At the Education Business blog, there's a thorough argument on why education marketers ought to get up to speed on Web 2.0 marketing tools and virtual worlds. Lee Wilson points out that the first thing many users do when shopping on Amazon is to check out user-generated comments to help them make purchasing decisions, as an example of "the power of Web 2.0 at work."

Wilson's reasons why education marketers should employ these concepts:

"1. The education industry is going through huge change driven in large part by technology substituting for older ways of doing things. In this time of transition staying close to your customers and their shifting priorities is going to be a requirement. Web 2.0 tools are some of the most effective ways to create a real two-way dialog with customers - what I have elsewhere called Socratic Marketing.

2. Our customers are becoming accustomed to using these tools everywhere else in their lives. If we don't keep pace we run the risk of becoming irrelevant."

Wilson is about to kick off a series of articles aimed at education marketers wherein he'll present his "five core concepts for marketers working in a virtual world," so let's stay tuned!

[Web 2.0 Education Marketing Part 1 - The Education Business Blog]