Sales 2.0: How Business are using online collaboration to spark sales
by Techdirt Insight Community and Social Media Todayfor TheCustomerCollective
What is the impact of web tools on Web 2.0 tools on workplace? How has technology been changing the way sales are done?
The article highlighted the collaboration of Web 2.0 tools to business, with supports from previous surveys and a case study. Web 2.0 refers to ‘the use of Worldwide Web technology and Web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and collaboration among users’. Derived from this idea, the Sales 2.0 movement is that companies adopt Web 2.0 technologies to their business, both internally and externally, ‘allowing employees and other closed groups, such as channel partners, to collaborate and share proprietary data and ideas’.
The three major characteristics of the use of Sales 2.0 in business are:
1. Sales 2.0 is a newly developed idea. Since it is a non-traditional grass-root technology, small corporations (with less than 500 employees) are more likely to adopt this approach.
2. It brought big impact to the business, regarding the structure of the corporation and the business process. Sales was enhanced after the use of Sales 2.0 tools..
3. Different types of Web 2.0 tools could be used to cater different needs. For instance, as wiki allows users to edit, corporations may use it for internal knowledge management. The author has control to the content of blogs and other social media, thus the corporations could interact with the audience through platforms as such.
In the traditional way, the business expose themselves to the potential customers on TV, radio, magazine, etc. There is no interaction with clients in the old media. On the contrary, Sales 2.0 marketing involves relationship with clients through interaction with new media, such as blogs, Facebook, RSS feed, etc. Through the interaction with customers online, future clients get familiar with the product/services, and eventually are more likely to purchase. Loyal clients' sharing online may help to build business reputation.
As a result, the strategy worked so well that the brands get ever expanding coverage in digital life.
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With all the benefits to the business, there are ethical concerns. The social media sites are somehow infringing the users’ digital privacy by recording their clicks and preferences. Other than that, being a customer, when the sales and marketing information is all over the internet, the content become meaningless and people cease to take commercial updates seriously: these are merely advertisements, they don't care about us anyway. The interaction thus becomes white noise and fail to reach its goal.
Some corporation argued that staying on social media could bring negative impact to a business’ reputation. Lush, an organic cosmetic company, decided to quit social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat) in November, 2021. The company announced that social media is dangerous for teenagers. Therefore, as a brand that targets that targets young women and promotes self-care, they found it uncomfortable to stay on unhealthy digital platforms. Lush admitted the move might make the company lose $13 million, yet they were ‘happy to do so’ in order to raise the awareness of anxiety caused by the social media. There is not yet sales report after the quit. I assume Lush will gain more support from the customers for their ethical (or an excellent marketing?) move.
Read more
Social media is dangerous for young people — so Lush is quitting
(https://mashable.com/article/lush-quit-facebook-instagram-tiktok-snapchat-social-media-harms)
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