I've just created a new Blog Carnival today with a very tight deadline for the first edition. The 2.0 (as in Web) for Business carnival focusses on all things social media - blogging, wikis, podcasting, vodcasting, myspace, linkedin, ecademy, youtube - and why it's important for businesses to get involved with it? The first edition addresses a specific issue which comes following a conversation with a friend (we'll call him Tom) who works in a web dev co. This is his conundrum:
"We are a technical web consultancy. We deliver business-driven web solutions to SMEs across the UK. Increasingly our clients are asking us about Web 2.0. They're worried. Some of them want to 'upgrade'. They are affected by the considerable hype and don't want to get left behind. We tell them that Web 2.0 represents an evolution not a revolution and that many of the incumbent technologies and societal paradigms have been around a long time, but are only recently finding widespread traction.
Specifically we puzzle over business blogging and podcasts. 'Every brand needs a community' - that's what they hear but can't connect to. Most of our clients do not have a 'message' or a 'story'. They are not innovation businesses or around any cutting edge. They are simple B2B organisations who sell profitable but not ground-breaking products and services often within a largely low-visibility supply chain. Often they cannot see an enthusiastic community growing around their product (coin counters, door frames, car dealerships...). Even if this was possible they see business blogging as a time-consuming and expensive luxury that is hard to justify against their other business commitments.
We want to provide thought leadership for our clients: should we try to overcome these objections, and if so show might we achieve this?"
How would you answer Tom? What can he tell his clients?
There are 5 ways to join in this conversation:
1. If you have a relevant post already written, then please feel free to submit it to the carnival.
2. Write a fresh one and submit it.
3. Comment here by clicking on the 'comments' link at the foot of this post.
4. Leave an audio comment via the Audio Comment Box over there in the right hand margin.
5. Email me an audio response (mp3) which I can use in a podcast on the same subject.
