Zappos is one of the top retailers on the web, selling loads of shoes and building a stellar reputation for customer support. Great support has been a mantra of the organization since inception, and recent changes to the company marketing strategy simply reinforce this. Zappos is successful, because they embraced the web early and didn’t try to force it into old business paradigms.

Zappos success, and the success of Barack Obama (democratic political candidate for President) have something in common. They understand the difference between using the internet to drive traffic - and harnessing the network effects of communicating online. Both are heavily invested in social networking - many, if not most Zappos employees have a Twitter account. Obama and his team created groups and profiles on every major and minor social network, and leveraged Youtube extensively to spread the message. One of the most successful viral campaigns of the last few years, Will.i.am’s “Yes we can” video may go down in history due to it’s viral success.

What this company and this candidate understand, and what you can take away from their experience is that being visible on the web through SEO/SEM is very different from this all inclusive web strategy that includes blogs, blog outreach, social media, video and personal networking. When you wonder if all this Web 2.0 “stuff” is for real, think about the first term Senator from Illinois who defeated the Clintons on his way to running for President.