On March 14th, Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange (MITX) and One to One Interactive hosted the first (sold-out) of four events in the new MITX Digital Marketing Track titled, “Web 2.0: Engaging the Long Tail.” The panel focused on the next generation of on-line services generally referred to as Web 2.0 (e.g., Social Networks, Blogs, Podcasts, Tags, Wikis, Social Bookmarks, etc.) , how companies and consumers are adopting these new technologies, what is the real business impact, and what are the implications to future marketing and communications efforts.
The panel was moderated by Henry Jenkins, Director of MIT’s Comparative Media Studies Program and included participation by:
Henry kicked the panel off by providing definitions of “Web 2.0” and “The Long Tail”.
He then asked the panelists to introduce themselves and to share some initial brief thoughts about Web 2.0 and its impact.
Jack Barrette kicked things off by stating “Web 2.0 is a broad category, encompassing dozens of user engagements from photosharing to machinima to blogs. At base, they are all: Online content created, circulated, shared and used by consumers; often informed by relevant experience; typically archived for access by others”.
Adam Cutler shared the following initial thoughts: “In our (IBM) opinion, people as computing power is the single most important aspect to what Web 2.0 really is at its essence. In other words, when you have many individuals and/or groups working on solving many little problems 24/7, innovations come on a daily basis. As these incremental innovations are adopted, mutated and re-released into the wild there are regular quantum leaps forward every two to six months when the smaller pieces are loosely joined in a novel way. One just has to look to Google Maps, Ajax (as a concept) or Flickr to see evidence of this. The net of this is that there isn’t a corporation, entity or individual that has enough money or offshoring capability to compete with that kind of horsepower. From a business perspective, the first companies to recognize and embrace this will vault so far ahead of their competition, the rest of the field will have no choice but to follow.”
Jim Nail finished the set of introductions by stating “The important thing about Web 2.0 is the change in consumer behavior toward 1) creating more content and 2) engaging with each other 3) mashing up mainstream media content with their own or other consumer-generated content, with little regard for the source. The reason it is happening now is new technologies that are enablers, but we shouldn’t get hung up on the technologies, because they will change; I’ve heard the argument that MySpace, Gather.com, etc are already subsuming/replacing blogs as the center of gravity. No doubt something else will come along in a few years. But the change in consumer behavior from passive recipient of whatever the Mass Media/Marketing Industrial Complex dishes out is an inexorable change.”
One of the first questions Henry posed to the panel was:
“What happens to brands in the era of Web 2.0 and the Long Tail?”
Jim Nail responded by stating brands will evolve and the most important dimension of a brand will be how they relate to their consumers. “Think of it this way: Originally, the key dimension of a brand was a differentiating feature: Ivory soap being 99.44% pure. Then it became a differentiating benefit: Winston tastes good like a cigarette should. Then it was image: Just do it! In the future it will be brands that listen and respond to their consumers’/communities’ feedback.”
Adam Cutler initially disagreed with Nail’s statement by asserting that "brands will die" in favor of user experience. This kicked off a lengthy (probably too lengthy) debate. I fell in Nail’s camp regarding the notion that the successful brands in the future will be those that listen and take part in a one-to-one dialogue with their prospects and customers. I went on to assert that social computing will begin to even the playing field in regards to marketing. Brands will no longer be able to hide behind large advertising campaigns as a proxy to mask sub-standard product or services. Furthermore, small entrepreneurial start-ups who leverage communities of interest from the very beginning and create a superior product/service will benefit with quicker innovation, more rapid product/service adoption, and less capital expense to drive awareness as it leverages word-of-mouth communications (Skype is a good example of this). In the end, I agree with what Adam acknowledged - that as people are able to track down a broader range of information and tap the community's collective wisdom about products, they will be less reliant on the traditional notion of brand (reputation and/or aura) and more interested in the experience. In this view, we all were of one mind that the activity of branding is on the cusp of a major shift. A quote from Jack Barrette’s nicely wrapped up this section of the discussion: “Join the conversation or get talked about.”
Jenkins went on to ask:
“Which companies (other than the ones represented on this panel) seem to "get" Web 2.0? What do you see as the best practices which are emerging from these companies?”
The panel collectively highlighted the following companies as early adopters of social computing (reprinted from audience member Stephanie Rogers’ blog, CultureJunkie):
- Intuit 's Product Manager blogs. Companies are still considered experts on their products, and who better to address product development news, issues, questions and concerns than the developers themselves.
- Lego's consumer innovation council, where active members of online Lego enthusiast networks were tapped for special product brainstorming and development conversations.
- Maytag's Man Caves. There's a burgeoning population of men outfitting their basements and garages with all the trappings of manhood - plasma screen tvs, high end audio systems, pool tables, and wet bars - and blogging about it! A popular item in the caves is a Maytag soda fountain filled with beer. So Maytag provides high res images and sneak peaks of new models for these fans to post on their own sites and help spread the word.
Regarding emerging best practices, I used a recent client example at One to One Interactive where we focused on strategic research to help prioritize Web 2.0 initiatives. This included:
- Using firms like Cymfony or Nielsen Buzz Metrics to identify who is speaking about your product or service online.
- Includes identifying which blogs, podcasts, online discussion boards, online communities, and portals that are sought out by consumers to reach your product/service
- Identifying and flagging key issues within those online conversations
- Prioritizing and executing key word-of-mouth programs to take part in the conversation. These may include:
- Word of Mouth Evangelism Programs to make it easier for brand evangelists to tell their friends about your product/service.
- Online Community Development
- Advocacy/Outreach programs such as Blogger Relation Days.
- Word-Of-Mouth Paid Search Program to help promote corporate blogging efforts and to promote related communities, blogs, podcasts, etc.
- Co-creation and Information sharing program. Letting customers behind the curtain and give them first access to information/content. Allow them to provide feedback on product/service innovation and marketing strategies.
Following this question the Panel was opened to the audience for Q & A. Notable queries included:
- How does the fact that a majority of individuals are not participating in developing blogs, participating in social networks, or posting to online discussion groups impact a corporation’s social computing strategy?
- The panelists all agreed that this observation was important to note. Frankly, there are only so many Mavens and Connectors in the general population. This really calls into consideration the need to conduct the necessary research to identify the real population of active participants to engage in online dialogues. It also underlies the importance of understanding how average/non-participating consumers find and trust the information they are reading from citizen publishers or via word-of-mouth.
- Who is responsible for setting a Web 2.0 agenda within an enterprise? Are there any examples of how information derived from social computing efforts is captured, distributed, and taken into serious consideration so that real change may occur?
- None of the panelists were able to point to any single method. It varies drastically by industry and by the tactics used to garner feedback or promote dialogue. I stated that this question fundamentally needs to be answered by the CMO. They are in the best position to determine what strategies to deploy and to effect corporate policy in regards to distribution and use of the intelligence provided by such efforts.
All in all, I feel the panel was an undeniable success. MITX and One to One Interactive did an excellent job identifying a timely topic and attracting some of the industries top minds to engage in thoughtful and intelligent debate. Stay tuned for the second panel in this series that will focus on IPTV, Broadband Entertainment, and the future of Television.
Jeremi Karnell-President, One to One Interactive
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