In August – and you all know August is traditionally a slow month (holiday season etc) I decided to attend a few seminars to keep me up to speed with the newest and latest technologies so I can as usual pass on my knowledge to you. Many of the seminars I attended where VERY technical and attended mostly by fully paid up techies and I will admit that a lot of the jargon went over my head and I struggled to keep up with talk of active directories, terminal services and server consolidation!
However I did attend one workshop which I found so interesting and has since opened an entirely new means to market for Supreme.
The wonderful world of Web 2.0!
You must have heard of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Blogs, RSS, Wikis, Skype etc? These are all examples of Web 2.0 technologies and if like myself you thought social networking et al was the preserve of teens of the spotty kind think again!
- Want to create a subscriber list that you can send messages to instantly? Get people to “follow” you using Twitter.
- Want to demonstrate your newest product online – or upload a video of your manufacturing process? Record a video and host it on YouTube! Next time you send an email with your marketing blurb while not include a link to your video?
- Looking to reduce your call charges? Tried Skype yet? Skype to Skype calls are FREE and calls to UK numbers cost from £0.01p/minute (even less if you take up one of their unlimited call packages)
- Tell the world how wonderful you are with your own “Blog”. Talk about your products, your customers and your people.
I give you an overview of some of my favourite Web 2.0 Technologies (so far) and ideas of some great applications you could use them for:
1. Wikis, Commenting, Shared Workspaces
The most well none “Wiki” is www.wikipedia.org which is like an online encyclopaedia and you can find information on almost anything there! A wiki enables you to create a single access point where information may be shared (enabling greater collaboration). We have a “wiki” at Supreme where we have uploaded all our documents in one central location and this can be accessed by any of our staff over the internet (no more asking Jo in accounts to fax through an order form or calling Sarah in R&D to send through prototypes) because you can access whatever information you need online yourself! This is a great application for many of you who are “information reliant” – think about how much time you spend looking for the right information? Now think about the amount of time you will save if you could access this information from one location?
2. Blogs, podcasts, video casts, peer to peer
These technologies offer you a way to communicate information with broad sets of individuals (users, customers, the world!). Use your Blogs to build a closer relationship with your clients; announce special offers, new developments etc. You can get your own Blog at www.blogger.com or www.wordpress.org.
3. Social Networking
Twitter
Use Twitter to create a subscriber base to market to and/or to get contacts. Create your profile at www.twitter.com and find “Twits” to follow. The beauty of Twitter is once you “follow” someone it is common Twitter etiquette that they give you a “follow” back. So it is always better to kick off the process yourself. You can use Twitter to advertise a new product or service; drive traffic to your website with little teasers plus it is a great way to network. If you want your first follow – checkout our profile at Twitter.com. It is simply @SupremeIT. I promise to give you a follow back
Twitter can also help you make contacts. If you know a company you have been trying to work with why not try finding their @Twitter ID, follow their Twits, get to know the “Twitterer” behind the twits and you will find they could be a great source of information (who to contact pertaining to your enquiry etc)
FaceBook
Once the playground of the young is fast becoming a forum to do business. Again like Twitter you need to create a profile (pretty self explanatory) load pictures, company details etc and presto! Like Twitter you need to go out and connect with other users. Use FaceBook to grow your subscriber base, drive traffic to your website, submit press releases etc. Other similar social networking sites include LinkedIn www.linkedin.com (Cool); Ecademy – www.ecademy.com (Networkers Paradise); MySpace – www.myspace.com (so last year..) and YouTube www.youtube.com.
The list goes on and the applications are endless. I am a still a novice to the Web 2.0 arena so I am still discovering new and exciting applications for it. So let me know if you have any questions or ideas and we can investigate together.
Well I hope you enjoyed this instalment of the monthly CRM newsletter – until next time!
Angie
