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The Wizardry of Web 2.0
Social media mavens and mavericks create interactive and engaged communities that build customer relationships. You can too.
By Cathy Chatfield-Taylor
Face it. You could have the most loyal customers on the planet, but if you send too many marketing messages, they won’t get read. Inundated with e-mail and overloaded with information, people are surfing the channels that let them accomplish business goals quickly and efficiently. Your show won’t be on their radar if you don’t establish a year-round presence in their space. Event producers are using Web 2.0 tools to cut through the channel noise and engage people at a personal level, form real relationships and build branded communities that become a 24/7, 365 resource.
We’re not talking geek speak here. Internet applications with genuine interactivity — where people can both download and upload information — are called Web 2.0 tools. Web 2.0 tools that enable people to interact by sharing information in various formats (text, images, audio, video) are called social media. Social media applications being deployed by show management are as simple as photo sharing and text messaging.
Take blogging, for example. NSS Girls (www.nationalstationeryshow.blogspot.com) debuted in August 2007 to connect the National Stationery Show (NSS) with its customers. “People view management as corporate, starchy, out of touch. or singularly focused on the business of running the show and not the business of putting people together with people,” says Show Manager Patti Stracher. “We hope that NSS Girls will make us more accessible.”
Stracher decided to launch a blog when she realized how many attendees and exhibitors were blogging before, during and after the event. “We thought, of all the things we could do in the immediate term, blogging is one we should jump on,” she says. Though it was a marketing initiative, the blog is not a marketing tool.
“Blogging should be much less about strategic marketing and more about building community,” says Stracher, who is one of the four NSS Girls who blog. “It can’t feel official. It should be like inviting friends over to chat.”
The potential of blogging to build relationships becomes clear when you define social media literally as “human” + “means of communication.” People respond to a medium with a human touch. Social media personalize the interaction, so people not only get your message but also truly engage in the experience. Using these tools, participants in the show community can share ideas, network, collaborate, and form long-term relationships.
Other social media deployed by tech-savvy show producers demonstrate similar potential. To be successful, they’re not only interactive and engaging, they also give users ownership in the community and have viral appeal. Here’s how five innovators are strengthening relationships by building Web 2.0 communities.
Excerpt from "The Wizardry of Web 2.0," EXPO Magazine , October 2007. Copyright 2007 Ascend Media, Overland Park, Kan. |
