Web 2.0 Approaches in B2B
Along with participation and contributions of individuals Web 2.0 has brought a new way of thinking about and approaching the Web.
Web 2.0 leaves behind the old ‘websites as brochures’ era and offers greater audience interaction and participation, new forms of search marketing aimed at the long tail of niche markets.
A Thirdway agency brings a knowledge of Web 2.0 approaches that have been proven in B2C (business-to- consumer) and C2C (consumer-to-consumer) arenas, and applies them in the B2B (business-to- business) world.
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a prime example of a Web 2.0 type technology. We implement it, but after launch the client controls it directly. Software as a Service ‘lives’ on the web, it is highly cost effective, and the platforms often contain Web 2.0 features (blogs, forums, RSS, etc).
The power to deliver really effective online marketing has moved away from the corporte giants and ‘900 pound gorillas’ to the small and agile agencies that can deliver great outcomes, quickly and effectively.
Other great Web 2.0 advances we can benefit from include:
- Consumer oriented online properties such as YouTube and FaceBook being used as a means for corportate messageing, and
- Mash-ups which allow us to combine amazing tools like Google Maps and overlay location information
- Google has produced is own free access Microsoft Office application look-alikes
- Software vendors are providing Open Source versions of their technologies to stimulate sales and development partisipation
- Technology advances such as AJAX which allow us to build rich experiences
Access to great enabling technology platforms is now available to all businesses, not just the big end of town.