Importance of Web 2.0 for non Web 2.0 Startups

All of us know that with the advent of community driven websites like Wikipedia,Facebook, Orkut etc ; Web 2.0 has become an integral part of any initiative.

But the question is “Can we try to implement the same COMMUNITY DRIVEN model in typical organizations”.It would always be very difficult since it is always difficult to break the jinx such organizations .

And a single word that can define a community is “Web 2.0” But many times, startups especially not dealing in the web space forget to use the potential of Web2.0. Let us on how such startups can use the potential of web 2.0 to increase their business and Brand image !!!

RSS Readers [Time Saved is money saved] :
In a startup,along with the day to day activities, it is also very important to read a lot of stuff about things happening in the market so that we are aware about the competition.I have encountered many people who are not comfortable with RSS Readers or not aware about the same [since they concentrate more on technology they have been working with] and spend time on Websites/Blogs searching for content, which can be easily searched using RSS Reader You can also check out an article where Robert Scoble shows his way of reading 622 feeds every morning“

Twitter [A NICHE recruitment platform ???] :
Though I am not a big Twitter freak but one day, this thought crossed my mind that just like guys use Twitter to increase the traffic on their blogs, can’t it not be used as a source of recruitment? For example , I am connected to X people on twitter and those X people are connected to Y people , which are connected to N people …… and so on the chain keeps on growing.In a startup, where you cannot afford to spend time searching for candidates on job-sites nor can you afford to spend money to hire guys through consultants, Twitter can be used as one of the mediums to at least spread the word about an opening in your company[just like social networking sites like Orkut] and may be one day you may find one guy saying “I got a job through Twitter”

Slideshare [Slides can make a difference !!!!] :
Startups have to be innovative in recruiting people and what best can you do if you could “convince a person to join your startup in just 5-10 slides” For more information on the same, you can refer my article here.Piyush Gupta,Cofounder of RouteGuru also has an interesting slideshow covering his startup here

Youtube [Viral Marketing and Recruitment platform] :
Youtube is not new to any one of us and all of us know, organizations especially startups use YouTube as a tool for Viral Marketing.To show the innovative culture in your startup, you can just upload a video[showcasing your startup] on YouTube and link it on your blog & definitely, you would get better job candidates using Youtube than the most prominent jobs-sites !!!

Check out this interesting video on Gmail !!!

Blogging & Podcasting [Effective marketing platform] :
As a startup, you should have always have an active blog!!! Even the employees should be allowed to contribute to the blog so that “They can also feel that they also own a PIE of the company and get a sense of ownership of the startup” Not to forget , this would also demonstrate “The openness in your culture” !!! And yes, if you are not comfortable with text, than audio/video Podcasting can also be a tool to watch out for !!!

Linkedin , Xing and other Business Networking sites [Networking and Business Development]:
Linkedin is a website about which I have written a lot on my blog. But if you want to expand in other geographic locations where Linkedin is not so popular, than use the local networking site of the region. e.g. Europe’s Xing is more popular in UK. So depending on the region where your startup is likely/expected to get business from ; start making contacts with the people from that region using such websites.This not only helps in understanding the local consumer needs but would also help in expanding your business in different regions !!! Linkedin blog has an interesting article on “How can you use Linkedin to strengthen your professional brand” here

These are some of my thoughts on how you can use Web 2.0 to effectively research [on your business];market, scale your business and recruiting talented lot for your startup

Edited , Dated : 19/03/2008
Have a look at this interesting presentation titled “How can organizations harness the power of Web 2.0“

Slide Courtesy : Amit Ranjan

Note:
If there are some interesting techniques that I might have missed out, do leave them in the comments section and I would add them here in my article !!!