Last week Google announced on their blog the addition of a new feature called the Google SideWiki. This new feature is being positioned as a feature that allows you to learn and get help from others.
The Google Sidewiki, allows you to contribute comments, information, point of view directly to any webpage. The Google Sidewiki appears as a browser sidebar, where you can read and write entries along the side of the page. You can then syndicate your posts through other social media channels including Twitter and Facebook.
The ramifications for marketers, I believe, are significant if this takes off, and I have no reason to doubt that it won’t. First it makes every web page on your company web site social. That means that as prospects, customers, partners, media come to your website they can see the comments that others have left, both good and bad and post their own comments. I would imagine competitors can even leave comments now on your website if they would like to.
Why is this important? Word of Mouth is the #1 or 2 (depending on what survey you read) influencing factor on your buying cycles. Through Sidewiki Google has now brought word of mouth right to your companies door step.
This ultimately means that if you aren’t listening or monitoring what’s being said about you that you really need to start, as your website is your company’s primary communication and marketing vehicle today. If you’re not engaging, or conversing through social media channels, than you better start thinking about it.
Jeremiah Owyang does a great job of providing some key steps to take to help you formulate your strategy in response to this at his website. I recommend you read them. After reading those suggestions I recommend you do two things:
1. Download Sidewiki at google.com/sidewiki and contribute your own entries alongside some web pages and syndicate out to some social media channels, so you see it and get it
2. Have a meeting with your team to discuss what this means to website strategy, how you will monitor, and how you will respond to disgruntled customers, employees, and competitors.
Let me know your thoughts. Nuff Said…
Comments