How-to Guides - IT & Internet

Resources for setting up and running community organisations and projects.

Online Branding in the world of Web 2.0

For many organisations creating an online brand name of their organisation is essential and often only requires the right domain name or web address from which suitable email addresses are created.

But in today’s online world of social networks and various other array of Web 2.0 technologies many organisations have forgotten to or do not see the need to protect their branding in services such as FaceBook, Bebo, YouTube, WordPress, Google etc.

Organisations who do not believe there is a need to extend their online branding to these Web 2.0 areas are quickly finding out that someone else has used their organisation name. In some instances someone else or another organisation is advertising their organisation using their oppositions brand name in these web 2.0 services.

In the years 1985 to 1997 domain names in the .com space numbered only 100 domain names. Missing from the list are many well-known international companies such as Microsoft who did not see the value of their domain name. Today we have a similar situation with usernames for social media and various other web 2.0 technologies.

With the popularity of web 2.0 and the usernames associated with them, it is impossible to estimate how valuable (marketing or financially) a username will be in the coming years and if having a domain name is of any value at all.

Organisations should act quickly to register their name or other identifying names as a username with all the main and emerging technologies.

An idea could be the name or abbreviation of the name you use for your web site or if your organisation already uses a social network or email service such as Gmail you should try to use that or re evaluate your user name.

Your organisation should register with all web 2.0 services regardless of wether you will use it or not as you are essentially protecting your organisation name. Organisation logos should also be included as well as basic contact information.

Utilising your brand name in all social media has many advantages including making it easy for anyone trying to find your organisation to easily use your username on the many web 2.0 services available and not to mention more traffic and promotion of your organisation and web site.

Below is a list of common sites that your organisation should register with to either utilise or to protect your organisation online identity.

How-to Guides - IT & Internet

Online Branding in the world of Web 2.0

Blogs

Social Bookmarks

Photos

Social Networks

Instant Messenger