Businesses often fail to make the most of Wikipedia because they treat this massive resource in the wrong way. It’s not some ‘opportunity’ to be ‘exploited’ in some dubious-sounding way. Instead, think about it as a proper contributor with the very best intentions, and everyone can benefit.
For example, supposing you have some new or unique technology that genuinely deserves to be known about as widely as possible. We’ll call it pink widgets. Take a look at the Wikipedia page about widgets. You may well find that all the old technologies are there – blue, green and red widgets – but there’s nothing about pink widgets (which is hardly surprising, as they were only revealed to the world last month). Do pink widgets genuinely have a place on that page? If so, get writing. Anyone can add to Wikipedia, and it’s not that hard to learn how.
Put yourself in the position of a genuinely independent contributor. Whether the Wikipedia descriptions of blue, green and red widgets have 1000 words each or just one sentence, your addition about pink widgets should have a similar presence. Indeed, it’s really good if the individual types only have a small section about them, because there’s more chance that you’ll need to link to the background pages on your website for further information about what you’ve just added.
Links from Wikipedia pages have no direct benefit as regards Google ranking, but it’s likely that they’re followed and your website gets associated with the term. Also, other sites may pick up on the connection and link to your site, once there’s a Wikipedia citation. None of this is as important though as the real people who will follow the link from Wikipedia – it’s a terrific source of quality traffic. Just treat it with respect.