Marketing 2.0: Teaching an old dog new tricks

Simply, Marketing 2.0 was born out of Web 2.0, which Wikipedia says is, ‘…commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with each other as contributors to the website’s content…’

So… people are finding, creating and sharing information very differently than before.

The shift

In an article, ‘The Marketing 2.0 Revolution’,  LaSandra Brill gives a nice comparison between Marketing 1.0 and 2.0. Here are a few:

• interruptions—>integrations
• building websites—>building communities
• press releases—>blog posts

Channeling

While I agree with Bruce Temkin that social media is ultimately a channel and will not be a differentiator down the road, for marketers and businesses it is much more than a channel. Marketers and businesses overall have to change their game (Or, ‘tricks’) because of this ‘channel’. Social media won’t be a differentiator, but it  does change how marketers market and businesses operate internally and within their industry. That’s a big new ‘trick’!

Hybridization

Brian Solis outlines a ‘Hybrid Theory Manifesto’ in three parts, 1, 2, 3 where he discusses how social media has ‘upset the balance of top down communication’. He goes on to outline that it is requiring a hybrid approach to the workforce—creating a need for someone with ‘social prowess and business savvy…they will possess the ability to understand customer touchpoints, channels of influence, market dynamics, challenges and opportunities that face consumers, and how engagement and the production of social objects trigger measurable reactions that impact the bottom line.’ True, but we have to get from here to there.

Two thumbs up for marketers who understand the need for change and who are methodically taking steps, while also helping to transition the business. You can start with small bites, or should I say small new tricks? Yes, you want to take some risks so that you can get better and move onto bigger tricks, but start small so you can sustain your momentum.

Start at the Beginning

• How do you currently interact with your customer, prospect? What works well, and not as well and why?
• How are your customers, prospects currently using social media?
• What resources do you have for social media? What could you handle to begin?
• What content do you already have that could be repurposed for social media, such as a blog article?
• How could you pool internal resources to tap into domain knowledge to share socially?

Getting some ideas flowing can begin getting you into the marketing 2.0 mindset, which is how you start building momentum.

How have you shifted from 1.0 to 2.0? What tricks can you share?