What is your strategy for Social Media?

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

It is amazing how much one can find out about almost anything through the Internet nowadays. The transition from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 has made available a great dynamic on the web. New technologies have opened up for everyone to use, and as the understanding about these new features of the web spreads, so does the variety of information available. In fact, at this point in time, the vast majority of information created on the Internet, is produced not by companies and organizations, but by its everyday user.

For a company, this change has brought about new challenges in the attempt of creating and maintaining information control about its public profile. Although the corporate website still has an important function towards media and institutionalized professionals, the vast majority of Internet users reach information through different means. A 2.0 company must therefore broaden its presence on the web in order to remain in charge of what is said about what, and by whom it is said.

When finding its way through wikis, sponsored links, social networks and RSS-feeds of press material, the 2.0 company might need some direction in order to make every buck’s worth. However the relatively young market of search engine optimizers and technology strong 2.0 producers is tricky and has of late been tainted by some unethical practice. To manoeuvre through this market terrain, it is almost as important for the company to know who does what and what is ethically okay to do, as it is to know its own targets and ambitions in communicating through the web.  

The most widely spread mean of finding information on the Internet is still the search engine. Sites such as Google, Yahoo and Live are used by almost everyone with Internet access in the world. The concept of search engine optimization is easy when looking at it soberly. It is all about talking to the search engine through the code of your website, just as you talk to your fellow friend. If you want to make your message come across, you might consider talking in a structured enough way to get the point across. Also, you will make better in convincing the search engine, or your neighbour to talk about you, the way that you want, if you communicate in a language that they understand.

The online encyclopaedia trend, with Wikipedia as the frontrunner, has become very useful in spreading information about a company. Editable by anyone with access to the Internet, one could assume that the information might not be as reliable as that of the traditional encyclopaedia. However, given the fact that Wikipedia is one of the Internets most popular sites (according to Alexa), “bad” information is quite rapidly changed to “good” information. Some companies, early in adapting these new technologies, have even appointed responsibility to one or several people within the organization to keep track of the company’s page on Wikipedia in order for “bad” information to be changed as soon as it appears.

Social networks, such as Facebook, Myspace and Friendster have grown to become great opinion builders and information aggregators over the past few years. Given the nature of open source APIs and easily accessible viral functionality, these networks serve their users very well in providing tools to spread beliefs, opinions and concerns amongst friends. A company can also use these recently accessible features when distributing information about its public image. The trick is not as much to do the right thing, as it is to avoid doing the wrong thing. What later becomes “the thing” in these social networks relies as much in luck as it does in the company’s ability to know its target group and future customers.

The Internet in its “2.0 format”, offers great opportunities, but also a lot of great unknowns and uncertainties regarding the flow of information about a company’s public profile. H&H aims to be on top of what is hot and what is not, in order to give our clients the best advice to create value by developing communications services which build insight and trust.

H&H Spotlight Report 2007 – “Corporate Communications & Social Media”, highlights the implications of the web 2.0 revolution for information flows. It gives you an insight to what you might need when planning your strategy for your web communication.

The report can be ordered by visiting www.webranking.eu or by emailing us at .