If-you-build-it…Think before you Web 2.0.
Over on Marketing Profs, Val Fox had a recent post that’s well worth reading - especially if you’re involved in any sort of Web 2.0 effort. And, of course, if you’re a living, breathing marketing professional you are probably are considering your Web 2.0 options; or you’re in the planning stages; or you’re already done something about it…
Val makes an exceedingly valuable point in her article by asking an exceedingly valuable question: have you bothered to ask your customers whether they want or need you to blog, wiki, whatever. If you build it, will they actually come and use it? Or will this be yet another of those initiatives that starts with the bang of good intentions and ends with the whimper of ‘why’d we bother?’
Lately, I’m finding that my clients are particularly interested in blogs, and asking should they or shouldn’t they.
The counsel I’ve been offering them is to remember that blogging isn’t a one-short deal like rewriting the home page or adding a micro-site. It’s a commitment to provide relevant, interesting content on a regular basis. If they don’t have folks who will be assigned the task of creating said content, if they don’t think they’ve got enough ideas for said content, I’ve been advising that they don’t bother. The analogy I use is the monthly/quarterly news letter of yore. Great idea, at least for the first one. Maybe even for the second one. Then you’re into the dread zone; agonizing over what you’re going to write about, and who’s going to write it. So it is with a lot of blogs.
So instead of blogging on their own, I’ve recommended to most clients that they find sites of interest and contribute with comments, guest posts, wiki entries, etc. You get some exposure, but you’re not signing up for life.
But I hadn’t thought to do what Val recommends, which is to ask “the question that’s rarely asked:”
For all the buzz about blogs, wikis, widgets, and other forms of user-driven Web interactions, the question that’s rarely asked is, “Is this what our customers want?”
She then goes on to cite a recent survey she did for one of her clients, in which she asked that question of its Web site users.
The answer: only 10% actually wanted social applications.
The majority wanted the company to improve its site’s core navigation and search functionality.
Gulp!
By asking a few simple questions up front, this company saved itself some effort, expense, and agita.
We should all keep this in mind. And whatever stage you’re in with your Web 2.0 initiatives: read Val first.
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I enjoyed your post. Far too often we build things from the inside out verse the market in. I agree to ask your customers but also ask your market. Your customers really only represent about 20% of the market. The vast majority of the market is potential customers. They are the ones who can benefit from your product or service but are not shopping.
Asking the market, and finding the unresolved problems they have, and speaking to those issues with content will be one of the most valuable indicatives you can take.
Mark Allen Roberts
But… I think you need to be a little skeptical of answers to research questions about whether people want social apps. The interesting thing is that they use them and get value from them far more often than they say they want them. This is partly because they often have varying definitions of what a social application is; they often read blogs without thinking they’re reading blogs; and so on.
That said your advice about starting by participating, rather than creating, is spot on.