Joining the Web 2.0 Bandwagon - For Non Internet Companies
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In the early days, simply getting people to post about you on forums guaranteed an online following. Forums and message boards have since grown more numerous. But this was mostly for web sites. What do companies such as Federal Express or Toyota do to let users contribute to their content, or to tap into the web 2.0 bandwagon?
For companies which are predominantly off line, but simply use the Internet as a marketing tool, an excellent model for customer engagement is GM's Saturn, which has made a pretty boring compact become a hit for all age ranges and demographics, simply by letting the users get together and rave about the product (this was predominantly offline). BMW has also started generating a lot of buzz online by the amount of publicity generated offline by them building "controversial" looking cars. Now there are whole sites dedicated to BMW bashing, where owners and aficionados go live and air their opinions.
Movies, music, and other product sites allow their users to review their products. By avoiding self service and by not censoring bad reviews, companies which simply use the Internet as a promotional avenue (record labels, book publishers) have allowed online cyberbuzz to connect with offline buzz. An excellent illustration is the controversy which surrounded the choice of Daniel Craig as "James Bond" in Casino Royale. A lot of "negative" cyberbuzz was generated, however it actually increased the amount of attention which was given to the movie.
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