sellers could share relevant bookmarks that keep the customer coming back for more information and hopefully more products.
Ask yourself: Could we use Delicious to share important new websites faster within our organization or with our customers?
PURELY BUSINESS 2.0 TOOLS
WIKI
A Wiki is a collaborative web page or collection of web pages designed to enable anyone to create a quick web page that allows visitors to search the Wiki’s content and edit the content in real time, as well as view updates since their last visit. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. On a moderated Wiki, Wiki owners can review comments before additions to the main body of the topic. Additional features include calendar sharing, live AV conferencing, RSS feeds, and more.
Ask yourself: Could we use Wikis to enhance internal and external collaboration?
LINKEDIN
LinkedIn is a business-oriented professional networking website for exchanging information, ideas, and opportunities. There are over 35 million registered users spanning 170 industries actively networking with each other. For example, large insurance companies use LinkedIn to foster networking with their independent sales representatives. HR professionals from all over the world could use LinkedIn to share best practices.
Ask yourself: Could we use LinkedIn to expand our organizational network for enhanced knowledge sharing?
CLOUD COMPUTING & SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE
In Cloud Computing, some or all of the storage, software, IT Processes, and data center facilities you use can exist on your provider’s server, which is maintained and cared for by your provider, giving you 24/7 access from any device anywhere. The cost of upgrading hardware and software, maintenance, and associated IT labor costs can be dramatically reduced or eliminated. Currently, the ideal organization would be any size company that’s facing big investments in computing and communications infrastructure. For example, Amazon.com can give you an entire e-commerce back end. Software as a Service (SaaS) such as SalesForce.com has a CRM package, SciQuest has a spend management package, and Google, Microsoft and others have a suite of offerings.
Ask yourself: Could we use Cloud Computing & Software as a Service to streamline our IT needs?
GAIN A NEW COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
By reframing the use of social networking technology, companies can increase communication, collaboration, problem solving, and competitive advantage with little cost. Remember, many of these tools are free or nearly free, making them accessible to even the smallest of business. Therefore, the sooner you embrace Business 2.0 and put it to work for you, the faster you can penetrate new markets and win the lion’s share of business.
Posted in Competitive Advantage, Future Tech, Marketing, New Tools, Planning, Sales, Social Media, Solving Problems. Tags: Business Social Networking, Cloud Computing, Delicious, LinkedIn, Social Networking, Software as a Service, Twitter, Web 2.0, Wiki. No Comments »
Social Networks That Boost Your Business (Part I)
Most people are familiar with the term “Web 2.0,” which refers to a second generation of web development and design that focuses on fostering social networking via the web. Innovative companies are beginning to embrace Web 2.0 as a way to enhance communication, information sharing, and collaboration, thereby allowing them to work smarter rather than harder.
Unfortunately, many businesses feel that Web 2.0 and social networking are for the younger generation and a waste of time when used by employees. However, once you understand the power of these applications and how to use them in your company, you’ll quickly find that they can be invaluable tools to boost your bottom line. Following is an overview of some of the best Business 2.0 tools that are personal tools with business applicability.
FACEBOOK
Facebook enables you to connect and share with the people in your life. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with others. People can add friends, send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Business 2.0 use: Large organizations can connect all of their employees, or members, with Facebook. Some are finding an added advantage of using an internal, secure version of Facebook. This has helped organizations to dramatically increase their internal networking and collaboration. Ask yourself: Could we use Facebook, or our own internal version, to get people to collaborate at a higher level?
WIKIPEDIA
Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that anyone can use to find information on virtually any topic. Anyone can edit the content as well. Business 2.0 use: A large manufacturing company with engineers in locations around the world increased problem solving and collaboration by creating an internal, secure version of Wikipedia for sharing information on parts and service offerings as well as repair and maintenance instructions. Retailers and suppliers could create a version of Wikipedia to foster education and training as well as enhanced information sharing. Ask yourself: Could we create an internal version of Wikipedia to foster better information and knowledge sharing?
YOUTUBE
YouTube is a video sharing website where users can upload, view, and share video clips. YouTube displays a wide variety of user-generated video content as well as movie clips, product demonstrations, and commercials. Unregistered users can watch the videos, while registered users can upload an unlimited number of videos. Business 2.0 use: Businesses are posting humorous commercial videos to generate interest in their products with great success. The more entertaining it is, the more people watch it. Business partners could create a YouTube like channel for the purpose of educating and training. Ask Yourself: Could we enhance our marketing efforts as well as general communication by using YouTube?
DIGG
Digg is a social news web site made for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the Internet, by submitting and accessing links and stories. Voting stories thumbs up or a thumb down is the site’s cornerstone function, respectively called digging and burying. Business 2.0 use: Many organizations have found this to be a good way to track the most interesting advances in technology or the most useful business news. Large organizations can create their own internal version for sharing what employees consider to be the most useful information. Ask yourself: Could we use Digg, or our own internal version, to get people to share their most interesting and valuable web-based information with each other?
Next month, I will share two more personal tools along with some purely business 2.0 tools that will help create collaboration in a low-cost seamless way.
Posted in Competitive Advantage, Customer Service, Future Tech, Marketing, New Tools, Social Media, Solving Problems. Tags: Burrus, Business Social Networking, Dan Burrus, Daniel Burrus, Digg, Facebook, Social Networking, Social Networking for Business, Social Networks, Web 2.0, Wikipedia, YouTube. 3 Comments »
Web 3.0
To date, the Web has gone through two basic iterations. The first generation, Web 1.0, ran from 1995 to 1999 and can best be described as a flat, one-dimensional way of displaying information that could be accessed by keyword searches. Hyperlinking text was a key feature of the first generation Web and pop-up ads were seen as a way of revenue generation. Google’s current project, digitizing all of the world’s books and making the contents available via search, is basically using an advanced form of Web 1.0.
The second iteration of the Web, Web 2.0, started in 2000, and its hallmark trait is all about users sharing with other users. Peer-to-peer networking was the application used by Napster to take the Web to the next level by offering music file sharing to the masses. Since then we have seen enthusiastic amateurs from around the world work together to classify and post massive amounts of new content on the collective encyclopedia project Wikipedia.
Idea sharing tools such as Blogs, personality-sharing sites such as MySpace, photo-sharing sites such as Flickr, and video sharing sites such as YouTube are all great examples of the sharing nature of Web 2.0.
Thanks to the underlying technology of XML, which allows machines to talk to other machines over the Web, applications can also connect to and share data with each other. A good example would be connecting corporate or personal location-based data to Google Maps. The next generation of the Web, Web 3.0, is already beginning as we bring artificial intelligence to the Web making our searches more relevant, useful and accurate. These searches will have a level of guidance to them.
Today, when you enter a word or phrase into a search engine such as Google or Yahoo!, you get thousands of responses, most of which are not useful. With Web 3.0 technology, you can type in a question about managing your 401K account, and you will get relevant advice based on all of your previous searches. The search function will become more of an automated advisor. Web 3.0 will also have the option of using a 3-D Web browser providing an inner spatial world to interact with. An early version is Linden Lab’s Second Life where 2.1 million registered players select an avatar of themselves. They can interact with others, purchase land, build homes and conduct business.
In my keynote speeches, I have been showing off an early prototype of a 3D Web browser since 2000. It’s easy to predict the future when you are already there. Business audiences always respond positively to the demonstration of the 3-D eCommerce engine that will let potential customers interact with an electronic sales agent, or if you wish, a real human sales person. Computers finally have enough power, and there are enough high-speed Internet connections, both wired and wireless, to enable the transition to Web 3.0 applications over the next few years.
Posted in Anticipating the future, Future Tech, New Tools, Social Media. Tags: 3D Web Browser, Artificial Intelligence, Blogs, Burrus, Dan Burrus, Flickr, Google Maps, MySpace, Web 1.0, Web 2.0, Web 3.0, XML, YouTube. 1 Comment »
