AnaBlog

There is an increasing need for financial services in the retirement market. The size of the baby boomer segment and the value of its assets have made possible a big market with revenue opportunities for financial services companies.

This market has been growing in the past years and many companies offers services for retirement plans. In these days, is important to enhance the service using digital media. The mobile and use of web tools is crucial for a marketing campaign for any retirement financial service company.

A good example of a company that has been including Digital Marketing is Ameriprise Financial. If you go to the webpage, http://www.ameriprise.com/default-home.asp, it has a well structured content design with links that connect you to any financial service information required. It includes some of the Web 2.0 concept tools explained in a previous blog. The user can connect it with its social media platforms: Facebook, Linkdin or Twitter.  Also, the company developed an application, easy to use, that helps the user to find any financial advisor, manage the accounts, find an ATM or contact the company for help. In addition, the webpage includes related information like stock prices data and some thought leadership, publicizing articles related to retirement plans.

I searched in youtube for the word “retirement” and the first video that I found was about the retirement services in Ameriprise. Also the link got me to the Ameriprise channel http://www.youtube.com/user/Ameriprise. This is a sample of how active companies must be in order to communicate its services using youtube, or any useful digital media to generate advertising. These videos have the advantage of no-time limit. Moreover, it can communicate the service in a detailed way.

All this web tools help the user to have a better experience with the company and the services. Companies must include digital marketing services and activities to get closer to their consumers and take advantage of the digital web tools. 

One of the most important moments for the internet is the surge of the Web 2.0. This concept has evolved from a previous one called Web 1.0. But what is Web 2.0 and why is so important? To explain this, first we have to understand what Web 1.0 is.

Web 1.0 is the concept that defines a direct interaction between producer and consumer through internet. This interaction only goes from producers to consumers sharing static information. It has a top-down approach where users can only view web pages but they cannot reflect on its content. The information is not dynamic; most of the users act as consumers of content and the information is closed to external editing.

Web 1.0 evolved to Web 2.0. This change opened the door for the information sharing. Web 2.0 uses the World Wide Web as a platform not only for sharing information, but also for interoperate based on a user-centered design. This evolution also brought numerous forms of interaction. Some examples are social networking, blogs, video sharing, web applications, wikis, storage data and mashups. 

This information sharing system changed the view of internet as a platform of communication. It gave power to the consumers, not only to view information from producers, but also to make comments about products and services, to give their opinion and share it to their community. This changed the way producers communicate with consumers and how they create products for the market. Everything started to be consumer and user centered.

Advertising evolved from being just static information to include the cost per click. Users can decide if they want to find out more about the offering. Internet and social networking became an important media for companies.

After this emergence of Web 2.0 on the internet revolution, started the phenomenon of Social Media. Facebook is the leader of social networking. This represents another important moment for the history of the web. Social Media allows people to stay connected and share day-to-day information, becoming the most popular online activity. People use social media platforms to share videos, pictures, news and any other event. This was a consequence of the open concept of interactive sharing information.

Web 2.0 is also evolving to a new concept called Web 3.0. In this case, the information becomes more personal. Web 1.0 was passive interacting with static information, Web 2.0 is active based on intelligence shared and now Web 3.0 is about artificial intelligence. Web 3.0 introduces the concept of semantic web. According to the World Wide Web Consortium, “The Semantic Web provides a common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries.” Computers record what humans are doing.  

The evolution of internet is a continuous process. Web 1.0, Web 2.0, now Web 3.0 and it will continue changing. All these changes have given the power to the consumer to redirect the emergence of new ways of communication. It started with the need of having access to information. However, it evolved very fast as a way of interaction and the future is known. 

Dinner time

We have shared lots of dinners. We don’t have a TV so during dinner time we used to watch YouTube videos.

One thing Argetineans are good at is advertising campaigns. I found some of them really funny. Here are some of my favorite videos we used to watch. I hope you like them!

(sorry for the missed translation)