Web 2.0 and the Recession

How are some Boston Marketing Firms, Boston Public Relations Firms, and Boston Interactive Agencies continually thriving despite the recession? Web 2.0! These companies are not only surviving, but also growing through the use of Web 2.0 tools, such as social networking sites and blogs, to their full potential. Why Web 2.0 tools? They’re cheap, transparent, easy, fun and some of the best ways to reach audiences.

Web 2.0 expert firms use LinkenIn and Twitter as a means to draw in and connect with customers. LinkenIn is a key piece of the puzzle for these companies as well. Web 2.0 companies track competition’s hiring and get involved in the question and answer forums. They gain friends and exposure by giving good information.

Twitter is a valid suggestion for outreach for companies attempting to avoid the effects of the recession. Boston Marketing Firms are using Twitter to stay connected with clients, potential customers and employees. Some firms offer special discounts to people who respond to tweets. They give followers valuable information that invites responses and brings them back for more. Internally, employees are learning about each others interests and building stronger relationships. Companies that use Twitter are seeing positive results internally and externally.

Blogs continue to be popular resources for businesses to connect with audiences. These companies, that use Web 2.0 to fight the effects of the recession, create and maintain blogs. This allows them to develop and continue positive customer relations, as well as bring in new customers. Their blogs offer information customers want and platforms for discussion. Blogs also enhance search engine optimization resulting in more exposure for the company.

Web 2.0 tools are saving these companies from feeling the effects of the recession because the tools allow companies to stay connected, to remain involved with customers, to be aware of the competition and to build employee relations all at a low cost. Help your company survive by consulting new media specialists.

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking is a great tool that allows Boston Interactive Agencies and also Boston Public Relations Agencies to research, share, store and organize bookmarks of your favorite web pages. You can add your bookmarks from any computer not just your own. Instead of using a browser-based method of folders as is common with personal computer bookmarks, you use personalized tags for public computers.

Bookmarking sites measure how reputable a website is compared to other sites submitted to a particular system. Therefore, you can find and visit favorites that others previously submitted. It is also much easier to learn new interesting ideas with social bookmarking sites than by other traditional methods. This occurs because everything on these sites was someone’s favorite and each person has already done the work of finding their particular favorites. As a result, you just have to look at what others have marked under favorites. An example of a social bookmarking website is Tizags

Social bookmarking is important for many reasons. One such reason is that it makes it much easier for you to share your favorite web sites with family, friends, coworkers or anyone else. It is especially important if a specific group collects and shares bookmarks beneficial to that group. No matter what you use bookmarking for, it can save a lot of valuable time and effort among friends, family and coworkers.

This tool is also great for Boston Search Engine Optimization Firms because if your web site is on a particular site’s front page, this will automatically increase your traffic. As a result, social bookmarking increases the amount of links to your website, which automatically makes your site more popular, and therefore, increases your page rank. Combining social bookmarking and Search Engine Optimization can help market your company or product better through new media channels.

451Heat blog

This week 451 Marketing made their new blog 451Heat live. There is some great information up there, check it out: www.451heat.com

For All You New Media Fans..

I saw AJ of 451 Marketing give an amazing presentation about new media and web 2.0 last night. You should all definitely check it out.. there is some great information!

http://www.slideshare.net/guestd8c007/acgboston-presentation-706075/

MA Selects 451 Marketing to Promote Statewide Economic Development

451 Marketing was recently hired by The State of Massachusetts Office of Business Development to run an integrated campaign (including: television, print, radio, and event marketing) that will position the state as the premier location for businesses to move to or within the state. Here is the original release.

Google Does More than Just Search

If one were to ask what Google is, the answer more likely than not would be: “easy, it’s a search engine”. While that answer would not be incorrect, it is however, incomplete. Google offers many other services to individuals as well as Boston Interactive Agencies, much like the one I work at.

There are many products besides search that Google offers, some of which I never knew about, others that I had simply forgotten about. One of the more interesting is called Gapminder. Gapminder is a great product for those who enjoy finding statistics from all over the world. Graphs can be made, and statistics can be gathered from just about any topic of your choice.

Another great product that Google offers is Google Mobilizer which manages websites and configures them so they are mobile phone friendly. While the average Google user may not be very interested in this application, it can be very useful to Boston Interactive Agencies, and also Boston Web Design Agencies.

Another personal favorite is Google Ride Finder, which users the real time position of taxis, limousines, and shuttle services in major cities and tracks where they are via Google Maps, making for a fast and easy way to get where you need to go.

In today’s fast paced, get anything you want in an instant world, Google is making it easier and more interesting for internet users to receive and share information in continuously new and innovative ways.

Great Blog I Found

Just wanted to pass along this great blog I found... He talks about some great new media topics.
http://gerritson.blogspot.com/

Search Engine Optimization and Marketing

I had mentioned Search Engine Optimization and also Search Engine Marketing and how Boston Interactive Agencies are using them in my last post, so I thought today I would talk a little more about the SEO and SEM.

We know that Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a website from search engines via natural search results. Search Engine Marketing essentially means the same thing; increasing the visibility of a website in search engines.

The key function of SEM and SEO is to generate the most traffic from search engines by using certain keywords. Search Engine Marketing Agencies use particular keywords that correspond with their clients company and products as a means of generating this traffic. The more a key word is used by internet surfers, the higher up the website advanced on the search engine list rankings; almost guaranteeing additional traffic to that site.

With the millions of websites on the internet, Search Engine Marketing is a proven and effective tool being used by Boston Marketing Agencies, and also Boston Public Relations Firms, to generate traffic and visibility to a website.

Google Rankings

It’s no secret any more that the attention span of the average human is far less than it used to be. We want our information reliable, but more importantly we want it fast. Google has to be the most widely used search engine among internet users, and when you want to find information nothing can find it faster. Chances are once you hit that search button, you’re going to click on whatever comes up first (maybe second, third of fourth, but definitely something that is ranked high). No one is going to take the time to leaf though hundreds of pages of search results, they’re going to click on whatever comes up first. Why? Because a) if it’s at the top of the search result it appears far more reliable and pertinent and b) its quicker.

This is why it is absolutely essential for businesses to realize the importance of Google rankings. The logic is simple; if your site is high on the list, traffic on your site will increase, which means that business/sales will increase as well. The practice of this is known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and is done by very few Boston Marketing Agencies. It is basically a new form of Public Relations that has emerged due to the rising popularity and usability of search engines. It is an extremely effective marketing tool that generates results.

Online Video Marketing

I’ve discussed how the worlds of marketing and public relations are in the process of moving online, and thought today I’d talk a little bit about how that is happening.

One of the best tools Web 2.0 has given to Boston Marketing Agencies is that of Online Videos. YouTube, founded in 2005, has completely changed the web and the way people search for information when it evolved into essentially its own search engine. Today, YouTube is all over the place thanks to the popularity of video posting and sharing.

Online Video Marketing has an enormous impact on people; just to give you an idea…
- By May of 2008 over 11.5 bullion videos were viewed
- 74% of the total US internet audience said they view videos online
- YouTube had over 85 billion viewers

The statistics continue, but you get the idea. Online Video Marketing is powerful, and there is huge opportunity here for Boston Interactive Agencies and also Boston Marketing Firms to take advantage of. Online videos serve as a great way to drive traffic to your site, create brand awareness and recognition, and boost sales. In addition to these great benefits, if anything, using Online Video Marketing is a phenomenal way to differentiate yourself from your competition, and is something I would highly recommend to any marketing campaign that wants to compete successfully in today’s market.

Online Branding

With well over 200 million internet users, it is imperative to have not only a functioning website, but one that is creative and unique. Boston Branding Agencies are now having to switch their focus to developing on-line brand campaigns, as it has come to the realization of everyone that the world is shifting to one that is, for all intensive purposes, “online”.

Competition in this day and age is fierce, especially competition online. Only companies with a creative and powerful online brand presence will be sustainable. The most important thing to keep in mind is to make sure your website is unique. Coming from a Boston Web Design Agency, I’ve learned that the more unique a website is, the more customers will be drawn to it, the higher the traffic volume, and ultimately the higher the return.

By having a creative and unique Online Branding technique, the likelihood that a customer will get to your website, and stay there long enough to buy your product or service increases drastically. Most importantly, having an innovative and updated website will help to reduce the risk of your company becoming obsolete in today’s constantly changing market.

There are over 217 million internet users in the US alone, a number which continues to grow exponentially. With that said, having a creative website is absolutely necessary in today’s world. There are many Boston Branding Agencies out there, and using one to help develop your company’s brand could be extremely advantageous to your company’s future sustainability.

Blogging

Blogs are one of the most useful tools of PR 2.0 for Boston Public Relations Firms, Boston Advertising Agencies, and Boston Digital Agencies because they allow anyone to write about any topic they desire. Companies are starting to set up blogs to share their viewpoint on the industry they are in, what is going on in that industry, and also to keep the industry updated on what it is they are currently doing. They could be used to discuss a product or service, or to talk about industry news. Since anyone can start a blog there are no middlemen involved, which allows companies to reach their targeted audiences with greater ease than traditional PR methods. Public Relations professionals today read and check blogs daily to find out what is going on in the various industries in which they have clients. Because blogs are published to the internet, their reach spans globally, and as a result, they have become a powerful Public Relations tool.

Multimedia, another Public Relations 2.0 technique, is similar to blogs in terms of its wide reach. Multimedia combines traditional PR tactics of print, visual, and audio with the internet and all its new media applications to create viral videos on websites such as YouTube.

These are just a couple examples of the tremendous opportunity that has been created by PR 2.0, and the new and exciting forms of communication that have developed as a result.

PR 2.0

In accordance with the ever-changing world, the world of public relations evolves as well. Public Relations 2.0 is changing the way the public relates to a business and vice versa. Multimedia, blogs, and social networking make the practice of public relations quicker and more effective. Since PR 2.0 is the future of public relations as we know it, Boston Public Relations Firms that are able to specialize in PR 2.0 as a means to achieve the main goal of keeping the customer satisfied, will be far ahead those companies that choose to stick with the more traditional methods of PR.

When you have something to say to the world, it is nearly impossible for it not to get heard by at least someone. With the rise of new PR 2.0 technology, it is becoming easier than ever for companies to tune into what their potential market it saying. It is putting the conversation back into the practice of public relations, and is therefore allowing Boston Public Relations Firms to have a better understanding of what their clients want, and also how to reach them. As well as being a great way to communicate to potential customers, Public Relations 2.0 will make the job easier by taking out the guess work in how people will react, simply by reading what people want from you on blogs, social networking sites, etc…

The implications of PR 2.0 are huge, and extremely beneficial to any business if adapted and implemented effectively. If you haven’t already tapped into the social media available to PR firms on the web already, I would highly suggest you get on board.

The Future of PR

The Public Relations Agency I work for in Boston started to embrace the change from traditional PR to PR 2.0 quite a while ago, so I thought I would start this blog to share some of my thoughts, and what I have learned about the change a long the way.

There was a very interesting article in Time Magazine a while back that talk about the importance of Web 2.0 to the future of Public Relations Firms. With the drastic increase of internet users worldwide, the internet has become a huge factor in regards to a company's success. In Boston, there are some firms that plan to continue the use of more traditional forms of PR, however there are a few Boston PR 2.0 and Boston SEO/PR firms, that have recognized the magnitude of this shift in the industry. These Boston Interactive Marketing Firms are implementing new forms of marketing, public relations, and advertising that are proving to be more effective and beneficial to their clients. With a continuously evolving world, a more technology savvy market, and more innovative ways of connecting to that market, the future of first rate Boston Public Relations Firms is a future of incorporating Web 2.0.