Web 2.0 Marketing and what it can do for you?

The arrival of Web 2.0 has transformed the online marketing landscape dramatically. Small and medium sized businesses can now compete on a level playing field with industry giants like Unilever or websites such as MySpace.

With Web 2.0 you can market your products on social networking sites and blogs at very little cost, while the new technology also allows you to monitor customer trends and measure results. Want to find out how well your content is received? Social media can give you near real-time feedback.

One of the oldest and most traditional methods of Web 2.0 marketing is targeted advertising on search engines. With this method you can have your ad listed on the search results page or appear within an article on a subject related to your product. These are generally paid for per click, but you can be guaranteed each click will bring a new visit to your site.

A much more recent phenomenon is the use of social networking websites to market products. This method is used by everyone from one man operations to multi-national corporations. A page on MySpace or FaceBook can boost the popularity of your product, but be sure to keep the content fresh and updated. Also, you will generally have a young audience here so the content should reflect this.

Blogs offer similar opportunities for Web 2.0 marketing. This is an inexpensive way to subtly market your product or service on the web. However, good content that is updated regularly is essential. Just talking about your products will drive visitors away. Your blog entries will have to be interesting, informative and well written.

If you feel you have the resources and talents in your organization to make interesting audio snippets, you could try podcasting. Again, you will need to provide something that listeners will want to hear, while promoting your product. For example, if you sell cars or car parts you could produce a podcast on car care tips.

Ideally, you'll want to get news and references to your business out there in as many ways as possible. Web 2.0 allows you to send news and press releases direct to the consumer. For example you could offer a RSS feed on your website, or submit search engine optimized press releases to online news sites.

The real attractiveness of Web 2.0 marketing is that it can be cheap. Not all of the options described above might be suitable to market your business, but a simple blog or MySpace page will cost you very little.

Not having a clear cut definition for Web 2.0 does not signify unimportance. With the speed at which ideas are created, thrown out, and modified, it's too easy to stand by and wait for "proof" of Web 2.0's effectiveness. Now is not the time to debate semantics. Now is the time to incorporate Web 2.0's tools into your marketing strategy.

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