Web 2.0: New Communication on the WWW?
By Jan-Hendrik Eickmeier
eickmeier@golinharris.de

An up-to-date and informative website has long been a standard feature of a company's external communications. What is often neglected, alongside optical aspects such as consistent implementation of the corporate design and high usability, is integration into the overall communicative concept. Yet on the Internet too, it is precisely the combination of wide-ranging services and a target-oriented preparation that is so crucial. Under the heading of Web

2.0, the demand for communication with Internet users is becoming more prominent. User-generated content, blogs or viral campaigns steer the users' gaze towards new opportunities on the WWW.

Innovative is Not Necessarily Useful

However, a large number of these "new" means of communication should be selected, developed and applied with great care and with a view to customer and user structure. Here it is of prime importance that customer affinity to such tools should either be present or capable of being stimulated.

Blogs as an example: disillusionment is setting in increasingly here. Companies do in fact have to carry out regular maintenance in order to establish a serious dialogue with users. As with many PR concepts, they only function via the factor of continuity and interest. Those who have nothing to report will gain little credit with their own blogs and are unlikely to establish a genuine dialogue with users.

Set up services according to target group

First of all, an Internet presence should mainly serve fundamental information requirements. Depending on customer and business structure, the services offered not only have to provide a gain in information, a precisely targeted range may also increase satisfaction with a site and the length of time spent there.

Page segmentation for example: information can be found more quickly if it is grouped into specific user groups. Many companies, for example, already make use of their own sub-offerings for customers, suppliers or journalists. An updated, targeted offering with rapid access to production information, contacts or download information also raises visitor satisfaction and is therefore the first indication that visitors to the site are taken seriously and provided with comprehensive information. Ideally, a carefully planned Web presence will fit into the overall communicative concept and offer a long-term basis for corporate communication — if required, additional building blocks can be evaluated and incorporated and offline communication can be continued on the Internet.