Will social media kill your web site?
crbrowning | Dec 08, 2008 | Comments 8
No, social media will not kill your corporate web site. However, social media is enabling your customers and prospects to get the information they need more conveniently through Twitter, Facebook, RSS feeds, Second Life and others. The dependence on our corporate web sites as the single source of information has shifted to a distributed platform that includes an array of social technologies that effective organizations are recognizing and using effectively. Below are a few quick examples to illustrate the point.
First, Chris Brogan, one of the more popular bloggers, recent actually had to request his readers to visit his blog at http://www.chrisbrogan.com and not just read the RSS feed so he could get feedback on a re-design (BTW, drop by and let him know what you think). Chris, a smart blogger, recognizes that most of his followers read his posts through feed readers and not through regularly visiting Chrisbrogan.com.
Second, the Obama campaign did an incredible job with the my.barackobama.com site. However, the reach was even more powerful though participation on Facebook, Twitter, iPhone apps, text messages. The Obama campaign was smart and deliberate about going to where their supporters were, not forcing them to come to the campaign site. I think the result is clear here.
Finally, Paula Drum, VP of Marketing at H&R Block has taken a similar strategy where she is directly meeting the customer where they are most comfortable. H&R Block has a active presence on Twitter, Facebook, and even Second Life (see this Podtech video for more info on how Drum is going beyond the H&R Block domain to reach customers).
I think this is a huge topic, but I would like to open it up to your comments. How are you leveraging social media to meet customers where they are now online? How is this impacting your web site’s strategy?
I look forward to comments!
- Cross posted on my blog at Mzinga.com
/Colin
Filed Under: Theory
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Social media will not kill the company web site. If anything, it is making it more interactive and pushing marketers to use it to engage customers directly. In addition, the smart ones are putting links to it on delicious, Flickr, YouTube and other places where customers are sharing information with each other. CommVault (http://news.commvault.com) is a great example of a B2B high-tech company.
Colin:
On the contrary, social media will ensure your company and its web site stay relevant. The days of the one-way conversation are numbered. If you aren’t engaging your prospected and constituents, you are missing the boat.
The social revolution is well under way and the ’social divide’ is growing rapidly. Sites that have social/community features like blogs, user commenting, discussion forums, user ratings, user recommendations, and such will be at the forefront and will dominate mindshare in their categories. Sites that lack such features will increasingly be considered out-of-date.
The younger generations can barely relate to non-social media. They are so used to being connected that non-social web sites are ‘dead sites’.
Daniel
Daniel – thanks for the comment. While I don’t think the web site is going any where, I do think that a blog in particular is mostly read in RSS readers. People can even discover your blog through an RSS reader, subscribe and read and never even touch your site. Comments can be left on Twitter, Friendfeed, through readers – the point is that marketers need to think more broadly about the media they are using, the corporate website is only one small piece of the online marketing puzzle.
-Colin
Your article is very informative and useful. Glad I found it. Cheers.
Enoyed your post and bookmarked you for future reading.. Thinking of adding some of your content to my website ZestforMarketing
I really liked your blog!
I’m not one to comment often, but nice post. I appreciate the time you put into it.
Interesting blog post. What would you say was the most important marketing factor?