A customer engagement cycle for Web 2.0: A practical guide to social media and the consumer

The aim of this paper is to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

There is a crisis in marketing circles, and while it has little to do with the poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley, it does have something to do with hubris and bathos, which as every literature student knows, the poem “Ozymandias” has in spades. When Web 2.0 first started to feel its way into marketing campaigns, it was seen as something of a panacea. As soon as people started to tune into Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites in numbers, the opportunities to engage consumers for companies were believed to be almost infinite. And what is more, that engagement would be direct at a speed and accuracy unimagined just a decade earlier. Except it did not quite turn out like that.

The article provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to‐digest format.