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Effective Business Communications in the Web 2.0 Era

On Friday 5 November, within the framework of a series of lectures about Online Corporate Communication at the Carlos III University of Madrid, Adolfo Corum pointed out that the emergence of the Web 2.0 has brought the biggest business management turning point in the last 30 years. Driven by a brand new technological era for corporate communications, companies have had to readapt marketing strategies in order to connect properly with their stakeholders. What has happened for such interfering in business management matters?

The Cluetrain Manifesto, on which a new socioeconomic theory is based, perfectly answers this question: Markets are Conversations. They have always been, indeed. But now more than ever, companies have many ways to set these conversations up thanks to the social web revolution: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, for instance. Nevertheless, in this scenario many companies may be highly tempted by using these online tools only because the novelty itself, without thinking how can they help to establish effective and profitable business communications.

After that, what are the keys to achieve winning and useful online talks? Following and developing the ideas of John Jantsch within his Universal Business Strategy, every business is a marketing business and, to some degree, every business is a communication business. This premise assumes that management strategy should pay attention to the following communication-related variables before implement any online communication and social media action:

• Content: It includes the development not only of products and services, but also of highly valuable contents, such as information, concepts and even feelings associated with the brand.
• Contact: It refers to the channels and tools needed to efficiently spread that content and listen to your audience.
• Community: Sharing contents and contacts with customers, suppliers, or employees, become your communications into a community, who works actively to improve together.
• Context: The environment and others internal conditions that influence all these communications.

According to the four variables above, effective business communication in the web 2.0 era involves designing value contents, defining suitable online tools to spread them and listening carefully what your stakeholders are saying on the Internet about your company. Having engaged your audience in your online community, your business would increase its profits.