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FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS

ADMINISTRATION, UNIVERSITY OF OULU

WORKING PAPERS

____________________________________________________________________

No. 29
____________________________________________________________________

Tuula Lehtimäki, Jari Salo, Heidi Hiltula, Mikko Lankinen

HARNESSING WEB 2.0 FOR BUSINESS TO BUSINESS
MARKETING - LITERATURE REVIEW AND AN EMPIRICAL
PERSPECTRIVE FROM FINLAND

____________________________________________________________________

OULU 2009

Tuula Lehtimäki
Jari Salo
Heidi Hiltula
Mikko Lankinen

Taloustieteiden tiedekunta
Oulun yliopisto

Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
University of Oulu

Osoite: PL 4600
Address: 90014 Oulu, Finland
Puhelin:
Phone: +358 50 4675154 Salo

Telefax: +358 8 553 2906

e-mail: Tuula.Lehtimaki@oulu.fi
Jari.Salo@oulu.fi

ISBN 978-951-42-9119-7
ISSN 1459-8418
ISBN 978-951-42-9120-3 ELEKTRONINEN VERSIO
Oulu University Press
April 2009

Tuula Lehtimäki, M.Sc. (Bus. Adm.), M.Sc. (Tech.)
Jari Salo, Dr. (Bus. Adm.)
Heidi Hiltula, M.Sc. (Bus. Adm.)
Mikko Lankinen, student

University of Oulu, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

Harnessing web 2.0 for business to business marketing -
Literature review and an empirical perspective from Finland

Abstract

The purpose of this report is to round up current literature and other published sources
on harnessing web 2.0 for business-to-business marketing and add an empirical
perspective on the subject from Finland. Web 2.0 means technologies that enable users
to easily communicate, and organize, create and share content. By web 2.0 tools, we
mean blogs and podcasts, social networks, communities, content aggregators and virtual
worlds. Based on the literature review we present pros and cons of every tool for
marketing purposes. Among the examined Finnish industrial firms the utilization of web
2.0 is still low, but blogs, wikis and video sharing raised some interest. Overall, web 2.0
provides firms with benefits still largely unexplored, and we believe that the importance
of internet marketing will continue to grow.

Key words: Web 2.0, Internet, Business to business marketing, Industrial marketing
___________________________________________
Space does not permit the authors to name all the interviewees and the members of the DECCMAC
project group who were of such help to them, but they would like to thank all involved. We also wish to
convey our thanks to Tekes.

Executive Summary
Web 2.0 means technologies that enable users to communicate, create content and share
it with each other via communities and social networks easier than before, and to have
real life experiences in virtual worlds and to organize content on the internet with
content aggregators. The number of web 2.0 users has been growing so rapidly that it
has become an important channel for marketers to reach their customers. As B2C
companies have already managed to create successful web 2.0 campaigns B2B
marketers have also begun to investigate how to harness web 2.0 in their marketing
efforts. In addition, B2B buyers are already using the internet as one of their main
sources for information gathering. Hence, it is important to B2B marketers to be present
in those channels where their customers are. Benefits and difficulties of using web 2.0
tools based on the literature review are summarized below.
Strengthening and expanding customer - Lack of support by top management
relationships, - Lack of metrics of measuring effectiveness of web
Brand building 2.0 marketing
- Technical challenges if marketers do not know
Lead generation
how to utilize different web 2.0 tools
Employee communications,
- Maintaining web 2.0 tools demands commitment
Enhancing communication in partnerships
to continuous content generation and maintenance
Enhancing communication in R&D and it takes a lot of time and effort to maintain the
Demand generation chosen marketing strategy

Web 2.0 tools can be grouped into blogs and podcasts, social networks, communities,
content aggregators and virtual worlds, which all have different pros and cons.
Tool Use Strengths Weaknesses
Blogs and Informing of current events Easy and cheap tool Requires time and constant
podcasts and new products to maintain updating
Social Content sharing, creating Easy to set up a How to persuade users to
networks and maintaining profile, possible participate?
relationships targeted advertising
Communities Maintaining customer Intense two-way Requires lots of resources to
relationships, brand building communication maintain
Content Informing of new products Easy to use Content needs to be interesting
aggregators enough to be tagged
Virtual Maintaining customer Engaging Requires lots of resources to
worlds relationships, brand building customers maintain; inducing users to
effectively participate

Only one-third or less of B2B marketers has used web 2.0 tactics in their marketing
mix. Based on the interviews made for this report, the utilization of web 2.0 for
marketing seems to be low among Finnish industrial firms too. Some firms had utilized
video sharing sites, but more on ad hoc basis. Blogs, wikis, and video sharing were seen
as the most interesting options for industrial firms. An expert opinion was that perhaps
the most suitable web 2.0 tools for industrial marketing are online communities, where a
firm can contribute to brand building, have direct interaction with customers and other
stakeholders, gain valuable information and provide services. Communities were not,
however, an appealing alternative for firm interviewees, because hosting a community
requires more work than benefits and community‟s targeting power was considered low.

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Web 2.0 Tools Usage among six examined firms
Blogs One firm has a (unofficial) management level blog, one is preparing a video blog, one
is planning an internal blog or a blog to existing customers. Three firms have none.
Podcasts One firm has its CEO’s letter in webcast format (but there is no commenting option)
and has done pilots for online teaching. Five firms have none.
Social Four firms have unofficial groups in Facebook for internal networking. One has more
networks official Facebook group but does not know yet what to do with it. One firm has none.
Online One firm has done some advertising in industrial communities and joined some
communities communities and directories. One has used communities to search information of
other firms and customers. Three firms mention that customer extranets are the most
important online communities for them. One firm mentions nothing.
Content One firm had official and one had unofficial YouTube videos. Two firms plan to
communities build a wiki and one has tried to contribute to existing ones. One firm has none.
Forums Not participated or utilized actively, even though one firm takes part in some
professional forums.
Content One firm builds a mash-up for their website and three firms offer RSS feeds.
aggregators One firm is interested in social bookmarking.
Virtual worlds Not utilized.

Interviewees understood the benefits of web 2.0, but could not directly relate them to
their business, which was one of the major obstacles for web 2.0 utilization. Firms were
afraid of the uncontrollability of online discussions, negative word-of mouth and losing
confidential information. Because of the huge number of web 2.0 users and its benefits,
using web 2.0 for marketing is however expected to increase. The report presents the
main obstacles for web 2.0 implementation, how to cope with them, and challenges
related to fundamental characteristics of web 2.0. Many interviewees thought web 2.0
inapplicable for industrial marketing as a rule although that is not so. There seems to be
a need to get to know web 2.0 as a channel better and then find suitable ways to utilize
its potential benefits.

Web 2.0 as an environment, Get to know web
its benefits, possibilities and 2.0 as a channel,
effects are unknown explore

Technical difficulties Set clear purpose and targets
for utilization of web 2.0
Setting rules
and guidelines Link web 2.0 to the “whole
is difficult picture” of marketing

Difficulty of developing Offer real value that
interesting content helps users to do their job
better
Web 2.0 applications are focused on info-
technical matters, and not on creating real value,
flow, good usability, or emotional experiences

Uncontrollability Prepare a worst case scenario
and how to handle it

If utilizing web 2.0 accept its
nature!

Challenges How to proceed

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PART 1 - LITERATURE REVIEW

UTILIZATION OF WEB 2.0 TOOS FOR INDUSTRIAL
MARKETING

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1 Introduction to the literature review
Web 2.0 means technologies that enable users to communicate, create and organize
content and share it with each other via communities, social networks, and virtual
worlds. Web 2.0 services are becoming popular among customers and this has brought
several challenges for marketers. Today customers are highly reliant on information
they receive from their peers due to web 2.0 and peer-to-peer communication online.
Hence, the focus of marketing communication is no longer on one-to-many but many-
to-many communication where customers communicate with each other and marketers
do not have that good control over the message. In addition, media fragmentation and
customers’ selective attention for marketing messages and communication bring
marketers the problem of how to reach their customers through online channels.
However, web 2.0 tools have brought companies new ways to reach their target
audience and build their brand image. Weber (2007, 22) notes that a marketer’s role has
changed from a broadcaster pushing out messages to an aggregator who pulls together
content, collaborates with its customers and participates in communities.
Using social media and web 2.0 tools is becoming more and more popular among
consumers in Finland. In spring 2008 35 % of Finns used the internet for instant
messaging, 38 % for reading blogs and 30 % wrote to discussion forums and
newsgroups (Tilastokeskus 2008). Similarly, B2B buyers have begun to use web 2.0
tools and they are shifting to use digital media faster than B2B marketers are adopting it
(Davis Kho 2008b). While the amount of people using social media increases
continuously and businesses have become interested in how to harness different web 2.0
tools for marketing activities it is evident that web 2.0 will have significant effects on
business environments. Since the new generation using web 2.0 everyday will use it
also in working life in one way or another, presumably web 2.0 is here to stay.
Web 2.0 is a relatively new concept and marketers are interested in its potential. To
date most web 2.0 technologies have been introduced within B2C markets. However,
B2B marketers are increasingly recognizing the new marketing channels web 2.0
generates and businesses aim to incorporate web 2.0 in their marketing mixes. This
paper examines the main concepts and conformities around web 2.0, introduces basic
web 2.0 technologies and suggests, by using real life examples, how these technologies

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could be used in B2B marketing. In addition, challenges and drawbacks relating to web
2.0 are addressed.

1.1 Internet and B2B-marketing

The internet has changed communication radically in industrial marketing. As the
internet has become an important source of information among third-party location
information (e.g. convention and visitors bureau resources), and personal and
colleagues’ experiences, it has also become an important channel for communicating
with customers and developing relationships because of the possibility of two-way
interaction on the internet. Typically, internet marketing devices like e-marketing
platforms are less expensive compared to other marketing platforms and via web
channels it is often possible to reach customers that would be out of reach of physical
distribution channels. Due to this Sheth and Sharma (2005) state that reducing costs and
enhancing reach are primary advantages of e-marketing. However, B2B companies
spend more on their online marketing budgets than B2C companies. The reason for this
is a less specialized approach of B2B companies when planning e-marketing activities
in comparison with B2C companies. Hence more holistic online marketing planning and
prioritization methods are needed. (Bach Jensen 2006.)
E-marketing has changed the focus of marketing from a “supplier perspective” to a
“customer perspective” since through the web, companies can better address the
individual needs of their customers and build customers‟ loyalty. Due to customer data
collection possibilities companies can also segment customers to financially and
strategically viable groups, which allows better targeting. The value of customer input
to products, i.e. co-creation in the web environment, is also emphasized. Moreover,
companies allowing co-creation have an advantage when compared to firms that do not.
(Sheth and Sharma 2005.)
E-marketing has brought many advantages for companies but still there remain
obstacles to its effective use. Samiee (2008) highlights that while the use of the internet
no longer offers a competitive advantage, not having any presence on the internet
whatsoever increasingly leads to a competitive disadvantage. Typical challenges that
B2B companies using e-marketing face are security issues and business conducting
norms. As confidentiality of personal communications is extremely important in
business marketing the potential loss of proprietary data over the internet remains a
critical issue. Also conducting business via personal face-to-face communication is the

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norm in the B2B environment. These issues may slow down the deployment of the
internet in B2B activities.

1.2 How to be found on the internet

B2B buyers use only a few primary sources for information gathering and decision
making. Due to this, B2B marketers have to understand while planning their promotions
which information sources and channels are considered useful by their buyers. Enquiro
Research found in its ―Business to Business 2007‖ survey that 65% of 1000 B2B buyers
start their research process with a general search engine and after that move on to B2B
vertical search engines such as Business.com and company websites when progressing
to the negotiation and decision-making stages (Davis Kho 2008b). Hence, it is crucial
for a company to appear high in the search results. This can be achieved using web 2.0
tactics. By blogging, sharing videos and other content, social bookmarking and
networking a company can get links to search engines. These above-mentioned tactics
can be classified under organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO), as good search
rankings are achieved without paying for them. The best known organization that offers
paid SEO is perhaps Google. Yet, other services also exist such as Overture. (Bach
Jensen 2006.)
Google is currently the world‟s leading search engine. In July 2006, Google Sites
represented the number one European online property, attracting 156.3 million visitors
(ComScore 2008). Due to Google‟s vast reach potential, search engine optimization is
an integral part of most businesses involved in web 2.0 since by using web 2.0 tools a
company can increase its visibility in its customers‟ information gathering. Google
offers different kinds of services for targeted advertising based on visitors‟ interests.
These services are Google AdWords, Google AdSence and Google Maps. AdWords, i.e.
sponsored links, are text-based ads that appear together with Google‟s search results. In
addition, AdWords appear on advertising spaces of thousands of publishers belonging to
Google‟s content network. These ads are shown whenever a user searches information
with keywords picked by the advertiser so it offers companies an effective way to
advertise their products for interested users. AdSense is targeted for website owners and
other content creators since they can sell advertising space on their own websites. The
content of the site is indexed and ads are screened to the page in accordance with the
content and the interests of the page visitors. Both these services help a company to
advertise to users who are looking for information concerning products and services

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offered by the company. When a user searches information via Google Maps about a
certain company, a map appears on the screen showing contacts of the company in
question. (Google 2008a; Google 2008b; Google 2008c.)
Google also offers a service for measuring the effectiveness of using their services.
Google Analytics is a free browser based tool for analyzing ad campaign results and
website traffic. It offers over 80 different reports. Due to Google‟s analyzing tool it is
relatively easy for companies to measure an ad campaigns efficiency and return on
investment (ROI). (Google 2008a.)
Google‟s services are widely used by marketers and it has become one of the leading
companies in the web 2.0 environment. While companies can help to increase their
position in search engine results by using web 2.0 tools they can also better target their
advertising with these new services by Google.

1.3 Enhancing word-of-mouth (WOM) and viral marketing with web 2.0 tools

The Edelman trust barometer (Edelman 2006) illustrates the current power of word-of-
mouth (WOM) communication. Today people no longer trust established institutions
and figures of authority, but instead trust their peers as the best sources of information
about companies. Companies need to move away from sole reliance on top-down
messages toward fostering peer-to-peer dialogue among consumers and employees and
hence activate a company’s most credible advocates. According to this research, trust is
the key objective for global companies since it creates the base for the company’s
operation. A company’s trustworthiness can be enhanced by being transparent and
engaging multiple stakeholders into a conversation via different communication
channels. Web 2.0 tools bring new opportunities for this interaction.
Since communication between users constitutes the core of social media, companies
can carry out effective viral marketing activities using web 2.0 tools. Viral marketing is
marketer-originated WOM communication over the internet. The reference mechanism
in viral marketing is similar to traditional WOM but its special characteristics are the
speed and the extent of spreading messages. The main goal is to get users to spread a
marketer‟s message to their friends by using their own networks and to get as large an
audience as possible for the message. Viral marketing messages usually consist of text
and pictures so that they can catch the attention of consumers with visual appearance.
Along with YouTube, viral videos have also become very popular. Users do not spread
the marketer‟s message onwards if they do not get any benefit, or if the content of the

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message is not interesting enough. Viral marketing is considered an effective form of
marketing, since its effectiveness is based on the same idea as in traditional WOM -
trust in the sender of the message. (Helm 2000; Turban, King, Lee, Warkentin and
Chung 2002, 188; Lindgreen and Vanhamme 2005.)
On the other hand, De Bruyn and Lilien (2008) found in their research that in viral
marketing campaigns, close relationships between the sender and the receiver of the
message can capture recipients‟ attention and create awareness, but they do not
influence the later stages of the decision-making process, i.e. the interest and final
decision stages. This means that WOM communication might not be as effective as it is
often considered to be. While viral marketing can increase attention on the product, it
doesn‟t have a straightforward effect on sales. However, it seems that networks of
friends (instead of networks of professionals and colleagues) are better suited for viral
marketing campaigns, since referral mechanisms require close relationships.
Interestingly this research discovered also that electronic referrals from
demographically dissimilar ties had more influence at each stage of decision making
than referrals from demographically similar ties. This might be explained by
demographic dissimilarity serving as a surrogate measure of perceived authority, social
status and information-bridging potential. This kind of behavior can be explained by the
presumed expertise of the message sender.
While there are contrary opinions about the total effects of viral marketing, there are
still many examples of successful viral campaigns that have managed to catch the public
attention. These include the „Will It Blend‟ -campaign on YouTube by Blendtec (see
Content communities) and the Aquafina campaign in MySpace (see Social networks). In
Finland, YouTube has been used for viral marketing successfully with music artists like
Tea Hiilloste and Lissut (whose music videos were huge hits on YouTube) and with the
tv-show Ketonen & Myllyrinne. Hence, web 2.0 tools are an opportune channel for viral
marketing since people tend to spread interesting content via them.

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2 Web 2.0 and social media

2.1 Definition of web 2.0 and social media

Although there is no specific definition for the term web 2.0, it can be described in
many ways. The term was originally coined in 2005 by O’Reilly (2005), and one can
say that web 2.0 is a set of technologies as well as a new way of thinking that enables
new imaginative operations and business models. Social media is a term that refers to
services based on a sense of community, information generation and sharing (Hintikka
2008) and it also includes web 2.0 technologies (Kangas, Toivonen and Bäck 2007) and
tools (see Figure 1). However, Constantinides and Fountain (2008) view web 2.0 as an
umbrella term of web applications, including social media. In this paper, social media is
considered the new information channel on the internet and web 2.0 tools are
applications for using this channel. Thus, key words of social media are a sense of
community, user generated content, and web 2.0 tools, which then result in network
effects, many-to-many communication and collective intelligence.

Figure 1. The formation of social media/web 2.0.

At the core of web 2.0 is collective intelligence and wisdom of crowds where users
(private people, organizations) have the key role. User-generated content is the basis of
the success of web 2.0 (Constantinides and Fountain 2008; Frampton 2008) since
actions of users have a significant impact on the value of the service/application
(Kangas et al. 2007). However, it is argued that some content generated by users like

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anonymous amateur videos and music remixes posted to YouTube and other shared-
content sites violate intellectual property rights and thus harm professional artists and
the entertainment industry in general (Constantinides and Fountain 2008). Hence,
copyright problems are one of the biggest issues when discussing the future of social
media and the central role of user-generated content in it.
Web 2.0 tools benefit from network effects; the more people attend different
communities and social networks and generate content into them, the more people are
tempted to join them. Thus, network effects and peer usage are important motives for
customer lock-in and loyalty. (Constantinides and Fountain 2008.) Businesses can
utilize this by introducing their own communities and profiles/groups in social
networks. This is discussed in chapter three.

2.2 Web 2.0 tools

Adapting a classification by Constantinides and Fountain (2008) we divide web 2.0
tools into five main categories (see Table 1).
1) Blogs and podcasts. Blogs are public diaries in the internet and vlogs are blogs
in video format. Blogs are combined with podcasts or videocasts, i.e. digital
audio or video that can be streamed or downloaded to portable devices.
2) Social networks are applications allowing users to build personal profiles
through which it is possible to communicate and exchange content and network
with other users, and maintain existing relationships with friends.
3) Communities can be divided into online communities, content communities and
discussion forums / bulletin boards. Online communities can be formed around
members’ mutual interests or a certain brand / organization. Content
communities refer to websites in which particular types of content (e.g. video or
photos) are organized and shared. As wikis are software enabling multiple
people to edit websites and are they are often used for content sharing (Tapscott
and Williams, 2008, 18), wikis can be placed in the category of content
communities. Forums/bulletin boards are sites for exchanging ideas and
information typically revolving around special interests. They are also one form
of communities because of the sense of community among members. Due to
this, it is reasonable to position them as a subcategory of communities.

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4) Content aggregators refer to applications that enable users to customize the web
content they wish to access. These are RSS feeds (Real Simple Syndication or
Rich Site Summary), widgets, bookmarks and tagging services.
5) Virtual worlds are internet sites where users communicate and interact via
avatars and it is this that distinguishes virtual worlds from other social media.
They are considered to be substitutes for the real world and businesses have also
entered into virtual worlds.
Table 1. Categorization of web 2.0 tools.
CATEGORY TOOL FOCUS EXAMPLES
1. BLOGS AND Traditional blogs, Informing of current Blogs by Dell, podcasts
PODCASTS vlogs, podcasts, events and novelties from interviews
videocasts
2. SOCIAL Social networks Content sharing, MySpace, Facebook,
NETWORKS maintaining IRC-Gallery, LinkedIn,
relationships, networking ITToolbox
3. COMMUNITIES Online communities
Member-initiated Members' mutual Communities formed
interests and reciprocal around similar interests
interaction e.g. Aukea.net
(photography)
Organization- Business transactions, Communities by Mozilla,
sponsored brand building, Fiscars, Dell and
interaction among Salesforce.com
organization and
customers, co-creation of
products
Third-party Enable communication eBay
established and transactions between
buyers and sellers
Content communities
Content sharing sites, Content sharing YouTube, Flickr, Picasa,
wikis Pikeo, dotPhoto,
GoogleVideo, Wikipedia
Forums/bulletin Discussion of mutual B2Bexchanges, Alibaba,
boards interests Zentrada,
Go4worldbusiness
4. CONTENT RSS, widgets, Categorizing and Delicious, Yahoo!
AGGREGATORS bookmarks, tagging customization of web Widgets
services etc. content
5. VIRTUAL Virtual worlds Substitute for the real Second Life, World of
WORLDS world Warcraft, Kaneva,
Universe, Habbo

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3 Marketing in social media
Companies’ websites have traditionally been the place for interactive marketing
communications. Marketing communication activities linked to manufacturers’ websites
include advertising, sales promotion, public relations and direct marketing. Tools for
two-way communication on websites include feedback mechanisms such as direct email
links, signups, surveys and questionnaires. (Perry and Bodkin 2002.) Web 2.0 tools
however bring new ways for interactive marketing communications as they help to
deepen the conversation between customer and seller. The terms social media marketing
(SMM) and marketing 2.0 refer to marketing actions using web 2.0 tools in order to
leverage conversation online, to increase product awareness and brand equity, and to
reach new customers. As web 2.0 tools make possible deeper interaction between
marketers and customers it is easier for marketers to get feedback on their actions and
know their customers better. Web 2.0 channels can also be seen as ―engines‖ that
energize and add power to the marketing messages and spread them in a viral fashion.
Web 2.0 can be seen to have changed power structures and shifted market power from
marketers to consumers. Hence, marketing in social media needs to be both honest and
transparent since deceptive means are usually exposed.
Despite the hype around web 2.0, there is still skepticism. Users can generate harmful
content in social media about the marketer and hence damage reputation. For example
Comcast Cable Communications Inc. reputation as a good customer server was
jeopardized when one of their technicians fell asleep on a customer‟s couch and the
frustrated customer posted a hit video about it to YouTube (Bernoff and Li 2008).
Customers can also discuss the marketer in a negative way in communities and social
networks. Hence, marketers cannot control their brand image in web 2.0 because of the
active role of the customers but they can try to affect it by participation. By actively
listening and participating in online conversations, a marketer can improve the
conversation about the brand and at the same time learn what the customers actually
want and care about.
B2B marketers are beginning to introduce web 2.0 tactics to their marketing efforts,
since buyers, partners, distributors, resellers and other third-party entities along the
value chain are becoming more involved in social media. However, Laura Ramos from

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Forrester Research (InSight24 2008) reminds us that B2B buyers are more conservative
and therefore industry specific magazines, trade shows, and websites are also very
important sources of information. In addition, WOM communication with peers greatly
affects their business decisions and B2B buyers tend to be groups rather than
individuals. That is why B2B marketers have not adopted web 2.0 tools as widely as
B2C marketers have. An interest in web 2.0 marketing exists but the activity level is still
low. Only one-third or less of B2B marketers uses blogs, podcasts, videos or other web
2.0 tactics in their marketing mix (eMarketer 2008a; Ferrante 2007). In addition, only
29% of B2B marketers sponsored an online discussion or community site and 18%
advertised in virtual worlds (eMarketer 2008a).
Due to the ease of use and inexpensive nature of web 2.0 marketing, companies have
introduced web 2.0 tools for their marketing mix without a strict plan or goals for these
efforts. Although signing up for most web 2.0 applications is free, keeping up with them
requires time and resources (Frampton 2008). Moran (2008) highlights the possibility of
experimenting with web 2.0 tools. If the web 2.0 strategy is not working, it is fast and
simple to fix it. By experimenting, a marketer learns quickly which the most appropriate
tools for his marketing efforts are. However, in order to gain the possible benefits,
marketers need to do more than experiment. They should create a web 2.0 marketing
plan with specified goals which should blend seamlessly into the whole marketing mix
and to other online marketing tactics (InSight 24 2008; Davis Kho 2008b). When
planning to introduce web 2.0 tools to marketing efforts it is critical to learn about web
2.0 and to know which tools are appropriate for the company.
There are many problems facing companies implementing web 2.0 tools for
marketing. According to McKinsey Quarterly (2007) and Avanade (2008) problems
with web 2.0 marketing include:
Lack of support by top management
Lack of metrics to measure the effectiveness of web 2.0 marketing
Technical challenges: marketers do not know how to utilize web 2.0 tools
Maintaining web 2.0 tools demands commitment to continuous content
generation and maintenance and it takes a lot of time and effort to maintain the
chosen marketing strategy
Bernoff (2008) emphasizes the importance of success metrics to ensure business
goals are accomplished. Since it is also hard to measure the results and effectiveness of

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web 2.0 marketing, B2B marketers should measure the interaction level and
engagement of the customers. The use of tools such as blogs, communities, social
networking sites and viral videos requires dialogue and extended relationships with
customers. If blog entries appear high in search results, marketers can target some of
their search engine marketing budgets at blog funding. Similarly, the amount of visitors
contributing content (videos, photos, documents, wiki entries) to a marketer site tells
about the interactivity level and engagement of the customers.
While attitudes towards using web 2.0 tools for marketing are cautious among B2B
marketers there are already some successful results from using them. Research
conducted in the spring of 2008 by Coleman Parkes Research and Avanade reveals that
early adopters of social media marketing reported improved customer relationships and
increased sales as well as achieving better corporate reputation. Companies using social
media technologies also reported improved feedback and greater customer satisfaction
as well as reductions in resolution times for support issues. Using social media
marketing was also seen to create a perception of the company as forward-looking and
to improve its market reputation. (Avanade 2008.)
According to research by the IT consultancy firm Avanade and Coleman Parkes
(Tieke 2008), for which Finnish managers were interviewed, nearly all of the
interviewees feel that they understand the benefits of social media for business,
whereas over a half of respondents do not believe that the top management understands
the benefits of social media in customer relationship management. This can explain the
low adoption rate of web 2.0 in marketing. However, only 25 % of the interviewees
believed they were at risk of losing customers to companies using social media more
effectively, when world-wide, 38 % believed this. Thus, in that sense Finnish managers
do not yet generally see social media as an important competitive advantage or a must.
But on the other hand, the interviewees estimated social media to increase the sales
more than interviewees in other countries (56 % of the Finnish respondents, 40 % world
widely) and that using social media gives a forerunner image to a company (83 % in
Finland, 75 % in the other countries). In addition, it is estimated that using social media
improves customer feedback (78 % and 78 %) and customer satisfaction (72 % and 66
%). However, there were only 30 people interviewed in Finland while globally there
were over 500 interviewees. According to Petri Ketola, the Country Manager of

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Avanade Finland, in the light of these research results it is difficult for any industry to
ignore the benefits of using social media.
When examining the communication and interaction related benefits provided by
utilizing web 2.0 in B2B marketing, we conclude, that it can be utilized for:
1) Strengthening and expanding customer relationships,
2) Brand building (with blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts, video on demand, wikis,
mobile, viral video, social networks and virtual worlds (Madden 2008)),
3) Lead generation, (some authors suggest that this should be the only use, e.g.
Keulenaer 2007),
4) Employee communications,
5) Enhancing communication in partnerships,
6) Enhancing communication in R&D (Weber 2007, 23-24, 32),
7) Demand generation (especially by using email marketing, online ads, SEO and
webinars) (eMarketer 2008a).
So the main benefits are related to getting customers’ interest and attention, but apart
from simple products or services, sales processes are not likely to come online widely in
B2B markets (Keulenaer 2007).

3.1 Implementing web 2.0

When implementing web 2.0 the first thing is to know the environment and its
possibilities, which are several. Companies can harness web 2.0 for marketing efforts by
banner advertising in popular communities or blogs or communicating desired messages
to new online opinion leaders, i.e. bloggers, podcasters etc. Companies can also utilize
the discussion of their products that happens in social media for their marketing efforts.
For example Coca Cola discovered a range of amateur videos posted on YouTube that
featured experiences of customers dropping Mentos mints into Diet Coke bottles. The
company made use of this free publicity by launching a ―Coca Cola Challenge‖
campaign that encouraged people to post videos that showcased creative uses of
everyday household items. Finally, companies can engage in web 2.0 by introducing
their own content for social media, establishing communities, or otherwise using web
2.0 tools for their marketing communications. (Constantinides and Fountain 2008.)
Table 2 below summarizes other issues involved in planning web 2.0 marketing.

19

Table 2. Main issues when planning marketing with web 2.0 tools.
Know the environment The main thing is to know which kinds of tools are appropriate for
the company and how to use them properly.
Creativity and content In social media it is all about content and creativity. Only content
interesting enough lures users in to participate and share the content
forward in a viral way.
Committed personnel and Since web 2.0 tools require constant updating and new content,
support of the management devoted personnel are required.
Continuous content generation New content needs to be generated continuously in order to keep
customers interested.
Measurement Measuring the interaction level and visitor amounts is quite simple
with web 2.0 tools.
Specified goals There should be specified goals set up in order to measure benefits
reached with web 2.0 tools.
Listening and discussion Through interaction with customers a company can get useful
feedback to enhance its operations and to maintain customer
relationships.

Creativity is at the core of a successful social media campaign as well as having
personnel committed to maintaining social media tools. Marketers should provide
content on their website that customers can use, bookmark or share online. This is one
way to increase viral marketing efforts since website content that is easily spreadable is
easier for the visitors to pass on, and this may include interesting stories spread by
emailing, linking, blogging or social bookmarking that page. (Moran 2008, 91.)
In addition, it is important to have fresh content available continuously. Weber (2007,
38) argues that in social media marketing the best websites combine professional and
user-generated content. A company can pay or develop professional content for its sites
and users can then comment and share their views about the subject. Companies are also
urged to create content such as whitepapers or podcasts and encourage interested people
to register by supplying their contact information. However, the problem with this
approach is that content behind registration does not appear in search engine results,
which might diminish corporate visibility. Visibility in search engines can be increased
by actively sharing content with other sites too. (Optaros 2007.)
An alternative approach for companies to harness web 2.0 is by providing customers
with personalized products. First-movers in this strategy are companies such as Kleenex
(mykleenextissue.com), photostamps.com that allows consumers to create stamps from
their own photos, Heinz (myheinz.com) that invites customers to create personalized
labels for ketchup bottles and M&M (mymms.com) allowing customers to select
favorite candy colors and have personalized messages printed on them. Pepsi and Nike

20

also offer similar sorts of personalized products for their customers. Online
communities and virtual worlds enable users and members to become product
developers. Lego was one of the first companies to harness customers as product
developers in their community.
Many companies start to explore social media and communities by establishing their
own internal communities to improve their knowledge management. If the community
proves to be successful, it can be implemented for marketing efforts too. According to a
research by Association of National Advertisers and B2Bonline.com the most effective
Web 2.0 tools perceived by B2B marketers are viral videos (23% of respondents),
podcasts (21%) and blogs (17%). Only 10% of respondents perceived social networks
as effective marketing tools and 8% rated Second Life to be an effective marketing tool.
On the contrary, B2C marketers consider viral videos and social networks to be the most
effective web 2.0 tactics (32% and 36% of respondents) and only 13% see podcasts and
6% see blogs as effective. (eMarketer 2008a.)
In order to reach their customers B2B marketers should find out what social media
tools customers are using and become part of that conversation, wherever it is taking
place. This can be considered a guiding rule when planning web 2.0 marketing
activities. “It’s really who your audience is,” says Kira Purdue, executive vice president
of Trevelino/Keller Communications Group in Charleston. “If you’re a really niche B2B
business, Facebook is probably not for you. But maybe you should create a network on
Ning.” (Frampton 2008). Davis Kho (2008a) argues that corporate strategy and cultural
standpoint should be taken into consideration when choosing social media applications
and technologies. Although marketers need to have an open mind about new marketing
channels, Davis (2006) emphasizes that web 2.0 tools should be selected in accordance
with target groups. This view is supported by marketing practitioners too. It is important
to understand and profile buyers‟ digital footprints online, where they look for
information. Moreover, it is important to understand how buyers use the searched
information in the physical world of their sales organization. This study next discusses
this challenging issue of choosing the right web 2.0 tools.

3.2 Blogs and podcasts

Blogs are one of the first forms of web 2.0 and they include many of the core ideas of
web 2.0: collective producing and sharing of content as well as new policies on the
internet (Hintikka 2007). Currently blogging is one the most common forms of web 2.0.

21

The Pew Internet and American Life Project estimates that 11 % of adults living in the
US read a blog on a daily basis, and 33 % say they have read a blog (Frampton 2008).
Blogs are an example of collective intelligence since they are usually strongly linked
with each other. Blogging has also expanded in the form of video blogging (vlogs). In
the blogosphere information flows extremely fast and widely, due to the interrelated
nature of blogs. Due to this blogs often appear at the top of search engine results. Blog
readers often actively comment on blogs, which makes the form a social medium.
(Hintikka 2007, 27-28.)
For companies blogging offers a new way of informal communication and bring out
the company‟s humanity. When a blog is successfully implemented in use it can help to
strengthen customer relationships (due to both the informal nature and interactive
capabilities of blogs), build the brand, generate leads, improve customer service
(keeping customers informed through the blog among other channels as well), enhance
the reputation of the company (by displaying expertise), and improve search engine
rankings. Companies can also get reputation by commenting on blogs that are popular
and relevant to the business. In this way, companies can participate in the blogosphere
and promote their thoughts in the field.
There can be several blogs for different target groups and authors can be executives,
experts or the whole work community. Many of the popular company blogs are written
by top executives since they act as the face of the company. Successful blog authors
have been for example Sun Microsystem‟s CEO, Jonathan Schwartz; CEO of Apple
Computers, Steve Jobs and the McDonalds Vice President, Bob Langert. Other
enthusiastic employees can also write the company blog, the main thing is that the
content is useful for the readers so that they subscribe to the blog and want to engage in
a conversation with the marketer. It is advisable for bloggers to concentrate on creating
dialogue with readers and to discuss subjects that readers are interested in, as a blog is
not an advertisement. By blogging, a company can demonstrate its expertise, the
collected knowledge and converse with customers. It is fundamental that everything
written in blogs is truthful and honest. For example, Wal-Mart faced a scandal when it
was revealed that a blog praising Wal-Mart was actually written by two of its employees
although it was supposed to be written by unrelated authors (Weber 2007, 15-16). In
addition, blog postings need to be regular in order to be effective channels of interaction
with readers. A good example of well-worked blogging is provided by Dell who

22

managed to change its reputation from being a bad customer service provider to being a
customer-oriented company that contributes to true conversation with its customers by
becoming a part of the blogosphere. Dell has a group of bloggers writing about product
launches, promotions and answering questions from customers to enhance the dialogue
with its customers and to improve its products and services.
The success of blogs can be measured by the number of subscribers and their
comments. However, the number of subscribers does not tell the whole truth, since not
all subscribers see every blog post. The success of the blog also depends on how much
it has been referred to. When starting a company blog, there are several rules that need
to be considered for creating a corporate blogging policy. Blogs should be evaluated
before posting and there should be common rules for what kinds of goals are expected
to reach with blogging. There is also the question of responsibility; is the blog personal
or does it speak for the company? Who are the authors and what are their positions in
the company? Blog authors have also a responsibility for not revealing any confidential
information and securing that content is proper and does not insult anyone.
However, blogging is challenging and there are many obstacles to succeeding with it.
According to a report by Forrester Research (Tietoviikko 2008) most of the blogs
concentrated on business customers do not reach their goals. Blogs do not inspire
readers to comment and take part in the conversation and they also have problems
gathering sufficient audience. The reason for this is the content of blogs. Most blogs
concentrate on repeating the same messages as the companies‟ other communication
without presenting any new ideas. Consequently, the blogs rarely get any comments but
some B2B bloggers have mentioned that they get feedback by email and phone from
their readers since they do not want to give it publicly. The amount of new business
blogs has also decreased. One further problem with blogging is the difficulty in getting
publicity. According to Jon Miller from Marketo (Miller 2007), who is author of the
Modern B2B Marketing blog, one has to write about popular and trendy topics to get
links instead of writing of everyday tactics in B2B marketing.
Podcasts are audio files that can be streamed or downloaded over the internet. They
usually include interviews, commercials or other informative content. Thus, they can be
considered audio newsletters. Moran (2008, 46-47) and Weber (2007, 23) discuss the
opportunities of using podcasts in marketing communication. Podcasts are preferred to

23

radio air time because of their immediacy, low cost and flexible time duration.
Videocasts are essentially similar to podcasts except that they include video.
Podcasts can be used to inform customers about new products and current events in
the industry. A marketer can for example do a podcast interview with some interesting
personality concerning a topic close to the company or include customers to discuss
their opinions about some current topics or products. The podcast can then be published
on a company website where the message is in everyone‟s reach. For example Sun
Microsystems continuously offers podcasts on their page about the latest news from Sun
and interviews with Sun engineers and executives. In one podcast, Sun CEO and an
expert on sustainable development discussed “how the internet and technology can
enable communities and environmental solutions”. (Weber 2007, 181.) The success with
company podcasts can be measured by download counts but it does not tell if it was
actually listened to after downloading so measurement of its effectiveness is difficult.
Blogs and podcasts seem to be attractive web 2.0 tools for B2B marketers, as by
using these companies can provide useful information for their customers. Only viral
videos are considered more effective (eMarketer 2008a).
Table 3. Summary of benefits and drawbacks of blogs and podcasts.
Giving the company more human and informal - Difficult to measure the benefits
image about - Continuous content generation is needed
Conversation with customers - What kind of content is relevant for the
Displaying company’s expertise in the industry customers?

3.3 Social networks

Boyd and Ellison (2008) define social network sites (SNS) as web-based services that
allow individuals to construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system.
Individuals can also articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection,
and view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the
system. Salmenkivi and Nyman (2007, 106-110) note that with these profiles users give
desired impressions of themselves to others and the opportunity to view other users’
profiles strengthens the trust between users. Boyd and Ellison (2008) make remark that
networking with strangers is not the primary practice on many of the SNSs. Instead,
users most often communicate with people who are already a part of their extended
social network. This is the case with for instance Facebook. Conversely, MySpace and
LinkedIn are also used for making new friends and connections with people never met
offline. (Shuen 2008, 92.)

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Social networks have become popular among users. According to the Pew Internet
and American Life Project, an initiative of the Pew Charitable Trusts, 13 % of adults use
an online social networking site daily and 29 % of adults say they have used a
networking site (Frampton 2008). Still globally social networks are not yet that common
while 58 % of adults in 17 countries do not know what social networking is. However,
26 % of 13000 respondents belong to social networking sites. (eMarketer 2008c.)
Most SNSs provide commenting and messaging features, although they are not
universal. Some have also other features such as photo-sharing, video-sharing,
blogging, instant messaging or support for mobile use (Boyd and Ellison 2008). These
kinds of services provide users with tools for data recording and communality (Hintikka
2007, 28). Social network sites can be classified into various subtypes depending on the
purpose. Passion centric SNSs (e.g. Dogster) help strangers connect based on shared
interests. MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and the Finnish IRC-Gallery are examples of
social networks that focus on building and maintaining relationships. Websites that
originally focused on media sharing (e.g. Last FM, Flickr, YouTube) later begn to
implement SNS features (see Figure 2).

1997 Six Degrees.com 2004 Orkut, Dogster
Flickr
1998 Piczo
Mixi
LiveJournal Facebook (Harvard only)
1999 AsiaAvenue Multiply
BlackPlanet aSmallWorld
Dodgeb all
LunarStorm (SNS relaunch) Care2 (SNS relaunch)
2000 MiGente Catster
(SixDegrees closes) Hyves

2001 CyWorld 2005 Yahoo! 360
Ryze YouTube
Xanga (SNS relaunch)
2002 Fotolog Cyworld (China)
Friendster Bebo (SNS relaunch)
Skyblog Facebook (high school networks)
Ning
2003 Couchsurfing AsianAvenue
LinkedIn BlackPlanet (relaunch)
MySpace
Tribe.net 2006 QQ (relaunch)
Open BC/Xing Facebook (corporate networks)
LastFM Windows Live Spaces
Hi5 Cyworld (U.S.)
Twitter
MyChurch
Facebook (everyone)

Figure 2. Timeline of SNS and community site launches (based on Boyd & Ellison 2008).

25

The amount of SNSs launched has been growing especially since 2003. After 2006
numerous new social networks have emerged but they haven‟t reached the levels of
success enjoyed by the most popular SNSs, MySpace and Facebook, and so they are not
mentioned in the list. There are new SNSs also in Finland like Jaiku, Dopplr and Xiha in
addition to IRC-Gallery.

3.3.1 MySpace and Facebook

MySpace was launched in 2003 and started as an open networking environment for
bands and their fans. Both private people and companies can create MySpace profiles.
The service is particularly popular among the youth, who use it for virtually engaging
with people of shared interests. MySpace is still strongly music centered but it aims to
widen its focus to other areas too such as the fashion and motion picture industries.
Advertisers on MySpace try to enhance product value by giving consumers an
opportunity to tag products as friends. By the end of 2007, there were over 100 million
profiles at MySpace. (Salmenkivi and Nyman 2007, 114, 118–120; MySpace 2008.)
Examples of firms in MySpace
 Aquafina: The company launched a contest in which users had a chance to win a
trip to Sundance Film Festival by making the winning Beastie Boys video.
 Dunhill Staffing Systems: Having video clips of staff members introducing
themselves in MySpace. The purpose of this is to bring employees closer to
clients. The company has also considered adding job postings and events to its
profile. This enables a company to introduce itself to its customers in a new way
when compared to a traditional company website.
Facebook is a networking service enabling users to create a profile and network with
each other. It has already about 120 million registered users (Siltala 2008) and in 2007
there were over 50 000 networks or groups consisting of students, company employees
or circles of friends (Salmenkivi and Nyman 2007, 121). Detailed information about
users and the ability to create one‟s own groups in Facebook have attracted companies
to join too. Reaching out to customers through Facebook allows the company to catch
customers‟ attention in a new way. This is perceived as an important tactic in the age of
information overload, when even sorting through personal e-mail can be a chore.
(Frampton 2008.)
“Frankly, I think people are more attentive to Facebook than to their own e-mail at
this point. A big (e-mail) blast, they might just skip over.” (Siegel in Frampton 2008)

26

A successful campaign in a social network site integrates the advertisement and brand
into the community experience while enabling users to participate and create content to
the campaign.
Examples of firms in Facebook
 B’zar clothing boutique: Facebook pages for their store allows them to send new
merchandise updates and other information directly to almost 750 customers.
 Fiery Ron’s Home Team BBQ: A Facebook page keeps the restaurant’s over
550 Facebook fans up-to-date on specials and events through a group page
 Andiamo started a campaign in Facebook (see Figure 3) in spring of 2008 by
introducing its own application which anyone could join. At the moment, the
application has 344 monthly users but there are only a few posts on the wall and
the bulletin board so the application’s interactivity level is low. Andiamo in
Facebook: (http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=8040211415).

Figure 3. Andiamo group in Facebook.

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Different groups in Facebook and MySpace can be considered to be online
communities too since in them members can interact with each other, post comments on
the group‟s wall and bulletin board and also post their own photos and videos to the
group profile. As is the situation in online communities concentrated on a specific
mutual interest of members, members have to be engaged in the subject in order for
them to participate in groups regularly. When considering communities of products and
services, enthusiasm for participating in a community arises from brand loyalty. The
discussion of using communities for marketing also applies to marketing in social
networks. It can be said that the difference between social networks and online
communities is that SNSs are organized around people and communities around
interests.

3.3.2 LinkedIn and ITtoolbox

In the B2B environment, LinkedIn and ITtoolbox are the most important social
networking sites. LinkedIn is a social networking site for business where professionals
can connect each other easily. It has over 30 million members (LinkedIn 2008) and the
user-base is growing steadily. Members’ existing networks and business information are
available for other members. Therefore business networking and making new
connections is easy and safe since a user can get recommendations from other members.
LinkedIn is often used for creating new business contacts or career opportunities.
Another famous professional networking site is ITtoolbox, a vertical industry network
for 1.3 million information technology professionals.

3.4 Benefits and drawbacks of social networks

Social networking services can provide SEO and reputation management benefits for
the company and at best, these sites can help to make valuable new business
connections. According to a report by eMarketer social networks are increasing their
position among B2B marketers, while in 2008 nearly $40 million will be spent on social
network advertising in the US (eMarketer 2008d). Because so many businesspeople are
joining these networks to make professional connections, it also attracts B2B marketers
to join and make these connections. Researchers expect the B2B social marketing trend
to grow to $210 million by 2012 (eMarketer 2008d).
Morrison (2006) reminds us that the LinkedIn and ITtoolbox types of professional
networks focused on professional topics are generally more structured than other kinds

28

of social networks (e.g. MySpace and Facebook) and may have a higher degree of
moderation. This allows them to remain professionally productive which can result in a
safe and predictable advertising environment for a B2B marketer. In professional
networks, the conversation may often relate to the products that B2B marketers are
offering and hence are effective spaces for advertising. In ITtoolbox, for example, it is
possible to match white papers to the conversations users are having with its own
proprietary contextual matching system.
Shuen (2008, 100) also highlights that social networks for business are effective
WOM channels. While a company can get recommendations and find new business
partners via social networks as well as spread the word about new products, bad news
about the company also spreads widely.
Many academics view banner advertising as inefficient marketing (Chatterjee,
Hoffmann and Novak 2003; Briggs and Hollis 1997). Users of MySpace and Facebook
spend on average three and a half hours per month on navigating between different
profiles. A lot of time is spent checking friends‟ pages and updating one‟s own profile
and therefore users do not have time to click banner ads. On the other hand, as ads
featured in networking services can be tailored relevantly to different target groups,
users‟ urge to click ads might increase. (Hamilton 2007.)
The success of groups on social networking sites can be measured by counting fans
and members of the groups and estimating the value of the extended engagement or
exposure they generate. Members‟ comments and postings as well as user-generated
content are the basis for evaluating the success.
Table 4. Summary of benefits and drawbacks of social networks.
Networking possibilities, getting new business
connections - Bad news spread fast
Targeted banner advertising for different groups - Difficult to generate interesting content
Easy way to create an own ―community‖ (group) to lure users to the group or spread the
in there and hence leverage conversation with word about the group.
customers

3.5 Communities

3.5.1 Online communities

According to Kannan, Chang and Whinston (2007) online communities have existed for
a relatively long time since they originate with researchers discussing and cooperating
online while working for projects. Many online services also offered local bulletin

29

boards for groups interested in specific technology issues so they could share content
and discuss using the bulletin boards. The World Wide Web brought many real life
communities online where members could more easily stay in touch with each other and
communities could expand without geographical limits. There were also emerging
communities operating only online, and as e-commerce began to grow, business
oriented communities started emerging too.
Online communities consist of individuals with congruent social needs. Personal
relationships confirm the feeling of engagement that is a base for the certain level of
loyalty to the community. Members‟ contributions to the community consists of the
information content they produce i.e. comments, feedback, attitudes and beliefs as well
as informative needs. (Kannan et al. 2007.) Users also generate other sorts of content to
communities like photos, music and videos.
Communication in online communities happens via instant messaging, blogging,
voting and newsletters. In addition, messages can be sent to private mailboxes,
discussion boards and e-mail (Turban, King, Lee, Warkentin and Chung 2002). Forums
and message boards can also be seen as types of community since they are the places
for the conversation among customers where they send threads about different topics
and also about products and services. WOM communication has a significant position in
online community interaction. It is consumer-intensive marketing communication where
the sender of the message is independent of the marketer. For other users, a sender is
thus considered to be a more reliable and more credible source of information than a
marketer. (Brown, Broderick and Lee 2007.) According to Hagel and Armstrong (1997)
and Kozinets (1999) a community has an influence over its members‟ opinions,
purchase decisions and consumption of products and services. Ratings and reviews
about products and services in the community can create positive WOM, as customers‟
recommendations often influence others which in turn can lead to sales increases.
Algesheimer and Dholakmia (2006 via Weber 2007, 112) researched eBay‟s customers
and found out that customers participating in eBay‟s online communities bid and buy
more than non-participators and also pay higher final prices. According to the research,
eBay earned several million dollars in profit because customers were more active in the
communities and hence trading more.
Online communities can be divided into member-initiated, organization sponsored or
brand centered and third-party established communities (Table 5).

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Table 5. Classification of online communities (Porter 2004; Kannan et al. 2007).
Type of Focus Examples Why consumers Why companies
community participate participate
Member- Mutual interests of Aukea.net, Bonding with each Opportunity for
initiated members (like KonsoliFIN other, information targeted advertising
communities hobbies), maintaining BBS and content sharing,
relationships emphasizing one’s
own individuality
Organization- Brand building, Community Product information, Reaching one’s
sponsored business transactions, by Dell and information and target audience,
communities/ maintaining customer Salesforce, content sharing, getting feedback
Brand relationships Mozilla emphasizing one’s from members
communities community identity with about products and
community services, product
membership, development with
participating in customers,
product development increasing loyalty
of their customers
Third-party Business transactions; eBay Safe environment for Opportunity for
established marketplaces business transactions targeted advertising
communities maintained by
intermediaries

Companies join online communities since they can approach their target audience
through them. Companies can either solely settle on banner advertising in different
online communities or then establish their own communities. Online communities bring
together users with similar interests and hence it is easy for marketers to target their
marketing messages at different interest groups instead of according to demographic
factors. Targeting for group is more cost-effective than one-to-one targeting (Weber
2007, 37). But people most often want to have control over what sort of media content
they are exposed to. Therefore, consumers may perceive even well targeted marketing
campaigns as annoying. (Salmenkivi and Nyman 2007, 105).
Consumers‟ reason for joining a community is usually the content delivered by the
community and hence the quality of this content is the key issue. If the administrators of
the community provide the content, they are responsible for the quality. However, if the
content is created by the members, administrators are responsible for supervising the
content and ensuring that it will not bother the members. (Kannan et al. 2007.) It is
imperative for the community to generate new and interesting content continuously in
order to retain the existing members and attract new members (Rothaermel and
Sugiyama 2001). Antikainen (2007, 162-163, 170) argues that even though members are
the focus in online communities, the maintainer also has a significant role. A maintainer
needs to enhance discussion by offering interesting themes and related content. The

31

maintainer‟s role is highlighted in professional communities, where members want
answers to their problems and the maintainer cannot remain passive.
In this review, the organization sponsored/brand communities are discussed next in
more detail since those are the ones companies have established for their customers.
B2B marketers seem to be using communities more than social networks. Research and
development communities are becoming popular and for example Mozilla Corporation
and Dell in cooperation with Salesforce.com have managed to introduce such
communities successfully. Both are using their communities to get new ideas and
feedback from customers for creating and developing their products and services. In the
community managed by Dell and Salesforce.com participants can give ideas and talk
about issues and then vote as a community about those ideas that should be
implemented. Hence, company online communities can be a valuable channel of
customer information such as demographic factors, attitudes and preferences as well as
customers‟ buying behavior (Antikainen 2007, 169; Kannan et al. 2007). These
communities can also be used for relationship marketing purposes because of the
enhanced two-way communication.
There are four types of relationships in organization sponsored/brand communities
(Antikainen 2007, 120), which are presented in Table 6.
Table 6. Relationship types in organization sponsored/brand communities (based on
Antikainen 2007).
Types of Member-member relationship Member- Member- Member-
relationships maintainer brand service (used
in brand relationship relationship technology)
communities relationship
Attraction Opportunity for knowledge knowledge Reputation of Content,
factor exchange with others and exchange with the service variety
entertainment features such as maintainers community and usability
discussing and gaming with one
another

When planning an organization sponsored/brand community, a company needs to
take into account how to concentrate on these different sorts of factors. However,
encouraging interaction between members by enhancing discussion and offering
effective services as well as encouraging positive WOM, companies can influence how
these relationships evolve. (Antikainen 2007, 123, 133, 135, 170.)
Organization sponsored communities are also called brand communities. Higher
levels of participation in a brand community seem to foster loyalty towards the
preferred brand in new product adoption and oppositional loyalty towards competing

32

brands, if there are comparable products from the preferred brand. When a desired
product is only available from a rival, a higher level of participation in the preferred
brand community does not affect the likelihood of adopting products from competing
brands. However, belonging to several competing brand communities can reverse the
relationship between participation and the adoption of rival products. Higher levels of
participation in a brand community can surprisingly increase the likelihood of adopting
a new product from a rival. This means that the motivation for participating in a brand
community can also be dissatisfaction with the brand. In the situation of overlapping
participation in brand communities marketers have to be careful, since efforts to
increase customers‟ participation in a brand community can benefit rival communities.
In these cases, it is essential to identify those members who do not hold overlapping
memberships and promote participation to them. (Thompson and Sinha 2008.)
As is the case with social networks, the success of an online community is measured
by evaluating the engagement of members, i.e. the amount of comments posted and the
content generated by them as well as the popularity of the community.
Table 7. Benefits and drawbacks of online communities.
More feedback from customers - Needs a lot of resources to maintain
Maintaining relationships and gathering - How to take the negative comments and posts
information by customers?
Increasing brand loyalty - How to get customers to participate?

3.5.2 Content communities

Content communities are sites that concentrate on distributing photos, videos and other
content created by users. The sense of community is only a by-product. These
communities are effective tools for viral marketing efforts. The video sharing site
YouTube, the photo sharing site Flickr and on wiki-based site Wikipedia are the most
famous examples of these communities.

3.5.2.1 Video sharing sites

YouTube, founded in 2005, is a content sharing site that has become the most popular
forum for user-generated videos as well as advertising videos. YouTube is an excellent
channel for viral marketing efforts since users can easily spread video links via email,
social networking sites and other web 2.0 tools. The content of the video is in the key,
since it has to get the attention of the public to spread in networks. According to
research by eMarketer (2008b) online video advertising is currently reaching a critical

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mass, as 67% of internet users view some form of video advertising (in-stream, in-
banner or in-text) at least once a month. One reason for the success of video advertising
is the increase in professional-quality video content.
Viral videos used to market a company‟s product or service can be successful if their
content is interesting enough for the public. Nearly 25 % of B2B marketers considers
viral videos to be the most effective web 2.0 tool (eMarketer 2008a). A company can use
YouTube to get a large audience for its advertisement video. A video posted on YouTube
can also be linked and shown on the company‟s website, at tradeshows and in
presentations and therefore one video can be used in a variety of ways in the company‟s
marketing activities. While viral videos have mainly been popular among B2C
marketers in their brand building efforts, B2B marketers have started to use viral videos
too. Viral videos can be measured by views and by engagement i.e. marketers should
look for comments, ratings and people who have tagged a video as favorite.
Examples of video campaigns in YouTube
 Will It blend? campaign by Blendtec. The company shot videos where the
founder of the company, Tom Dickson, attempts to blend different kinds of
objects such as iPhones and golf balls in a blender to show off its power. These
videos spread virally via YouTube attracting a over 5 million viewers.
Consequently people also began to make their own versions of Will it blend?
videos to send to YouTube. According to Dickson the campaign had a
significant impact on sales (Squid News 2007, Wikipedia).
 Software producer Solid Works made a successful viral video where a famous
origami artist competes against their software in making a robot.
(http://www.solidworks.com/pages/programs/torimoto/index.htm.)
 An advertising video by wind energy company Epuron has also attracted a great
number of views (some 75.000) in YouTube due to its brilliant idea and content.
 Tandberg advertises its online conferencing tools in YouTube using a more
traditional content. Tandberg’s viral videos have been viewed some 6.000 times.
 SONY, Frito-Lay’s and Sunkist have partnered with talented amateurs who
create viral films or television commercials for the companies (Constantinides
and Fountain 2008).

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3.5.2.2 Photo sharing sites

Photo sharing sites are concentrated on photos that members can upload on the page.
Users can add captions and comments to photos and also tag them with different
keywords that makes the photos easily searchable. Users can also create groups for
different subjects and in these communities, members are also able to chat with each
other. Flickr has become the most popular photo sharing site among users and now
companies have started to create their own groups on Flickr. In addition to Flickr there
are other photo sharing services such as Pikeo, dotPhoto and Picasa.
 Ford sponsors a group in Flickr with over 2 000 members asking for imaginative
images that can be later used by Ford in other sites.
(http://www.flickr.com/groups/thisisnow/)

3.5.2.3 Wikis

Wikis are software applications that enable multiple users to edit websites. Perhaps the
most famous example of an application built on wiki software is Wikipedia — the
largest encyclopedia in the world functioning in an open source community fashion, as
users can edit the entries. (Tapscott and Williams 2008, 18, 71.) According to Moran
(2008, 51) wikis offer a new way of information sharing in public and with customers.
Marketers can use wikis for discussing product plans, solving support problems and
generating ideas. Wikis can also be used for more private discussion with customers by
limiting the access to the wiki. It is also possible to collect feedback and create a feel of
communality among businesses and customers. This web 2.0 tool has been trialed in
B2B environments over the past few years.
 In an attempt to unravel the genetic basis of type 2 diabetes, the Swiss drug
maker Novartis released all of its raw data on the internet for free. The aim of
this maneuver was to share some intellectual property in order to contribute to
the pharmaceutical industry’s growth.
 IBM has handed over software and resources, worth hundreds of millions of
dollars, to Linux thus saving in development costs and generating billions in
revenue from Linux-related services.
Sharing resources can indeed be productive, especially for large corporations.
However, if a relatively small company operating in extremely competitive markets

35

decides to share its expertise, it could very easily lose its competitive edge to larger
players in the industry. (Moran 2008, 51; Tapscott and Williams 2008, 161, 253.)
Table 8. Benefits and drawbacks of content communities.
- Difficulty of creating content interesting enough for
Effective for viral marketing efforts
viral marketing
Brand building
- Difficulty of activating users to spread the message
Information sharing with customers and participate

3.5.3 Forums and bulletin boards

Forums and message boards are places for conversation among customers who can send
threads about different topics and about products and services. Marketers need to be
aware of what customers are saying about their products in these forums and what kind
of feedback they are giving. It is advisable to join the conversation since the company’s
reputation on message boards can affect sales. (Moran 2008, 51.)
Companies can also display their expertise by participating in the conversation. Apart
from the interaction with customers, it is also possible to generate leads on bulletin
boards and target advertising. To measuring the effectiveness of its participation in
forums, a company must evaluate responses and comments of users and how useful the
forum is for acquiring new customers.
There are numerous portals and forums devoted to B2B markets. In these forums, it is
possible to interact with other companies and do business. Examples of B2B market
portals and forums:
B2bexchanges (http://www.b2bexchanges.com),
Alibaba (http://www.alibaba.com), Zentrada (http://www.zentrada.eu),
Go4worldbusiness (http://www.go4worldbusiness.com/) (Samiee 2008).
Table 9. Benefits and drawbacks of forums and bulletin boards.
Conversation with customers - Needs continuous follow-up of the discussion
Acquiring new customers - How to protect the company’s image on forums?

3.6 Content aggregators

Content aggregators are RSS feeds, social bookmarking sites, other tagging services and
widgets.
RSS feeds are newsfeeds that report the changes on a certain website. Readers can
subscribe to RSS feeds in order to get timely updates from websites they favor without
having to visit them continuously. RSS feeds are also an easy way for the content
provider to notify about new information on websites. RSS feeds are commonly used to

36

report news headlines and blog updates but they are also used for press and stock
exchange releases, as well as to publish information about new products. Traditionally
newsletters have been used for this purpose but RSS feeds are easier and more real time
in nature. RSS feeds represent two of the cornerstones of web 2.0: dynamics and
interactivity. With RSS feeds, it is easy to reach a target audience that is willing to
receive news from the publisher. (Hintikka 2007, 25-26.)
Direct marketing by email has become challenging since it can be easily considered
spam and customers may ignore it. RSS feeds offer another way of direct marketing
because customers subscribe to the content they are interested in without having to give
any personal information about themselves, such as an e-mail address. This lowers the
barrier to acceptance of direct marketing messages. (Moran 2008, 42-43.) Despite the
advantages of RSS feeds, they are not widely used by B2B marketers yet. A marketer
can estimate his success by how many subscribers there are for RSS feeds.
Table 10. Benefits of RSS feeds.
Easy and cheap to report the news from the company
Direct marketing for interested subscribers without giving personal information

Social bookmarking sites help to organize interesting content on the internet. The idea
behind social bookmarking is that users can determine which stories get publicity on the
web by tagging and reviewing news and stories and bookmarking them in order to find
them easily. Marketers can tag posts they publish (e.g. blog postings) with particular
words in order to show the posts in search results for those people looking for
information about the subject in question. (Moran 2008, 92-93.) An example of a social
bookmarking site is Delicious.com in which users‟ bookmarks can be stored online. A
marketer can estimate his success by how much of his content is bookmarked in social
bookmarking sites.
Table 11. Benefits and drawbacks of social bookmarking.
- Difficult to create content interesting enough
Help to increase the audience for marketer’s
that would be tagged and would get
content
recommendations

Widgets are mini applications that provide a single utility or service to the user like
the current weather or a dictionary. They can reside either locally on a computer (like
Yahoo!Widgets that need to be downloaded onto the computer) or on HTML (like those
provided by Typepad for its bloggers). The difference between these two formats is the
amount of users. Widgets that reside locally are useful only to the person who installed

37

them. Ten thousand installs means an engaged audience of ten thousand. On the
contrary, widgets that appear on a personal site or blog are seen and potentially used by
all of that site's visitors. Here, ten thousand installs could mean that actually the
application is used by hundreds of thousands. When the widgets are intended to sit on
web pages, like some popular blogs, it is important that the visitors of the site are the
target group for the marketer, as with banner advertising. Widgets can be used for brand
building efforts since they can give precise information about products. Their function is
less to drive traffic on the website but more to engage users to the brand (Pishevar
2006). The success of a widget can be measured by the amount of downloads and usage.
Examples :
 Acura: Developed the Acura RDX Traffic widget that delivers real-time
information about traffic flow, traffic incidents, road construction, and traffic
speed of specific area to a user's computer.
 The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam: Has developed a widget that is updated
daily with a new picture from the museum's collection. An icon on the picture
spins it around when clicked, revealing the piece's title, artist, date, some
historical background, and of course a link back to the museum's website.
Table 12. Benefits of widgets.
Content rich and interesting widgets get users and engage them with continuously updated content.
Easy to measure their popularity since widgets usually include a mechanism reporting back on
when they are used (Bernoff 2008).

3.7 Virtual worlds

Henttonen (2008) describes virtual worlds as a medium in which users communicate
and interact in real time. Users communicate via avatars, which distinguishes virtual
worlds from other social media and networking platforms, making them a separate type
of social media. Henttonen defines avatars as virtual bodies of users that allow
interaction and communication with other users. Messinger, Stroulia and Lyons (2008)
describe avatars as 3D representations of people and their alter egos in virtual worlds.
Virtual worlds also typically include commercial elements such as a ―local‖ currency,
many different marketplaces and communities (Barnes 2007).
A characteristic of a virtual world is that it is often a substitute for the real world.
However, this varies depending on the type of world in question. In Second Life, for
instance, virtuality is mixed with the reality of the physical world. Henttonen (2008)

38

argues that it is often difficult to draw a line between virtual worlds and online games.
Messinger et al. (2008) suggest that virtual worlds are a blend of elements related to 3D
gaming environments and online social networking. The origins of virtual worlds can be
traced back to the development of video gaming industry. Later social networking sites
then influenced the development of virtual worlds.
Messinger et al. (2008) present a categorization model for virtual worlds adapted
from Porter‟s (2004) typology of virtual communities. Virtual worlds can then be
categorized based on their 1) purpose (content of interaction), 2) place (location of
interaction), 3) platform (design of interaction), 4) population (pattern of interaction),
and 5) profit model (return of interaction). This typology helps in identifying future
applications and research topics revolving around virtual worlds, and to analyze which
kinds of virtual worlds could be the most interesting for a firm to engage in.
Although virtual worlds are typically associated with gaming and used for
entertainment purposes, much activity is growing in the realms of business. Numerous,
prominent real life brands from various industries have gained presence through Second
Life. According to Barnes (2007) there are over 100 real life brands in this particular
world. Second Life also features retailing and service businesses and users can, for
instance, own stores, rent real estate or manage clubs (Messinger et al. 2008). For
instance, Reuters has assigned a technology reporter to Second Life to cover stories
happenening there. The reporter‟s avatar has become the news supplier for millions of
Second Life members. (Weber 2007, 93).
As with web 2.0 solutions in general, business applications within virtual worlds
mainly revolve around B2C marketing. Barnes (2007) has researched virtual worlds as a
medium for advertising. Possible modes of advertising include product placement of 3D
objects, billboards, radio, musical performances, movies and videos, „advergames‟ and
cross-promotional offers and activities. The benefit is that all these advertising modes
can be embedded into one channel. However, a lack of proper metrics exists — as is the
case with other social media too. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to evaluate the
effectiveness of advertising in virtual worlds.
Although current marketing in virtual worlds is consumer-based, applications for
B2B environments are also possible. Messinger et al. (2008) forecast mechanisms
facilitating supplier-manufacture or manufacture-retailer relationships as one possible
future B2B application within virtual worlds. Virtual worlds are ideal environments for

39

including customers in product development activities since vivid experiments on
products can encourage customers to offer versatile suggestions for product
improvements. However, it might be difficult to get users to participate and make the
effort. Kohler (2008, 193-201, 207-210) found in his research that in order to attract
users (avatars) to join the co-creation process a company needs to provide media rich,
desirable and interactive virtual places for them. It is vital for the environment to
encourage visitors‟ creativity and inspiration. A collaborative dimension is essential for
a compelling co-creation experience since consumers seek to interact with like-minded
users as well as with the company. Creating events for avatars for enhancing social
interaction among them and offering opportunities to get feedback from others, engage
users in an intensive co-creation process. The perceived usefulness of the co-creation
addresses motivations that draw users in to participate and engage. The chance to
challenge one‟s skills, learn, and get recognition from other avatars motivate users and
entertaining and playful features and a compelling storyline make the experience fun
and engaging. Usability is also a core factor in determining a compelling co-creation
experience since good navigation and clear structure simplify users‟ virtual experience.
Although it is not a dimension that engages participants to the same degree as the other
dimensions, it is vital, since good usability removes many of the negative aspects.
Companies should focus on offering users an active role in the virtual world and make
the co-creation entertaining and motivating.
Kadavasal, Dhara, Wu and Krishnaswamy (2007) introduce a mixed reality model for
enhancing business communications using virtual worlds. The goal is to use
communications in bridging the gap between real and virtual world services. The
authors argue that by bringing customers an experience closer to reality, it is possible to
provide good customer service using virtual worlds. This is achieved by using advanced
communication technology that is currently still not widely used within virtual worlds.
Research shows that 9 out of 10 virtual world projects started by companies fail. A
common reason for failure is strong focus on technology at the expense of user needs.
In addition, virtual world projects are often launched solely on the basis of corporate
image. When this is the case companies fail to consider both project objectives and user
expectations. Nevertheless, the Gartner Research Company believes that intrinsic
company virtual worlds will become common in the future. (Digitoday 2008.)

40

Popular virtual worlds are, among others, Second Life, World of Warcraft, Kaneva,
Entropia Universe, Google Earth, Webkinz, Neopets, Club Penguin, Whyville, TyGirlz
and Habbo (Henttonen, 2008; Messinger et al. 2008; Barnes, 2007). The best known
virtual world is Second Life. In March 2007, 1.3 million people ran the official software
and logged into Second Life. This represents an increase of 46 % in the number of
active residents from January 2007 (ComScore 2007).
Table 13. Benefits and drawbacks of virtual worlds.
Real life kind of experiences of products/services - How to allure people into virtual worlds?
Joint product development and collaboration with - The difficulty to keep the virtual world
customers simple and easy to use

3.8 Summary of web 2.0 tools

Web 2.0 tools help a company to inform customers of the latest news and new products
and in acquiring new customers. In addition, the tools offer new ways for brand
building and customer relationship management and improving product development
activities. Benefits related to different web 2.0 tools are summarized in Table 14.
Table 14. Benefits of different web 2.0 tools.
Blogs, Social Content Virtual
Communities
podcasts networks aggregators worlds
Information about the company,
X X X X X
new products and latest events
Brand building X X X X X
Lead generation X X X
Research and development X X X
Strengthening customer
X X X X
relationships

Different web 2.0 tools bring different marketing communications opportunities for
companies (see Table 15). While blogs, podcasts and content aggregators are used to
inform customers about the latest news in the company, communities, profiles in social
networks and virtual worlds provide opportunities for a deeper interaction between
marketer and customer.

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Table 15. Using different web 2.0 tools.
Tool Use Strengths Weaknesses Measuring
Blogs and Informing of Easy and cheap Requires time and Number of
podcasts current events and tool to maintain constant updating viewers,
new products comments,
downloads
Social Content sharing, Easy to set up a How to persuade Amount of
networks creating and profile, possible users to participate? members/fans in
maintaining targeted the profile; amount
relationships advertising of UGC in the
profile
Communities Maintaining Intense two-way Requires lots of Amount of
customer communication resources to maintain members; amount
relationships, brand of UGC in the
building community
Content Informing of new Easy to use Content needs to be Number of
aggregators products interesting enough to subscribers/tags/
be tagged downloads
Virtual Maintaining Engaging Requires lots of Users’ participation
worlds customer customers resources to maintain; activity
relationships, brand effectively inducing users to
building participate

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4 The future of web 2.0
When discussing the future of web 2.0 and possible business models based on web 2.0
applications, some ideas and visions were found, but it is still largely unclear how these
business models relate to industrial markets, because these presented ideas are still more
on a general level.
Business models are expected to evolve in direction where users have an even more
central role than before. Unfortunately, internet users take more and more of the
services for granted and are not willing to pay for them, so real value should be offered
in order to make profits. What will also be valuable in the future are high quality
content, good usability and user interface design. The facility for the customer on the
internet to customize the products will be even more important, and that can be done by
the customer on the internet. Now even technology platforms are provided free.
Industrial firms could offer their expert services, or consulting, on the internet to a
broader market. Firms could benefit from active users through crowd sourcing. Active
and innovative users could provide ideas and designs and would then be recompensed
for them. Widgets could be utilized more to automatize repetitive tasks such as orders or
FAQs. Mobile technologies will enable a variety of services to be developed, for
example by utilizing location information for offering services.
The discussion of what happens after web 2.0 is ongoing. Some expect the evolution
of the internet to continue with web 3.0. What then would web 3.0 look like? Would it
involve social media integrating more tightly with businesses? Will it mean ubiquitous
media? Will it be mobile internet? Or will it be all that with artificial intelligence added?
Or physical browsing? That view highlights the possibility of a semantic web, meaning
more intelligent internet applications which can help users to get more accurate
information more easily because of the applications‟ information processing capability.
Mobile devices would investigate the surroundings and then connect to available
services, and by using location information with the information it has about its user‟s
preferences, for example, it would then suggest the kind of information and services that
could interest the user. It is all aimed at supporting the individual in what she or he is
about to do and at providing further ideas and suggestions. However, there are doubts
about the term web 3.0 and its introduction in the near future. While there is still no

43

specific definition for web 3.0, it is impossible to say how it will be different from web
2.0. Web 2.0 is evolving anyway and while new services are created for users and
companies, we can assume that web 2.0 tools will become integral parts of companies‟
internet marketing actions in some way or another. Moreover, it is believed that the
significance of the internet in general will continue to grow in the future.
Some think that the internet will be increasingly based on videos rather than texts and
pictures. Real time communications will continue to grow including question and
answer services, intervention chats (e.g. starting a conversation with a visitor to the
firm‟s website), offering customer support and services, making internet communication
more efficient and personal. Overall, users will continue to produce and utilize content
and engage with internet communities and forums to an even greater extent. Perhaps
there will be two kinds of communality: one based on users‟ own ideas and stories, and
the other communality based on sharing knowledge and facts, developing open
knowledge bases. Some think that there are no technological breakthroughs in sight;
that html will rule the near future as well. It is good to remember that on a global level,
the sophistication of IT infrastructures, especially internet connections, varies
remarkably; there exists a great digital divide. To make the internet really explode will
require the rest of the world to catch up with pacesetters‟ internet connection speeds.
Thus, the key words for future are real time communication, integration, location
information, and transparency. Many of them are happening already, but no-one knows
how things will evolve.
Marketing communications will be happening more in real time and in direct
contact with the customer offering real time knowledge of customer needs. In
addition to usability, feeling will be an equal part of the communication or usage
experience in direct real-time communication.
All services currently requiring a log in with different user names and
passwords, will be integrated under a single log in making it easier to use and
move between services, but also safer. There are new emerging services called
social aggregators that integrate popular social networks together so that
updating users’ profiles in different social networks can be done through this
one site (Hipp, 2008). In addition, Google has addressed this issue through its
OpenSocial project that to transport social graphs between networks. The
company is also developing ―universal‖ avatars that can move between virtual

44

worlds (Messinger et al., 2008). Everyone will have their own portal, ubiquitous
ID. On the other hand, this ubiquitous society and semantic web have been
envisaged since the 1990s, but still they are not reality.
An interesting type of integration happens when social media are integrated as
a part of businesses. That is a challenge but also a huge opportunity, but the type
of business models are is hard to envisage in advance.
Integration happens between internet and mobile devices. The internet will be
ubiquitous, however, the experts do not see the internet and services adapting to
mobile devices, but quite the contrary: mobile devices will be developed to
better suite ―normal‖ internet browsing. The interaction between the user and
their surroundings increases. The answer is not to develop ―mobile only‖
services or a ―mobile internet‖, but service packages, where the mobile is just
another channel. The idea is that usability is of high quality no matter which
device you use to connect to the internet. The role of the current operators is still
unclear in this picture, and it is believed that their role will change.
Location information will be more openly available and used. Now it is not
actively used even though it would already be possible to get some services for
your mobile phone depending on whether we let service providers use our
location information or not. Location information will be utilized for providing
mobile services, campaigns, information search, queries, and buying. However,
it is believed that location information has a greater role in consumer than
business markets, especially concerning triggering buying, but perhaps it will be
utilized in offering location based services.
Transparency is initiated by social networking being based on real identities,
and companies are expected to follow suit. From there comes the communality:
the firm stands in the same line with its suppliers, customers, general public and
other stakeholders. The company has an environmental and social responsibility
covering its whole value chain. Everything a firm does will be transparent and a
firm is responsible for and to every other stakeholder. A firm can be grilled
publicly about any observed fault. Transparency also means more opportunities
for open innovation and sharing knowledge and skills if firms have the courage
to open up. That might require some reforms in IPR legislation.

45

PART 2 - INTERVIEW SUMMARY

A FINNISH PERSPECTIVE ON INDUSTRIAL WEB 2.0
MARKETING PRACTICE

46

5 Internet, web 2.0 and industrial marketing in the Finnish context

5.1 Interviews

Marketing personnel from six Finnish industrial firms and four web 2.0 experts were
interviewed for this summary (see Table 16). The themes raised in the interviews were
similar to the themes on the literature review. The purpose was to gather and compare
the views from Finnish industrial companies and web 2.0 experts. Interviews took place
between November 2008 and January 2009. The industrial firms’ interviewees had only
limited experience with web 2.0 at work, because social media is still a newcomer in
industrial marketing, but that makes their views on the obstacles of utilizing web 2.0
even more interesting. Next, the insights from the interviews are presented to provide a
view on current state of web 2.0 in the Finnish industrial setting.
Table 16. Interviewees and their related experience.
Interviewees in no specific order Marketing experience Work related web 2.0
experience
1. Manager, marketing communications About 5 years Not much
2. Manager, product marketing About 10 years Not much
3. VP, web communications About 5 years Some
4. Officer, external communications Ander 5 years Not much
5. Strategist, a marketing agency Under 10 years Under 5 years
6. Analyst, consulting company Under 10 years, not marketing Under 5 years
but internet related technologies
7. Manager, marketing About 10 years Some
8. Researcher Over 10 years of internet About 5 years
research, not marketing
9. Manager, consulting company (not known) About 3 years
10. Three managers (not known) Under 3 years

5.2 Changes in marketing communications

Besides the growing importance of the internet for marketing, our interviewees have
experienced other kinds of changes in marketing communications too. The price of
internet marketing has increased at the same speed as the internet has gained a foothold
in the marketing channels. Search engine marketing is essential. Firms find it easier to
get their messages published than before due to the internet. Recruiting has almost
completely moved to the internet. 3D technologies are also more often used in
marketing communications to visualize offerings that are built to order and this service
can be provided through the internet. Marketing communication in B2B fields has
slowly shifted from a technology orientation toward a more customer-oriented way of

47

presenting the products and their benefits. Several of the industrial firm interviewees
felt that marketing communication in general is now a more difficult field to manage,
because there are so many channels, and inside the channels there has been growth and
fragmentation. For example, the number of professional and industry related
publications has grown.
When discussing changes in internet marketing communications, the key word is
interaction, which is mainly a product of the exponentially growing number of internet
users involved in social media. Discussion forums and bulletin boards were the prelude
for web 2.0. One big change with web 2.0 discussed by an interviewed expert has been
that it is based on real identities and that sets conditions around firms‟ communications
too. The firm has to have, even more than before, a clear and unified corporate “voice”
and manner of communication, and it has an increased responsibility to adhere to its
corporate values in every act of communication, because if it should not, the word
would spread very quickly through communities and networks. The borders of the
company are more transparent than ever before. In the examined industrial firms this
same topic presents a brand management challenge caused by increasingly open
communication with individual customers and viral marketing, but currently these
phenomena concern consumer marketing more than B2B marketing. However, B2B
firms have also had to prepare themselves to deal with negative WOM, for example.
Thus, the first quakes caused by the internet made firms transform their marketing
communications into digital form, but now web 2.0 affects how marketing
communication is done and what the message is.

5.3 The role of the internet for Finnish industrial marketing

The impact of the internet and investments in internet marketing have been growing in
industrial markets, but traditional marketing communication channels and personal
contacts have maintained their position, especially when unique, complex solutions are
sold and the number of potential customers is low. It was stated that when the targeted
market is narrow, the quality of marketing is more crucial than the selected channels to
do that. As one interviewee said, the reality has broadened to include several media, and
therefore it is important to utilize multiple channels and their benefits.
Personal contacts, direct marketing, all kinds of printed and digital promotional
materials, exhibitions and seminars, advertising in professional journals and magazines,
white papers, scientific articles and extranets are used by nearly all the surveyed firms.

48

In the field of internet marketing, firms have built corporate websites, optimized search
engines, commissioned banner adverts on industry related portals and communities, sent
newsletters and customer magazines, and carried out extranet services for existing
customers, but web 2.0 tools have not been utilized to any remarkable degree. The
internet is seen as a channel through which contact new prospective customers and to do
international marketing, because realizing international print-based marketing
campaigns is expensive.
The experts‟ view is that the role of the internet will be even greater in the future and
even though it might not seem so now, business marketing may experience the
transformation from traditional channels to the internet even faster than consumer
marketing. However, referring to our firm representatives, the opportunities and the
importance of the internet as a communication tool - its use for customer acquisition,
communications and marketing - are not as clear to some firms as to others, thus the
attitude toward utilizing the internet for marketing purposes varies between firms.
There was consensus among interviewees that the ultimate benefits (see Table 17) for
benefits and drawbacks) that the internet offers are cheap, easy and fast communication
to large audiences all over the world, and that targeted communication is cost efficient.
However, internet marketing is not thoroughly planned or systematic, which makes
these benefits harder to attain, as one interviewee said: “Ten years we have been doing
this web marketing, especially in business-to-business markets. So it is still like we
throw the nets into the water and if there is no fish, we just throw it to another place
tomorrow and wish that we have better luck.” On the other hand the literature seems to
encourage experimenting as a good way to find the most suitable internet marketing
options for a firm, because it can be done fast and the costs of that kind of learning are
low when using the internet.

49

Table 17. Benefits and drawbacks of internet marketing as seen by the interviewees.
Benefits Drawbacks
Easy and fast to change and update information Offers same benefits to competitors too
Information delivered fast and broadly with low Information is fragmented: you must know what
costs to look for and how to be found
Communication independent of location Other channels are still needed
Global mass media, potential audience is huge Unreliability: hard to correct wrong information,
Cost-effective global targeted communication anyone can publish anything
Reaches audiences difficult to reach otherwise Uncontrollable: no-one controls information on
Operates 24/7 the internet, negative WOM, difficult to erase
Good measurability compared to print information once put there
Good traceability (e.g. of website visitors) Uncertainty of whether internet really reaches the
Good contacts: a website visitor is already targeted audience
interested in the firm Still difficult to get support for developing internet
People spend more time with web pages than solutions and services due to lack of proof of
with brochures financial results
Interactivity Ease of contacting may also to irritate - means of
Possibility to put links to more information or initiating contact must be carefully thought out for
buying options every target

The position of company websites as the major internet marketing avenue has not
been threatened. The corporate website is a collective medium integrating all central
information on the firm, and other channels guide internet traffic to the website, where
more information and contacts are available. At the same time, many of the surveyed
industrial firms have considered making their websites more interactive. This reflects
the overall change from an internet based on monologues to one built on dialogues. It is
still unclear to many firms who actually visits their website and who are the targeted
audience. Some firms think that websites are mostly visited by students and so fail to
attract potential customers. Personal contact is more important to existing customers
than web-based communication (but many firms offer extranet services to existing
customers), therefore company websites are mostly aimed at new customers, investors,
and potential employees, hoping to lead to a personal contact with those who do not
know the firm yet or who are not known by the firm. Therefore, in addition to corporate
websites, firms have been taking care that they are found, and put the firm into different
directories, search engines and listings. Communities and the opportunity to create
awareness of the firm through them have raised some interest but efforts in that area
have been modest so far.

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6 Web 2.0 tools and their use
Some interviewees believe that web 2.0 is fad that will quickly pass and doubt whether
it is that important for industrial marketing, or at least, in their field of business; and
others think that it is here to stay. The expert interviewees were in general more positive
toward web 2.0 and its possibilities than interviewees from the industrial firms were.
The examined firms had limited or no experience of utilizing web 2.0 tools in
marketing (see Table 18), but many of them were very interested in and currently
exploring its possibilities. Firm interviewees had used web 2.0 applications in their
private lives but not at work, and many firms had until recently blocked access to online
communities, content sharing and social networking sites. Among the examined firms,
campaigns that have really utilized web 2.0 have not been conducted. The interviewees
thought that to be the situation in their industry in general. Many firm interviewees were
aware of internet communities, blogs and forums related to their field, but real examples
of viral B2B marketing campaigns, or how to utilize web 2.0 efficiently (or at all) in
industrial marketing were barely mentioned. Web 2.0 marketing was thought to be more
relevant to consumer than industrial marketing, which was seen as a conservative field
of marketing. Firms already familiar with the digital world, in the IT industry for
example, were also thought to adapt faster to web 2.0 than industrial firms.
Table 18. Web 2.0 tools and their use among examined firms.
Tools Usage among six examined firms
Blogs One firm has one (unofficial) management level blog, one is preparing a video blog,
one is planning an internal blog or a blog to existing customers. Three firms have none.
Podcasts One firm has its CEO letter in webcast format (but there is no commenting option) and
has done pilots for online teaching. Five firms have none.
Social Four firms have unofficial groups in Facebook for internal networking. One has a more
networks official Facebook group but does not know yet what to do with it. One firm has none.
Online One firm has done some advertising in industrial communities and joined some
communities communities and directories. One has used communities to search for information on
other firms and customers. Three firms mention that customer extranets are the most
important online communities for them. One firm mentions nothing.
Content One firm had an official and one had unofficial videos on YouTube. Two firms plan to
communities build a wiki and one has tried to contribute to existing ones. One firm mentions
nothing.
Forums Not participated in or utilized actively, even though one firm takes part in some
professional forums.
Content One firm builds a mash-up for their website and three firms offer RSS feeds.
aggregators One firm is interested in social bookmarking.
Virtual Not utilized.
worlds

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Blogs, video sharing services, and wikis attracted the most interest and some firms
had plans to utilize those, but none of them had already heavily invested in them. Many
firms expressed an interest in using social media applications to make internal
communication in the firm more efficient and to enhance cooperation and content
sharing. Some had already done that and planned to try that with partners too. An expert
opinion was that perhaps the most suitable web 2.0 tools for industrial marketing are
online communities, where a firm can directly interact with customers and other
stakeholders, gain valuable information and provide services. That could be seen as
contributing to imago building too. Communities were not, however, considered as a
very appealing alternative among interviewees from industrial firms. Overall, different
channels should be managed as a whole, so the question is not how to utilize web 2.0 or
which tools to use, but what can web 2.0 add to firm‟s whole marketing strategy.
A major obstacle to exploring the opportunities presented by web 2.0, is having a
limited view of web 2.0 as being just Facebook and YouTube. If that preconception is
overcome, there is then often uncertainty as to where to start. In addition, some firms do
not even see any need to deepen or broaden the communication with their customers,
which could be possible by utilizing web 2.0 tools. In their opinion, the most relevant
information received from customers is feedback, and customers‟ needs, wants and
wishes, and the interviewees feel that they have no reason to increase other kinds of
bidirectional communication. Most of those interviewed do not know whether the firm‟s
most important internet marketing channel, the company website, reaches the targeted
audience or not, or who actually visits it, or how to make the right people visit the page.
That is just the place where web 2.0 could provide some help - targeting and getting
better understanding of customers through truly interactive communication! Those web
2.0 tools and their usage in the examined firms, pros and cons, and some expert
opinions of the tools are presented in more detail below.

6.1 Blogs and podcasts

Podcasts were not utilized for marketing purposes, although some of the firms had
piloted podcasts for internal educational purposes. Experts believe that the role of
podcasting in arranging trainings will continue to grow due to cost savings and the
ability to make training courses independent of time and location. Podcasts can be used
for customer training and support.

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The interviewees in general consider blogs as a possible channel to communicate the
firm‟s professionalism, but none of the firms had an official blog and only one had even
an unofficial blog. One has considered using blogs for internal communications. Many
of the interviewees are aware that blogs related to their industry exist and that they are
really focused, but that utilizing them for marketing purposes in their field of industry is
uncommon. Industrial blogs were described as technical and focused. The industrial
blogs that are strictly focused are often the best ones, but because they are focused they
are also hard to find and interviewees fear that they do not reach the targeted audience.
The potential benefits that the interviewees saw as linked to creating discussion about
the firm‟s products and firm related subjects were similar to those brought out by the
literature. Relevant discussion means user generated reference stories (especially when
they succeed in involving opinion leaders in commenting on blogs), sharing knowledge
and experiences about the products or projects with the firm, and assistance in problem
solving. User generated content is considered reliable by other users, which multiplies
the effects of each positive comment. The blog provides the firm with an opportunity to
present a face and voice of the company; a more personal and down to earth
communication channel compared to traditional, sometimes rather smooth, marketing
communication. Added benefits include the opportunity to react quickly to emerging
discussions, and most of all, an efficient channel to communicate the firm‟s
professionalism and knowledge. By all these means, blogs can then contribute to brand
and product marketing.
Difficulties linked to having a blog and reasons for not having one were several and it
was considered more tempting to comment on other blogs rather than to start one‟s own.
Uncertainty about the benefits of blog’s, especially in a business where the usage
experience is not ―personal‖ (e.g. a production process), or where a group makes the
buying decision. It is not known what would be a realistic expected number of
readers or time spent on reading blogs, or how to reach the targeted readers.
Uncertainty about who the blog should be aimed at. Should it be existing customers,
potential customers, investors, or just anyone? Should it be open or restricted?
Writing a blog requires resources allocated for regular updating, modifying,
controlling and follow-up, and those are not appreciated tasks, so it is difficult to
find not only writers but also the other resources.
How to come up with interesting and relevant content?

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Technical difficulties in setting up a blog.
Conservative field of business, where blogs are not commonly used for marketing.
Fear of personalizing a firm too much on one or few persons (the blogger).
Difficult to get customer’s acceptance on writing about projects.
Uncontrollability: 1) Fear of negative WOM. 2) Fear of spreading confidential
information. 3) Bureaucracy of a listed company makes blogging difficult, because
everything that is written should be signed off. These three problems lead to the
conclusion, that rules are needed for blogging about company matters, but it is
difficult to set them. To what extent should blogs be moderated, especially blogs
written by employees?

These difficulties, especially the last one, are quite similar to the difficulties seen in
the literature review in utilizing web 2.0 tools in general. There is a conlict between
wanting to show off professional knowledge and fear of losing confidential information.
How can we create an expert image and not reveal our knowledge at the same time? As
one expert put it, “it’s like you have some tongue-tied guy in a class or at work, so no-
one knows how smart he might be until he opens his mouth”. So if blogging is used for
brand building and marketing, some guidelines or rules are needed, but making
regulations too strict might negate the possible benefits of blogging.

6.2 Social networks

Facebook and LinkedIn were not utilized for business purposes at a firm level in the
examined firms even though some firms had (mostly unofficial) groups in Facebook,
which were used for internal, relaxed communications between employees. These
networking services were seen as internal networking tools enhancing cooperation or
something that an employee might personally use, but the firm has no role in ti.
However, the respondents did raise potential business benefits. Benefits might result
from having good connections that are publicly seen on the internet, which might bring
more connections and, thus, business. This was considered to be relevant for small and
medium sized enterprises. Thus, connections would work as a reference. Nevertheless,
some interviewees from larger firms find it difficult to even think of a possibility to
make their networks visible on the internet and see no benefit in it, because that could
easily put the customers into unequal positions.

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Some respondents see social networking sites as having potential for recruitment or
new customer acquisition. It was also acknowledged that through social networks,
WOM works efficiently, and they have a great power to mobilize people. For instance
events can be announced through a relevant network, and some firms use
representatives to create a fuss about new products in online networks. The interviewees
did not cite these as activities fun by their firms but mentioned them as examples drawn
from consumer marketing.
The expert view was that Facebook, for example, could be utilized in communicating
with close, long-term customers, in a more relaxed way, including also business talk,
comparing it to taking a customer out for a dinner. Social networking sites can be used
also for targeted marketing campaigns, but the problem for industrial firms is to find the
right networks, because the best-known networking services are mostly for private use.

6.3 Communities

6.3.1 Online communities

The representatives of the industrial firms do not report much use of online
communities. They were of the opinion that if a firm had its own community, it would
have to be carefully monitored, in order to ensure a positive portrayal of the firm’s
image and the business in general. Hence, building a community is not a tempting
option because it requires a lot of work, just like blogs, and is hard to target to a certain
audience from the marketing perspective. Getting users committed to a community was
also thought to be difficult. How to make industrial decision makers and active opinion
leaders visit communities regularly? Even though communality has always been a part
of doing business, it is about who you know and who knows you, the surveyed firms do
not consider it a natural way to build networks in an online community moderated by
some single party. Some firms think that they might also encounter technical difficulties
in establishing a community.
Nevertheless, many interviewees mention that if they found a suitable existing
community, they might join and contribute. One firm had done some advertising in
field-related communities and joined some communities and directories. Advertising
has been done for example in a community newsletter, where the advertisement links to
an article summary or a white paper, which in turn includes a link to the company
website, where the full document can be read. Therefore, the aim has been to guide

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online traffic to the company website. But many of these communities linked to some
journal or field related association, for instance, are not based on discussions or user
generated content, but they are more one-to-many types of communities.
The online community type most relevant for these firms was a closed extranet with
customers, not necessarily a web 2.0 phenomenon, but which can be so if it includes
user generated content, communality and interactivity. Many examined companies were
actually developing their extranets to have more interaction, services and user generated
content, aiming to create even closer relationships with existing customers. Benefits
gained by hosting an open community are unclear and many firm and expert
interviewees believe closed extranet provides better chances to communicate with
industrial customers and provide them with valuable services, because it is a safe
environment for discussions, ideas and information exchange. So the uncontrollability
and fear of losing confidential information is related to communities too.
One firm had used communities to search for information on other firms and
customers. A common reason for joining a community or a directory is to enhance the
opportunity to be found on the internet and to get information on other members in
order to initiate communication, which then happens mostly off-line. Field related
communities are usually restricted and with a membership fee. Firms get many contact
requests from diverse communities and directories and it is difficult to know, which are
worth joining. A company can commit to a limited number of communities. If
customers are registered to a community, it provides a direct contact link, but that link
seldom leads to online buying in industrial markets because of the complexity of the
offerings. Some surveyed firms organize online communities for their live conferences
and topical work groups to provide a discussion board for those who meet regularly in
conferences or are otherwise interested.

6.3.2 Content sharing

Even though this subject provoked a lot of discussion, the utilization of content sharing
applications for marketing purposes was low among the examined firms. The most
discussed content sharing applications for marketing purposes in the interviews were
YouTube and wikis. YouTube was mentioned in relation to viral marketing, brand
communication and recruiting. Wikis were interesting for their brand building potential,
and as a way to show the expertise of a firm, and due to the possibility of creating an
open knowledge-sharing forum. Cooperative tools, which integrate office

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communications and make it possible to quickly find the right person and right
information, to easily share documents, and to organize meetings and trainings were
also of interest, but were not really utilized with customers or for marketing.

6.3.2.1 YouTube

Some of the examined firms had videos on YouTube, but many of the interviewees do
not think that YouTube is a relevant channel for them because it is for personal use and
entertainment, and therefore viral videos were also not of great interest. Thus, the main
reason for not useing YouTube is that it is not considered as a way to reach the targeted
audience. Other reasons are that it is not regarded as a serious channel option, negative
attention and WOM are feared, and it is difficult to create interesting enough videos.
Some firms find it awkward that they have found firm related videos on YouTube,
which have been added by partners or some other parties, and those videos are not
always of the best quality, having possible negative effects on the firm’s image. As with
almost all web 2.0 tools, one of the greatest risks is uncontrollability.
If the firms were to put videos on YouTube, they should be of high quality, perhaps
general presentations of a firm, or videos for recruiting purposes. Basically many of the
firms already have such general presentations and brand animations that they show at
customer events, but they have just not put them on YouTube. As was pointed out by
one interviewee, videos cannot be added just because it would be nice to have
something on YouTube, instead there should be a clear motivation behind it. One major
motivation for putting videos on YouTube is to enhance internet search results for the
firm. Other benefits were the broadness of the potential audience, low cost per contact,
free video hosting and broadcasting, the opportunity to the build brand with visual aids,
the opportunity to guide visitors to a company website, the fast spreading of interesting
videos, and the opportunity to present material not suitable for television.
One issue discussed was using humor in viral videos. Many firm interviewees
thought that humor is not suitable for videos made for business purposes, while others
thought that humor is the only way to create a phenomenon on the internet also in
industrial marketing, because it guarantees the spread of a video. People search videos
for fun, not for information. That is also why mishaps spread so efficiently. However,
when using humor, it must not insult anybody or any businesses‟ practices. The
opposing argument was that it is more important to get the video to the targeted
audience than to spread it as broadly as possible with the help of humor. Even though a

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video would get an enormous audience, it might not reach the targeted groups and thus
not bring financial results for the firm.
It was suggested that video sharing could be integrated as a part of a company‟s
website, then videos would be more certain to the target audience. For recruiting, open
positions could be introduced in a more realistic way in video format. Video sharing
could be utilized more for product marketing, training purposes, and product support.
Advertising can be added to videos made by others too, before or after a video, but that
idea had not yet gained much interest in the examined firms.
The experts thought that video sharing sites will not see as many industrial product
launches and marketing as consumer product launches, and consider communities more
suitable for industrial firms, because they reach potential customers better. YouTube
could, however, be used for testing advertisements and getting comments on them. One
expert stressed, however, that there is room for innovative thinking when making
business marketing videos: “everyone has seen those videos, zoom in on a factory
chimney, and it has this dum-di-dum background music, there are this kind of company
videos, but no-one wants to watch them.”

6.3.2.2 Wikis

Half of the examined firms were interested in contributing to wikis, either by starting
their own one or by contributing to existing ones. The main purpose of that, from the
interviewees’ perspective, is to present the expert knowledge and professionalism of a
firm for brand building purposes, and to create an open knowledge sharing and creating
community, linking the firm into the top-of-the-field discussions. The key word is not
so much a community but the best possible database. The targeted audience for wikis is
wider than existing and potential customers, incorporating all the firm’s stakeholders.
The problem with firm-moderated wikis is that readers might consider them less
reliable than wikis moderated by independent parties. That is why additions that might
be made by firms to Wikipedia are often removed. Firms have tried to follow what has
been written about the firm in different countries‟ Wikipedias.
The expert opinion according to the interviews was that wikis are, as a knowledge-
based application, ideally suited for industrial marketing purposes. Wikis are easier to
control than open discussions, and they can be used for group ideation. One firm
interviewee mentions that they are going to be truly open with their forthcoming white
papers - they are sharing visions that they cannot realize by themselves.

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6.3.2.3 Online customer trainings

Another important application for content sharing is online teaching and learning. That
provides firms with lower costs, because the duration of live-teaching periods can be
reduced, fewer personnel are involved, material is easy and affordable to hand out, and
easy to repeat regardless of time and space. For learners this offers an opportunity to get
to know the materials beforehand, discuss matters with other participants online before,
during and after the course, a more stabile quality of teaching, and less travelling. One
examined firm had already piloted this kind of online learning community internally.
Online teaching and learning can be used both internally and with customers. The
challenge is to provide applications that really result in enhanced efficiency, quality and
innovativeness. Without true benefits this kind of community will not live long.

6.3.3 Forums and bulletin boards

Forums or bulletin boards were basically not utilized for marketing purposes in the
examined firms, although they raised a little interest. One firm had taken part in some
field related professional forums, which are often linked to professional journals or
magazines, or to some technical niche.
An acknowledged benefit of forums and bulletin boards for the firms was reliability
from the customer‟s point of view when making a buying decision or needing help, so
customers do the marketing job. Evidence of this kind of utilization of peer-customer
reviews and recommendations is also seen in business markets in the form of field
specific comparison and reference forums, but larger established companies openly
recommending each other is not happening, at least not yet.
The experts interviewed think that industrial firms could utilize forums more
efficiently to collect feedback and knowledge of customers‟ needs and wants if they
could only find the right forums to do that. In fact, that seemed to be the main obstacle
to utilizing forums more. One option is to create an independent forum by oneself.
Some services offer an option of using a readymade platform for creating an online
channel to collect customer feedback, which is a more interactive channel for feedback
than email. When feedback systems are integrated with CRM systems, it is easier to
respond to the feedback personally.

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6.4 Content aggregators

The examined firms did not utilize RSS feeds, social bookmarking sites and other
tagging services or widgets for marketing, except that a couple of firms offered some
RSS feeds and one firm has tried to create a mash-up for the firm’s website. RSS feeds
were criticized for being disturbing, but on the other hand they are delivered only to
those who order them, and in that sense the message can be really well targeted to those
who are already interested, and feeds can be read whenever it is convenient for the
receiver.

6.5 Virtual worlds

Virtual worlds were not utilized by the examined companies. Potential forms of
utilization mentioned in the interviews were product launches and product marketing,
and arranging virtual meetings. Interviewees feel that examples from consumer
marketing are not usable as such for industrial marketing. The main reason for this is
that it might be difficult to reach the targeted audience in open virtual worlds such as
Second Life, which are based more on personal avatars and consumer markets. Virtual
worlds require good internet infrastructure IT equipment, which might also be a
problem hindering wider utilization. Usability of those worlds is also still developing.

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7 Implementing web 2.0 for marketing
7.1 Difficulties in implementation and the other side of the coin

When compared to the main obstacles to web 2.0 utilization found in the literature,
these interviews revealed many different kinds of challenges, and the issues raised were
consistent between the firm interviewees and the experts. Thus, there seems to be a
consensus on what are the clearest difficulties in utilizing web 2.0. The following listing
also summarizes the discussion of web 2.0 tools’ pros and cons, as many general
difficulties of implementation were common for several web 2.0 tools. Some of those
difficulties are hard to overcome totally, because they are connected to fundamental
characteristics of web 2.0 and those characteristics do not only provide difficulties but
benefits too. Thus, some difficulties and benefits are very closely linked. If those links
are not fully understood, in avoiding those difficulties a firm loses the opportunity to
benefit too. Nevertheless, some difficulties stand alone. They are basic level challenges,
which should be handled when starting web 2.0 marketing.
Before going any deeper into those challenges, we should address one issue that was
often mentioned but was also considered to be a state of mind more than a real obstacle.
Many interviewees felt that web 2.0 is more beneficial to consumer than to business
marketing and that the special features of business markets make it difficult or pointless
to utilize web 2.0 for industrial marketing. It seems that the lack of clarity of the
potential benefits of web 2.0 tools for business marketing is one reason for that
statement, but there were several other explanations mentioned by the interviewees:
a) Open social media does not reach targeted industrial customers.
b) Industrial networks and communities cannot be based on total openness due to the
strict need for confidentiality.
c) There is no time or resource for updating and monitoring web 2.0 applications.
d) Business customers have no time for or interest in participating in several social
media applications.
e) The buying decision and the purchase are not like buying a book from Amazon. The
reference group for the decision is usually found inside the company. The products
sold are often customizable large investments. Thus, social media has no great
power over industrial buying decisions.

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However, these are all considered excuses. The expert view was that more than
operating in industrial markets, the corporate culture, age distribution among personnel,
and attitudes have a greater influence on utilization of web 2.0. So web 2.0 tools are not
necessarily inapplicable for industrial firms. Some of the excuses given for not utilizing
web 2.0 tools are patently weak. Why should personnel in industrial firms be busier than
their counterparts in consumer firms (explanation c)? Why would customers not use
social media applications if they provide them with real benefits and make their work
easier? Nevertheless, there are some realistic and fundamental difficulties, which are
discussed next.

7.1.1 Fundamental obstacles for web 2.0 utilization

Web 2.0 as an environment, and its benefits, opportunities and effects are unknown,
thus hindering its use. It is not clear whether the task of getting acquainted with web 2.0
should fall to IT or of marketing personnel, so there is no staff dedicated to it. Perhaps
because it is an unknown area, the threats seem bigger than they are in reality. Firms
find it difficult to find relevant communities, forums or blogs to contribute to. They do
not know where to start. Even though some web 2.0 tools might be familiar, the whole
picture of web 2.0 is unclear, and it is hard to make well-informed decisions as to
whether to utilize it or not and if so, how. Knowledge is limited to one or two tools,
such as content sharing on YouTube, instead of thinking what would most benefit the
firm or how web 2.0 tools could fit into the set of other marketing channels.
Setting rules and guidelines is difficult. Since discussions on the internet (and their
effects) are beyond the control of firms, they feel that they need to have agreed rules of
communication on blogs, forums and communities. This is especially a concern for
listed companies; which find it difficult to participate in open social media while all
communications of a listed company should be controlled. The lines should be drawn
for example on whether or not to control personal writings on company matters,
whether communities and blogs are to be left truly open or restricted, and to what
degree a firm monitors discussions.
The difficulty of developing interesting content that offers real value for its users. The
only way to keep members of a community or readers of a blog committed is to have
interesting content and many interviewees find that difficult. Many interviewees thought
that the only way to provide valuable services for business customers is via an extranet

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and not through public applications or services. Users are increasingly demanding
concerning contents and services.
Technical difficulties. Some firms are also finding technical difficulties in carrying
out web 2.0 initiatives such as having a blog or establishing a community. Integrating
many services so that a user has only one interface is also difficult. Therefore many
applications are still complex and inefficient to use. It was also stated that in certain
parts of the world IT infrastructure and equipment are not so well developed so those
audiences cannot be reached by sophisticated web services.
Web 2.0 applications are focused on technical functionality and providing
information, and not on creating real value, flow, good usability, or emotional
experiences. Even though the idea of an application is good, the user might get
frustrated or bored and then an application will not fulfill its purpose. Concerns about
how to utilize mobile technologies or to create mobile services for customers are an
example of this focus on technology. Instead of just wanting to use a certain channel,
the value that can be provided to customers via that should be the main concern.

7.1.2 Challenges that come with benefits

The difficulty in controlling discussions on the internet results in fear of negative
WOM, or the spread of false information, which can quickly have strong negative
effects on a firm. This challenge was the most discussed and it was linked to discussions
on the power of communities to spread (mis)information, the popularity of hate groups,
the difficulty of erasing information from the internet, and the opening up of the
company’s borderlines. For these reasons companies hesitate to make their websites
more interactive, or to offer open feedback channels for customers, for instance.
On the other hand, utilization of WOM is one of the main benefits of web 2.0.
Communities are powerful tools to spread information in an interesting format and
mobilize groups of people with similar interests.
Uncontrollability also brings the possibility of having a more relaxed, ―human‖
communication channel.

Fear of losing confidential information due to an increased amount of open, interactive
communication. Firms see many risks in opening up communication and the risk of
losing confidential information often came up on the interviews. Industrial firms based
on technical expertise have traditionally been closed fortresses. If open innovation kinds

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of activities are the aim, a firm needs to decide how open it wants to be. Open online
communication can reveal, which relationships are the most important for the firm, just
as Facebook does with personal relationships. How to balance sharing knowledge and
securing confidential information? Experts think this risk is overrated, slows down the
development of industrial web 2.0 applications, and firms will gain more than they lose
by sharing professional knowledge and cooperating with other firms and stakeholders,
but also understand that opening up requires a giant leap in attitude.
Openness speeds up ideation and problem solving with better results through open
innovation, knowledge sharing and creation in open communities. Openness brings
benefits hard to achieve otherwise that are based on gaining access to external
knowledge resources.
Web 2.0 provides ways to integrate customers into product ideation and
development.
Web 2.0 can be used for creating networks (and contacts) that enhance business.

Firms are more transparent to the public so they need to act in a more responsible
manner, reflecting the true values of the brand in every move they make. A customer
can perhaps be yelled at once on the phone but if the same happens on the internet the
word will spread quickly. Web 2.0 is based on real identities unlike the chat rooms of
the past. For industrial firms this is a challenge meaning creating a face and a voice for
the company. Increased open interaction with individuals and the company is seen as
actively affecting the firm’s brand and the communication of it. Even consumers, who
are interested in the origins of products, are now closer to industrial firms.
This interactive communication can be utilized for brand building, as well as WOM.
Interactivity provides enhanced real-time communication opportunities with
customers offering a better understanding of customers’ needs and wants and
strengthening the relationship.

Many web 2.0 tools require continuous updating and monitoring, hence, resources from
both the moderator and from the participant. Many interviewees said that they have no
efficient ways to monitor discussions about the firm, because there are an endless
number of communities, blogs and forums, so they do not know which to monitor. If a
firm establishes a community or a blog, it should be continuously updated, monitored
and moderated, and coming up with interesting and relevant content is always a

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challenge. In other words, it would need devoted employees and IT resources, time and
money. These requirements apply to community members too, so they cannot actively
participate to several of them, and applications should be easy to use.
The expert view was that there is no need for specified web 2.0 personnel but a need
to train current staff. When a firm makes an agenda for web 2.0 the most relevant
communities and forums to follow will become clearer.
And even if some more resources are needed, web 2.0 provides low costs of
interactive and open communication and hosting of internet content.

The measurability of web 2.0 marketing results is considered a weakness and therefore
it is difficult to get budget approval for web 2.0 developments. Measurability is a
common problem in marketing. Measures are often indirect and lack the capability to
evidence financial results. It is inevitably more difficult to show how forum visitors or
community members contribute to customer acquisition, increasing sales or
strengthening relationships than to just show numbers on visitors on a forum or
members of a community.
Measurability is quite good and factually based when compared for example to print
media, because internet traffic is easily automatically observed and traceable. The
number of visitors to a website (campaign measure) and actual readers of an e-
brochure, how much time visitors spend on a website, the sites visitors arrive on a
website from, what visitors do on a website, and how many open a certain link are
examples of the precise information available. Through widgets it is possible to
monitor activities performed through them, e.g. orders. Efficiency of utilizing web
2.0 software platforms and applications can be estimated by comparing their costs to
a corresponding inbound system. Perhaps the problem is more poor knowledge of
suitable measures and how to use them than a total lack of them.

Does not reach industrial customers. According to the interviews one major reason not
to get involved in web 2.0 was that interviewees believed that the tools do not reach the
targeted audience, which, for an industrial firm, is usually a niche. Bar one expert, our
interviewees believe that industrial customers or potential customers are not well
reached by web 2.0 applications because most of them are aimed at consumers. If a
community, blog or a forum is targeted at a niche, it usually makes it harder to find on

65

the internet. The question remains, how to create lively discussions or forums for
specified topics.
Making good contacts through targeted communication is enhanced by web 2.0,
because communities are already organized by interests. Web 2.0 also offers ways
to increase search engine results for the company, when marketing communication
reaches those who are already interested in topics relevant to the firm.

7.2 Suggestions on how to proceed

This short list of suggestions summarizes the interviewees’ views on how web 2.0 could
be implemented more effectively than it is now. It is not a roadmap, but reflects the
emphasis given to the themes in the interview material.
Get to know web 2.0 as a channel, explore. Start with baby steps with the customers
you know and trust. Add services and actions gradually and bring other stakeholders
in one by one. Make the first moves in a controlled environment, and increase
openness later. Before making any major marketing efforts on web 2.0, thoroughly
understand its pros and cons. With a gradual approach, the uncontrollability of web
2.0 becomes a little more bearable.
Set clear purposes and targets for the utilization of web 2.0. The question to be
asked is how web 2.0 can help the firm to serve its customers better. Define the
targeted audience. Define the expected results.
Link web 2.0 to the ―whole picture‖ of marketing. Web 2.0 is not an island. When
its characteristics as a marketing channel are familiar in a firm, it can find its place
among the other channels. For certain firms it might not be useful at all. Marketing
personnel should have good knowledge of web 2.0 if utilizing it, but it is not
necessary to have resources devoted solely to web 2.0 marketing to get started. A
work group with a broad spectrum of knowledge and experience can handle it
together with other channels. However, the group should include someone who is
responsible for web 2.0 marketing.
Offer real value. Think how web 2.0 can make your or customers’ work more
efficient. Interesting content that benefits its users is a powerful way to get
community members committed.

66

Prepare a worst case scenario and plan how to handle it. Set common rules for web
2.0 communications in a firm and understanding of how open the firm wants to be
in its communications. Evaluate all possible risks and define how to cope with them.
If utilizing web 2.0 accept its nature. If there is no room for openness, sharing,
interactivity, or user generated content, maybe there is no room for web 2.0. If the
strongest needs are to control, monitor, and moderate discussions and to protect
information, the possible benefits of web 2.0 are hard to attain.

7.3 Summary of web 2.0 implementation based on the interviews

Based on the interviews, it can be said that web 2.0 is not yet widely utilized by Finnish
industrial companies. Company websites remain the most important internet marketing
communication forum. Among the examined firms the only real web 2.0 marketing
effort was to share promotional videos on YouTube, but that was more ad hoc than a
systematic step towards utilizing web 2.0 for marketing purposes. Firms have utilized
web 2.0 more for internal communication e.g. in the form of community groups, sharing
content for online learning and group work, and communicating with customers via
extranets, than for external communications. Interviewees were most interested in blogs,
video sharing, and wikis, and mainly for brand building purposes, communicating with
existing and potential customers, and sharing knowledge.
Both the interviewees and the literature brought out similar benefits, but the interview
analysis of the obstacles to web 2.0 utilization provided some interesting findings,
especially in terms of how the mindset seems to be the main factor hindering utilization
of web 2.0 for industrial marketing (see Chapter 7.1). There are many fundamental
challenges in web 2.0 utilization identified in the interviews, especially those faced at
the beginning of implementation, that just have to be solved somehow (see Figure 4). It
must be remembered that these illustrations are based on the interviews, not on more
general findings, but they seem to be quite common to all examined firms.

67

Web 2.0 as an environment, Get to know web
its benefits, possibilities and 2.0 as a channel,
effects are unknown explore

Technical difficulties Set clear purpose and targets
for utilization of web 2.0
Setting rules
and guidelines Link web 2.0 to the “whole
is difficult picture” of marketing

Difficulty of developing Offer real value that
interesting content helps users to do their job
better
Web 2.0 applications are focused on info-
technical matters, and not on creating real value,
flow, good usability, or emotional experiences

Uncontrollability Prepare a worst case scenario
and how to handle it

If utilizing web 2.0 accept its
nature!

Challenges How to proceed

Figure 4. Challenges of utilizing web 2.0 seen by examined firms and tips on how to move-
on from starting difficulties.

There are also difficulties that come with benefits, so you get both of them and just
have to find a way to balance their effects. The glass may be viewed as half-full or half-
empty, because those challenges and benefits are linked to the basic characteristics of
web 2.0: user generated content, sharing of it and interaction. Those challenges and
benefits are presented in Figure 5.

68

Uncontrollability and openness Utilization of w-o-m
> fear of negative w-o-m,
spreading of false or confidential More relaxed, “human” communication channel
information > strong malicious
effects on a firm Open innovation, knowledge sharing and creation

Firms are transparent to the Interactivity provides enhanced real-time communication
public > increased responsibility possibilities with customers and inside a firm
of reflecting the values of the
brand in every move Brand building

Continuous updating and Low costs of communication and
monitoring required hosting of digital content

Measurability of results weak Measures fact based: internet
> no budget for web 2.0 traffic is easily automatically
developments observed and traceable

Does not reach industrial Web 2.0 tools provide targeting
customers possibilities

Challenges Benefits

Figure 5. Challenges of utilizing web 2.0 that relate to central benefits and characteristics
of web 2.0 communications.

Based on the interviews it can be seen that there are still many unexplored
opportunities for Finnish industrial firms that web 2.0 marketing can offer. Consumer
marketing among web 2.0 is perhaps not the most fruitful benchmark for industrial
firms, because it restricts the view of potential benefits, as has perhaps happened among
these interviewees. Nevertheless, innovative initiatives are definitely needed, because
even globally web 2.0 is not yet widely used for B2B marketing. However, as the
internet continues to evolve (and it seems certain that the role of the internet in
marketing will grow further), it is better to at least keep up with what is going on.
One main trend speaks for industrial firms paying attention to web 2.0 marketing
opportunities: consumers are getting closer and closer to the first parties in the value
chain. Therefore communities with consumer users discussing products and their origin
are not irrelevant for industrial firms, but have an increasing role especially concerning
brand management and communications. Transparency is already evident on
environmental issues and the scope is broadening. It is not advisable to ignore the
effects that the end-users have on the whole value chain. Web 2.0 tools provide
industrial firms with an opportunity to market directly to the end-users.

69

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PUBLICATIONS IN THE PRECEDING SERIES:
DISCUSSION PAPERS IN ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS STUDIES

1. Hannu Salonen: Continuity properties of bargaining solutions. 1992.

2. Pertti Haaparanta & Mikko Puhakka: Bureaucracy and Time Consistency: Is Democracy
Biased towards Debt Financing and Large Governments with Incompetent Bureaucrats?
1992.

3. Markku Vieru: Financial Characteristics and Stock Reactions to the Macroeconimic
Events. 1993.

4. Olli Tahvonen: Carbon Dioxide Abatement as a Differential Game. 1993.

5. Hannu Salonen: On the existence of undominated Nash equilibria in normal form games.
1993.

6. Ilmo Mäenpää: FMS model system: a methodological overview. 1993.

7. Rauli Svento: Some notes on trichotomous choice discrete valuation. 1993.

8. Rauli Svento: Some further results on the economics of embedding. 1993.

9. Heli Heiskanen & Erkki Mäntymaa & Rauli Svento: Testing the inclusiveness
insensitivity hypothesis in public goods valuation. 1993.

10. Rauli Svento: Welfare measurement under uncertainty. 1993.

11. Rauli Svento: Testing the asymmetry of the vagueness zone in WTP answers. 1993.

12. Erkki Mäntymaa: Estimating the total demand for an environmental resource with
marginal willingness-to-pay amounts in a CVM study. 1994.

13. Erkki Mäntymaa: Continuous question and bidding tree technique in contingent valuation
research. 1994.

14. Erkki Mäntymaa: on revealing preferences with the contingent valuation method. 1994.

15. Ilmo Mäenpää & Hannu Tervo: Suomen talouden energiankulutuksen ja ilmapääs-töjen
rakenteet vuonna 1990. Panos- tuotosanalyysi. 1994.

16. Heli Koski: Optimal pricing of network services: a contingent valuation survey. 1994.

17. Tapani Kovalainen: How are private and public sector wages related in Finland: an
empirical study. 1994.

18. Uri M. Possen & Mikko Puhakka: Some aggregate effects of heterogeneity in
information processing. 1994.

19. Uri M. Possen & Mikko Puhakka: Rationality of limited rationality: some aggregate

implications. 1994.
20. Ilmo Mäenpää: Työttömän työllistymisen yhteiskuntataloudelliset nettohyödyt -
laskentakehikko. 1994.

21. Hannu Huttunen: Activity-Based Costing and Activity-Based Management in some
Finnish injection mould making firms. 1995.

22. Ilmo Mäenpää & Timo Koivumäki: Kulutus ja hyvinvointi FMS mallisysteemissä. 1995.

PUBLICATIONS IN THE PRECEDING SERIES:
FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, UNIVERSITY
OF OULU, WORKING PAPERS

1. Ilmo Mäenpää: FMS3 model system - An overview. 1996.

2. Seppo Eriksson: Construction of a company operating environment evaluation model by
means of the preference function. 1996.

3. Seppo Eriksson: Evaluation of the operating environments of industrial SMEs. 1996.

4. Juha Junttila: Adaptive inflation expectations under structural changes: The case of
Finland. 1996.

5. Timo Koivumäki, Tapani Kovalainen, Rauli Svento: The effects of EMU criteria
fulfilment on employment in EU countries. 1997.

6. Osmo Forssell: Elintarvikeketju Suomen kansantaloudessa. 1997.

7. Juha Junttila: Testing an augmented Fisher hypothesis for money market interest rates in
Finland. 1997.

8. Timo Koivumäki: Uncertainty, irreversibility and durables purchases; some empirical
implications. 1997.

9. Timo Koivumäki, Tapani Kovalainen: Demand for ice hockey. Case: Kärpät, Oulu. 1998.

10. Seppo Eriksson: Some further results on the company operating environment evaluation
model. 1998.

11. Henrikki Tikkanen, Jarno Lindblom: A Network Approach to International Project
Marketing. A Case Study of a Technology Transfer Project to the PRC. 1998.

12. Junttila Juha: Information content in the term structure of money market interest rates on
future inflation: The case of Finland. 1998.

13. Kauppila Antti, Tähtinen Jaana: Mentoring for business students. A pilot mentoring
programme in the University of Oulu. 1999.

14. Maria Kopsakangas-Savolainen: Vertical integration versus vertical separation in the

deregulated Finnish electricity market. 1999.

15. Jaana Tähtinen, Sheelagh Matear, Brendan Gray: The Reasons Relationships End. A
literature integration and extension into an international channels context. 2000.

16. Timo Koivumäki: Mobiiliportaali ja kuluttajien odotukset. Oulu 2001.17.

17. Maria Kopsakangas-Savolainen: Restructuring of electricity industry - international
experiences. Oulu 2001.

18. Maria Kopsakangas-Savolainen: Distribution price of electricity and potential welfare
improvements. Oulu 2001.

19. Virpi Havila, Maria Holmlund-Rytkönen, Tore Strandvik, Jaana Tähtinen:
Problematising the Phenomenon of Relationship Dissolution. The Contribution of a
Workshop. Oulu 2001.

20. Kakali Mukhopadhyay & Osmo Forssell: An empirical investigation of air pollution from
fossil fuel combustion and its impact on health in India during 1973-74 to 1996-97. Oulu
2001.

21. Juha-Pekka Kallunki & Minna Martikainen: Investments in human capital in the Finnish
stock market. Oulu 2002.

22. Juha-Pekka Kallunki & Aki Kärjä & Minna Martikainen: Stock market response to
analysts' perceptions and earnings in technology – intensive environment. Oulu 2002.

23. Seppo Eriksson: Pohjoissuomalaisten pkt-yritysten strategiavalinnat. Oulu 2003.

24. Juha-Pekka Kallunki & Eija Paakki: Stock market response to IFRS/IAS cash flows.
Oulu 2004.

25. Sari Matinaho & Artti Juutinen & Erkki Mäntymaa & Mikko Mönkkönen: Forest owners'
attitudes to and preferences for voluntary conservation -preliminary results of survey.
Oulu 2005.

26. Kaisa Koskela & Teea Palo: Consumer behavior and value creating networks in
multimedia mobile services - results of Rotuaari project, Oulu 2007

27. Juha-Pekka Kallunki & Sinukka Moilanen & Hanna Silvola: Western management
accounting and controls in Russian firms: an analysis of the extent of the use and its
influences. Oulu 2008.

28. Juha-Pekka Kallunki & Janne Peltoniemi & Elina Pyykkö: Suomalaisten pörssiyhtiöiden
ostot ulkomaille. Ulkomaiseen hallintaan siirtymisten taloudellisia syitä ja serauksia.
Oulu 2009.

ISBN 978-951-42-9119-7
ISSN 1459-8418
ISBN 978-951-42-9120-3 ELEKTRONINEN VERSIO
Oulu University Press
April 2009

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