Back at Web2.0 Expo in San Fran. The week has been excellent with a great group of speakers.
Five lessons from Web2.0 land:
- Get your product out there; the common message from presenters is that it’s better to launch your website and get user feedback even if you feel your app isn’t perfect.
- Location location; the launch of the iPad and many new mobile computing devices is opening up a host of new location-based services. Knowing what you do and where and when you do it, presents new and exciting opportunities around behaviorally targeted advertising. The most important part is ensuring buy in from the consumer.
- Embrace Open API’s; Saw a great talk by Sam Ramji discussing the importance of having API’s to allow your services or brand to be sold through other websites. In his talk Sam talks about how retail outlets like Nike, The North Face and Maytag grew their businesses by allowing other successful retailers to sell their products. He then draws parallels to how an effective Open API strategy can have the same results for emerging Web2.0 sites.
- Effectiveness of Social Media marketing; I saw a talk by Alice.com on how they used social media and blogging to generate enormous traffic in the lead-up to their launch. A good example of companies now using grassroots social media marketing to build a brand.
- Have a great product and deliver value; all the most popular applications offer real value over incumbent solutions. The simplest rule in business still applies.