The PM Forum is a 5,000 strong regionally-based members' association, formed in 1996, dedicated to raising the standards of professional services marketing and to enhancing the credibility of marketers working in professional service firms worldwide.

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Tweets, friends and followers: Web 2.0 applications for professional firms

Over-hype leads to disillusionment in some cases when professional firms try some of the new communications technologies grouped under the term “Web 2.0.” They set up a blog and have problems controlling the message; a social engineering hacker uses an employee’s FaceBook page to gain information to help enter the firm’s computer system; Twitter accounts languish due to the lack of something to say.

Yet according to Steve Prentice of the consultancy Bristall Morgan Inc. of Toronto and New York, Web 2.0 is an important tool for professional firms today.

In his presentation to the Toronto chapter on 23 June, Prentice said it is important to first understand that while the first generation of the Web was all about pushing information outwards, the basket of Web 2.0 technologies are all about interaction. They include Wikis that can be modified by other users, social-networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and Web sites that invite comments back and where users can customize the content they receive.

Before getting involved in Web 2.0, Prentice warned, it is important for organizations to set policies around the public face to be presented and who gets to present it. There must be policies in place for protecting the firm.

Some of the best benefits of Web 2.0 happen within the organization. By sharing Facebook-like profiles within the firm, it is possible to find out peoples’ real interests and passions. Leadership skills shown outside the workplace, for example, may point to latent abilities that can be used by the firm.

Web 2.0 technologies can facilitate sharing of information, reducing the number and length of meetings as information is disseminated and decisions made, without the need to meet in person.

If an organization is seen to encourage feedback from all levels, it is more attractive to the best and brightest workers who like the idea of working in an environment that is open to their ideas.

For external relations, Web 2.0 shifts communication from the firm selling its services to making recommendations on possible courses of action. Providing education helps position the firm as useful source of information – good positioning for any professional firm.

Carl Friesen
Emerson Consulting Group Inc

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