I'm a huge believer in social-media and this next great wave of "Web 2.0" innovation, but I'm also getting nervous about the hype. Maybe I'm just seeing too many cover-stories at the same time. This is why I penned a column this morning entitled "Back to the Future: Bold, Timeless Truths from Web 1.0.", which attempts to ground much of our thinking today in stable set of marketing fundamentals going as far back to the late 1990s. I write:
"...after rummaging through an old box of articles, conference trinkets, and memos from my late 1990s stint as co-leader of Procter & Gamble's early interactive efforts, I'm convinced the core fundamentals were in place before we even heard the term "Web 2.0." I raise this question not to pooh-pooh the current Web 2.0 exuberance but to ground it in a more stable set of fundamentals. As marketers, and certainly at the CMO level, we have a deeply rooted penchant for preaching the new while funding the old.
Among the core "1.0" tenets cited: (1) The web is a focus group of unlimited conversation, (2) Digital is the most measurable medium, (3) Content is king, (4) Brand websites nurture trust and conversation, (5) Deeper engagement matters: advertise that URL, (6) Time to shift from branding to bonding, (7) Behold the "Network Effect," and (8) Influencers Matter. Again, here's the link. For deeper perspective on my point about the value of brand websites, please see the following excellent post by Laurent Flores. Welcome your feedback!
Great article and I can not agree more with Pete specifically on the importance of getting back to basics about the importance of the brand website to "nurture trust and conversation"...
This is what I believed in 6 years ago when I started crmmetrix, setting up SiteCRM to measure and value brand websites, beyond marketing channel, the brand website is a marketing hub where eventually all media converge...and where all engaged consumers go ... For example, the average Net Promoter Score when consumers leave brand websites is the double of the median that Fred Reichheld found in initial its benchmark study on NPS... clearly brand websites drive engagement and nourish Word of Mouth...So about time for marketers to care more about their brand websites!
Thanks Pete, the more we push, the more the message will ge through..I hope...
Best, Laurent
Posted by: Laurent Flores - crmmetrix | July 11, 2006 at 08:45 AM
Amen Pete. I just posted the top ten phrases I find myself repeaating over and over. Lots of synergy with this post.
Posted by: deborah schultz | July 12, 2006 at 12:31 PM
Pete,
Read you article "Back to the Web 1.0 Future?" with great interest. I am going to answer your question with a question.
Did you read DIGITAL MAOISM: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism, By Jaron Lanier (http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/lanier06/lanier06_index.html )? It's about a month old but truly a seminal piece.
See... I see this whole blog/PR push and hype as more than Web 1.0 or marketing communications. We are witnessing a political phenomenon! How society manages its voice, or doesn't. I think the tone of yesterday's Dell episode totally underscores the problem.
Here's a quote from Digital Maoism: "The hive mind is for the most part stupid and boring. The problem is in the way the Wikipedia has come to be regarded and used; how it's been elevated to such importance so quickly. And that is part of the larger pattern of the appeal of a new online collectivism that is nothing less than a resurgence of the idea that the collective is all-wise, that it is desirable to have influence concentrated in a bottleneck that can channel the collective with the most verity and force. This is different from representative democracy, or meritocracy. This idea has had dreadful consequences when thrust upon us from the extreme Right or the extreme Left in various historical periods. The fact that it's now being re-introduced today by prominent technologists and futurists, people who in many cases I know and like, doesn't make it any less dangerous."
Anyway, that's my take on the whole Me2Revolution stuff. I'd love your thoughts when you have a chance.
Kind regards,
Amanda Chapel
Managing Editor
Strumpette
Posted by: Amanda Chapel | July 13, 2006 at 07:35 AM
Agree bro!
Fundamentals saved Intelliseek. It is no different here.
Posted by: Jay Stockwell | July 15, 2006 at 05:31 PM