Kinesis marketing and design blog

Recently, a study was released by Bredin Business Information titled “Small/Medium Businesses Don’t Yet See the Value of Web 2.0.” The study asked more than 300 U.S. based small and medium businesses (SMBs) to assess the importance of various Web 2.0 formats. Respondents were evenly split among very small businesses (1-19 employees), small businesses (20-99 employees) and medium businesses (100-500 employees).Here are some of the results:

“Only 14% expect that blogs will be very or extremely important, with similar ratings coming in for wikis (21%), social networking sites (22%) and webcasts (31%).

At the same time, more traditional methods of delivering resource information ranked high, with 49% rating email newsletters as very or extremely valuable over the next five years, and 46% giving that ranking to interactive tools such as quizzes or calculators.”

It looks like SMBs are slow to embrace the new stuff – of course this absolutely doesn’t apply to Kinesis clients (-: . The same stuff that marketing professionals are shouting at them to use. Why? Because these marketing techniques are effective and people are increasingly using them as primary sources of information.

Brent Levy of Seeds of Growth makes an excellent point regarding SMBs taking their marketing cues from the big companies. He writes:

“So they look to see if the big guys are using social media, social networks, blogging and other things. And they look for how they are using it. So it really shouldn’t come as a huge surprise why SMBs are perched comfortably atop the fence. Until recently many big time tech companies really didn’t get Web 2.0. Some have been slow to use it themselves while others misused these tools to deliver traditional marketing messages.”

The Internet certainly isn’t about delivering the same old boring marketing messages. It’s about building solid relationships and exploring topics together and engaging people. In our opinion, Web 2.0 is really about building community.

For the SMBs that are not beginning to look at the new technologies to build relationships with your target audiences, it’s crucial to jump on the Web 2.0 bus in order to thrive,or we’re afraid your company will simply wither away and die.

Why do we say such an extreme statement? Well, let’s take a look at what is actually happening on the Internet. Let’s examine what your prospects and customers are doing right now online (especially your up and coming customers and your new talent).

Keep in mind, individuals who are under 30 have grown up with these technologies. They use the Web 2.0 formats to research and find out information about purchases they are considering. According to the most recent Pew Internet study, 87% of this age group (18-29) use the Internet and the 30-49 year-old folks are right behind them at 83%.

Now…are you ready to harness the power of the Internet!

Some of you are not convinced quite yet? Ok, then let’s look at some more key Pew Internet findings. Owners and marketers of SMBs, pay attention!

Fifty-seven percent of online adults have used the internet to watch or download video. More than half of online video viewers (57%) share links to the video they find with others, and three in four (75%) say they receive links to watch video that others have sent to them.

More than a third of American adult internet users (36%) consult the citizen-generated online encyclopedia Wikipedia. And 50% of Americans with a college degree consult Wikipedia.

More than a quarter (28%) of internet users have tagged or categorized content online such as photos, news stories or blog posts on sites such as Del.icio.us, Flickr, YouTube.com, and Technorati.com.

Just over half of American adult internet users (51%) have taken virtual tours of another location online. That translates to about 72 million people who have taken advantage of the internet to explore other areas.
More than a third (39%) of Internet users read someone else’s online journal, web log or blog.

From Audio/Video News: Seventy-two percent of online adults in the U.S. are using their home computers to listen to audio content, according to a new study by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

So, what do you think about the disparity between SMBs and Web 2.0?

Ready to up your Internet game? Contact Kinesis to design your website. We will create a customized web design and set up your programming. We are also masters at designing Internet marketing strategies. We get it going for you, and you watch your new business opportunities roll on in!!!

Give us a call at 541-482-3600 for a free initial consultation. And of course, you can always visit our Kinesis website for more designs.