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Web 2.0
While some of you might still wonder what the hell Web 2.0 is, others may think it is a passing fad, or that it belongs to a distant digital world, something for the kids to worry about. But of course, the kids are often your customers, so it shouldn’t be ignored. In fact, warns Limor Schafman, Web 2.0 is having an impact on real world locations like theme parks, FECs and museums and it’s developing all the time. Here she explains how to use the technology to your advantage.
Whether you choose to view Web 2.0 as something to combat or embrace is up to you. I recommend the latter. Incorporating Web 2.0 technologies into the development of your location’s content, marketing and sales strategies may well create a profit-generating, closer connection to your customer. If your customers perceive value in what you offer, if that value has meaning to them and if they can interact with your offering – the brand, the content, the marketing message, the story – they will keep coming back for more and revenue will flow. That is the basis of Web 2.0. Here’s why.
Web 2.0 is all about community, sharing and creation. Coined by Tim O’Reilly of O’Reilly Media Inc, the term is often used to describe online software applications like blogs, podcasts, video blogs and sites such as YouTube, MySpace, Second Life and del.i.cious. What they have in common is that they involve the consumer in the creation of the site’s content.
People who define Web 2.0 only in the context of web applications, however, are missing the depth and breadth of the phenomenon taking place. Users – your customers/visitors – are creating the next generation of internet capability. They want more from their internet connection. The web is no longer about computer to computer connectivity. It is about human to human connection. With the advent of more powerful machines and broadband speeds, people can now take their online experience to the next level.
Web 2.0 people are a new breed. Who they are and what they expect has impact on what you in your attractions design, develop and produce. They impact how you tell your story in your world, and how we extend our story into their internet worlds.
So who are they, and what are their characteristics? These next generation internet users want to show who they are, and to be noticed. They want to be the It Kid, if only for a nanosecond. They are independent, yet seek community. But it is community that is personal to them. They show their individuality, but they are not alone, and they reach out in creative ways to find others like them. They don’t only care for themselves, they care about the world and about changing it. They trust only each other, but they are willing to create from scratch or expand an existing network of trust. They will listen if engaged, not preached to. They will not hesitate to say what they think about your company, your park, or your brand. If you think they haven’t already put up commentary, you are lying to yourself. Employees are writing about their work environment. Customers are writing about the new ride you just put in, and they are showing video and pictures. The older generation may consider these Web 2.0-ers disrespectful, uncaring, disengaged. They could not be more wrong. This new generation of internet users cares deeply, is demanding, expects value and knows its power to influence. You can no longer control your marketing message wholly. But it would be a mistake to throw your hands up in helplessness. Instead learn the mindset and employ the tools for your market growth.
The Web 2.0 group is demanding a change in marketing communications. Customers no longer trust and quickly lose interest in one-sided communications. Today consumers need to be involved in a brand. WOM, word of mouth, is the only trusted sales mechanism. People don’t buy because a retailer tells or asks them to. They buy because a friend tells them a story about the cool stuff they just got, and does so through an instant message, a video blog, a mobile phone text message or a MySpace posting. Friends don’t just go to a “real” mall together, they shop together digitally. Just as for retailers, this can mean an even greater audience for you as attractions operators.
Forget the hype, think about the opportunity
Featured down the page are five key tools that exist now, with more to come. I will offer a warning, however. Don’t be daunted by the prospect of enlisting Web 2.0 power, and talk of Web 2.1 or even 3.0.
Once you understand the behaviour patterns that Web 2.0 encapsulates, the next stage is to take that phenomenon and make it your own. Yes, these are internet applications that will extend your marketing arm and make them the hands and arms of an entire community. These applications, however, are only tools. They are story-making tools, similar to those the creative minds of the amusement industry have been producing and using for years. Their purpose is to entice, invite, captivate and inspire.
Look at them as you would any other tool you pulled in from outside sources. Ask how the tool furthers revenue, marketing and sales goals, and make sure that it fits within the story or brand of your location.
And let’s stretch the mind one step further by asking how Web 2.0 can be employed within the amusement park environment. Why not let individual attractions become more interactive? Content found only on location, a clip from a 3D film perhaps, can be taken away by the customer for future use; or visitors can contribute their own content based on immediate experiences. In other words, visitors can become part of the story making. They can take the message, repackage it and make it their own, then share it virally with others in their trusted community. Dip a toe in. Play. Experiment. Make it your own. The results may astonish you into a new world of connection with your guest. What can emerge is a slightly shape-shifted real world experience. I use the word “slightly” because, after all, haven’t
theme parks and other amusement venues always been about creating community of experience?
Five Web 2.0 tools to engage your guests
New Web 2.0 applications are released seemingly every day and it’s hard to keep track of them. However, here are five key creative tools being used right now:
1) MySpace has become one of the hottest viral websites. The key to its success, and the hook to watch for when using this site as a marketing tool for your location, is that certain MySpace pages belong to individuals, rock groups, or other celebrities who are known as ‘influencers.’ Get them to speak out about a cool experience they had at your park, and watch for the buzz.
2) Second Life (SL) is virtual world where people create their own islands, commune, listen to concerts together and buy and sell real and virtual products. This world has its own currency called Linden Dollars. These can be converted to ‘real’ world currency. Big name brands like Nike and General Motors have established islands to connect with consumers. IBM looks to Second Life as a platform for its expansion into 3D world communications to its customers and to its employees. Wells Fargo has created Stagecoach Island to teach financial literacy to young people. Real world brands and retailers use SL islands (store fronts) to tell their story in another dimension that will still draw customers to e-commerce and real world sales. Imagine what kind of story your attraction could tell in a virtual world in which anything can be created, including negative-gravity rides?
3) Video is a powerful viral medium. Inspiring visitors to capture video of themselves, friends and family within your venue allows them to create content. Their story, told in their own voice, adds a personal layer of connection with the sense of place. People will grab video on their cell phone, and then post it on sites like YouTube. This site is also a great place to run ads on your theme park or retail location. But why not also erect screens and other displays in your theme park so visitors can view and share the content while they are there? Setting up competitions will ignite visitor creativity. Visitors can vote right then and there on the video or ‘tag’ it by writing comments. The video and commentary then become part of your location’s website content and video archives, and an attraction in its own right on the day.
4) Bluecasting or placecasting takes the video phenomenon to the next level, allowing visitors to download video, promotions, information, maps etc directly from a billboard to their phones using the bluetooth wireless capabilities installed in most mobile phones nowadays. What creative ways can this technology be used to move visitors through a real world space, have them interact with an attraction, promote a particular retail item that needs to be moved out of inventory or add another layer of content to which visitors can interact over the course of their stay?
5) Short Message Service (SMS), or text messaging, can be used to provide immediate interactivity with a company’s message and then build continued relationships. By texting from their phones, for example, customers can receive a free gift coupon or special offer. An interesting application, Gumspots.com, offers companies a mobile phone-related Web 2.0 experience allowing them to create communities among their customers. With compelling content, this can be a good way to connect with your guests both in the park and once they leave. SMS can also act as a fun distraction to long event or ride queues, getting visitors engaged in a theme park’s story by texting in responses to quiz game questions on their phones. Visitors can win a soft drink, free tickets etc, all while having fun, competing with friends and with others in the queue line.
Case study: Disney Extreme Digital
Disney Extreme Digital (pictured above) is a website that invites users to play in virtual worlds, personalise content, watch and share videos and play online games including the Pirates of the Caribbean massive multiplayer game. Disney CEO Robert Iger has positioned the site as a place "where we invite our guests to become part of our stories."
You get to choose your favourite movies, music, games, gadgets, badges and stickers and collect them in one place – your “backpack” – and then transfer tthem to as many as five channels. These channnels are then available to your friends and to others so you can all share and meet one another and show who you are.
This is a very Web 2.0 site, but it is still focused exclusively on aggregating existing Disney developed content. Missing are tools that allow guests to share their own creative games using Disney characters, or share video of their favourite ride and manipulate Disney content to create their own stories. Oh, and the site is only available in the US for now.
It will be interesting to observe what Disney, a company that diligently protects its brand, messaging and content, does with the growing population of consumers who expect and demand to contribute their own content.
Limor Schafman is president of KeystoneTech Group, which specialises in technology commercialisation. She thanks David Polinchock, CXO of the Brand Experience Lab, for the mind-tap to his high tech knowledge www.keystonetechgroup.com
