BT upgrades Tradespace platform

BT is boosting its support for small businesses' marketing efforts

BT has unveiled major updates to its Tradespace business social networking platform designed to help small businesses improve marketing efforts and customer engagement.

The new site concentrates heavily on video content, allowing customers to upload and use video to market their business. A new partnership with Cisco will offer discounted Flip video cameras, and the two companies have produced a guide to teach users how to edit and film with the camera.

Work has also been carried out to strengthen the networking aspects of the platform and how it can be used by small businesses to build reputation, according to Ivan Croxford, general manager of BT's digital marketing division.

There is now functionality for account holders to build up a profile of customer recommendations, so that they can tap into the growing reliance of consumers on word of mouth.

Tradespace also offers a customer service tool which allows customers to report problems, share ideas, or hand out praise, said Croxford.

"Customers expect a higher standard of service online, so there's almost an opportunity for small businesses to use good customer services as a marketing tool," he said.

Finally, BT has introduced the ability for Tradespace customers to introduce some of the new functionality as widgets on their own web sites.

"The core proposition of Tradespace is essentially the same: we want to create a platform and a set of tools which small businesses can use to promote themselves online, build stronger relationships with customers and ultimately win more business," Croxford said.

"But the way we've brought that proposition to life has changed. We've strengthened the way small businesses can use Tradespace as a marketing tool."