In the early 1800's people communicated via the telegraph.
It would take days, sometimes weeks for someone to send and or receive messages.
When the 1900's came, the telephone was introduced but did not become mainstream for many years later.
I like to make this example when I counsel my clients on what Web 2.
0 and the social media networks are doing to our world.
The world is changing and it is changing quickly.
Everyone is struggling to understand the meaning of this new media and how it affects business.
These new communication avenues are reinventing the way we communicate with our customers and stakeholders much like the telephone did to the telegraph.
People want to communicate with people at lightening speed.
And with the invention of the internet, everything is available within seconds not days.
The new social networks allow companies to have an ongoing dialogue and relationship with their customers.
You might say ...
"But I don't want to have an ongoing conversation with my customers," and I would counter, "But they want it with you.
" The challenge for a communications professional is to get our clients to think anew about the world and get people, who are reluctant to change, to understand its okay to be a little apprehensive but the time is here and now to embrace the future.
If you don't, your competitors will and you will simply be left behind.
New Media and the new social networks can do the following for corporations- -Allow you to communicate with your stakeholders without the filter and the bias of the traditional media via online newsrooms equipped with RSS Feeds and video links and podcasts.
Literally, your customers can sign up to receive your news as soon as you release it.
The Governor of Nevada is using this tactic via his direct press release distributions and pod casts.
Now, he can release his message mainstream without the media misquoting him or taking his quotes out of context.
-Allow companies to track all of your communication and advertising on line - for free via Google Analytics.
Now you can view who is coming to your website, how long they are staying there, how they got there and what they were interested in.
You can see how many people and exactly WHO read your e-newsletter and how many pages they clicked through to.
Armed with this valuable data, your business can make marketing decisions that will better its bottom line.
- Allow companies to get news and information to its stakeholders directly and faster in real time via Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogging and Twitter.
These applications are connecting people without intermediaries through their interests and relationships.
Some corporate companies such as Joyent Global, Southwest Airlines and Bank of America are all successfully implementing Web 2.
0 into their marketing programs.
If you are a business who wants to survive, you should be implementing these tactics too.