Abstract
Companies and organizations have turned to online marketing and advertising using web 2.0 technologies in order to capture the greater market that has now turned online. Web 2.0 can be summarized as a technology that uses new connections to expand its presence online. From the research which has been conducted , marketing and advertising using web 2.0 technologies has become an alternative to many organizations and companies due to its cost effectiveness and efficiency to reach the targeted market in a nick of time. This paper tries to analyses the effects of marketing and advertising using web 2.0 and its general impact to both consumers and the production companies.
Introduction
We are living in the era of digital world which is characterized by increased availability of internet enabling greater number of consumers going online spending most of their time on social sites like twitter, face book, YouTube among others. Due to this enormous use of internet, every business is rushing online in order to tab the marketing potential that this social media and web 2.0 sites have (Scott, 2010).
Darcy DiNucci in the year 1999 started this web 2.0 term. By definition Web 2.0 technologies are those web applications that provide the user with interactive information sharing, user-centered design and collaboration through the World Wide Web (WWW).They also enables users to interact with one another, be able to modify the contest of the websites, create and own data thus encouraging users to add value to applications as they use it as compared to other websites which are passive and static. This evolution of the web from passive and static nature to a platform that is user friendly has enabled the global user with abundant information and the businesses to embrace it as a discovery platform. Many businesses look into it as untapped gold vein. This has resulted into effective and affordable programs which provide the companies with greater marketing and advertising potential (Weber, 2009).
Web based communities, social sites like twitter and face book, blogs, wikis, and other web applications employ web 2.0 technology.
Advantages of marketing and advertising in web 2.0
Web 2.0 provide user with freedom, openness, greater user participation and experience, collective intelligence and dynamic content on the World Wide Web. Thus the consumers feel free to communicate and obtain the relevant information of the products they want.
Advertising using web 2.0 social networking sites provides the required crossness between the company and the customers by their ability to move beyond targeted messages to real conversations. This one to one marketing strategy enables the business to design messages which are targeting individuals online thus making it easier to know what the clients think of your products and company (Tuten, 2008).
Increased frequency of social contacts can help the business to improve the dynamics with its clients since social networks enable the community to expand dynamically and hence extending the reach of the company indefinitely. Joining local business communities helps to reach to the local users while joining bigger communities will increase your visibility beyond some geographical boundaries. In fact social sites are considered as viral in nature due to their extendibility and acts as a way through which you delegate your duty of marketing and advertising to your customers as they tell others about the products, free offers and discounts available (Weber, 2009).
Use of web 2.0 sites and other social networking provides the businesses with command over the image and style they create and bring much information to both the business and the clients as compared with traditional methods of advertising and marketing.
The greatest benefit of web 2.0 is its cost free nature. It saves you from the extra costs incurred during advertising campaigns and provides you with the effect the advertisements had while you are in the office. This you can achieve them right in your office. Web 2.0 is the way forward for smaller businesses which have limited funding to advertise their products (Scott, 2010).
Web 2.0 sites may enable you to reach your target audience and also your target audience doesn’t have to haunt you. This saves time, effort and money spent from advertising to wrong target audience. Social network has broken down the brand identity which was built by campaign driven advertisement neutralizing the market for smaller business to compete with giant ones (Tuten, 2008).
The ability of Web 2.0 to provide different contents to different users depending on the locality by enabling the users with the choice to select their locality, has helped the users with relevant information that suite them in order to enable the clients make informed decision before purchasing the products this method is called geo marketing (Weber, 2009).
Finally, the web 2.0 sites are convenient since you can work any time of the day and from anywhere you maybe as long as you are provided with internet connection.
Disadvantages of marketing and advertising using web 2.0
As much as we have dealt on the advantages of web 2.0 in marketing and advertising it however it has its own downfalls. Web 2.0 has are venerable to vandalism as many people have the capability to own and control data that is on the web 2.0 site. A person can intentionally damage or destroy the contents of the website including impersonation of other websites which can lead to distorted information which has raised questions on the credibility of information that is available on the sites (Scott, 2010).
Web 2.0 requires newer technologies prompting the clients to have them in order to view the sites as compared with traditional marketing and advertising methods. Low speed internet connection is another hindrance which prevents the clients from accessing large and complicated websites (Tuten, 2008).
Web 2.0 sites have the general inability of clients to smell, physically feel the products and test them before making online purchasing this inability has really hindered many people from going online due to the unreal nature of the advertisements and hence it becomes difficult for new brands to find their way in web 2.0 markets (Scott, 2010).
Security concerns are also another issue as customers don’t feel save while purchasing online as some of their information may fall into wrong hands recently many companies have been caught selling their customers information to other companies. Another security issue is to the clients will receive exactly what they have purchased although online merchants have tried to address this issue by building strong brands like Amazon and leveraging systems of feedback still it remain an issue to many (Weber, 2009).
Finally marketing and advertising through web 2.0 sites is time consuming as it is based on relationship marketing strategy. It needs a lot of time to develop many relationships online which takes patience and greater efforts.
Conclusion
Even though web 2.0 has gained greater popularity than many advertising and marketing tools, it still has many disadvantages that need to be sorted out in order to achieve its effectiveness. Advertisement and marketing cannot solely rely on the web 2.0 technologies. There is the need to incorporate other traditional methods of marketing in order for the business to achieve its goal.
References
Scott, D. M. (2010).The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly, 2nd Edition. Hoboken: NJ.Wiley.
Tuten, T. L. (2008). Advertising 2.0: Social Media Marketing in a Web 2.0 Worlds. Westport:Conn. Praeger.
Weber, L. (2009).Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business. Hoboken: NJ.John Wiley & Sons.