The Future Buzz

There is so much talk and interest in companies wanting to create buzz in the blogosphere and social web and embrace the latest tools and services for marketing value. But, the organizations who embrace these tools fully, as more than purely 1-way marketing initiatives are the ones who are really benefiting. Their customers are benefiting too.

Some forward-thinking companies are setting up corporate Twitter accounts to respond quickly to their customers and embrace the way people are using communications tools. This is more than merely creating a MySpace page for their product; this is embracing the social web in a way that is mutually beneficial for company and customer. It’s forging a deep and personal connection. And, they are receiving positive PR as an ancillary benefit.

While Twitter is a service that most “normal” people haven’t even heard of yet (I say “normal” because most of us here are the early adopters), it still shows that there are corporate companies going beyond embracing the latest services as purely PR and marketing tools, but as ways to connect directly with customers.

Matt Dickman’s post on Twitter: the ultimate customer service tool goes into this further.

Now, this is just one example using one service. There are so many different new tools and web services out there, you have to find the one that makes sense for your customers, or even create it yourself. Companies sincerely looking to develop deeper interactions on the web with their customers should work to create useful, creative and ultimately exciting solutions. There’s too much going on online for it not to be all of these things.

Different services and different methods make sense for different industries specifically, but everyone who is interested and passionate has room to succeed. You do need to go in fully and embrace the effort completely, or you probably shouldn’t do it at all. A half effort here will not work.

If you’re a company who is looking to the web purely as a 1-way marketing vehicle and a way to build superficial buzz, you’re missing out. It’s so much more than that. It’s a way to build your brand and reputation.