The Best Thing You Can Do TODAY
Think your website is ‘social’ because you’ve put a twitter and facebook button up there? Think again.
We’re introduced to a profound change in the way we’ve been thinking of websites in Social Media Today’s recent post: What Needs to Be on Your Digital Agenda in 2012? We’re told we must have ‘social websites.’ Sure, we knew websites were no longer just online brochures (though, sadly, there are still quite a few of those out there). But we thought we were pretty cool with our buttons and sharing features. Not so.
Websites as we have come to know them are dead. In 2012, the brand whose sole social media/website “integration” consists of a share this page, Facebook or Twitter icon will fast become a thing of the past.
Websites are no longer our central marketing piece. Rather, they mirror our social strategies (e.g., what is said on our blog, Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, YouTube, etc.). They are a platform and foundation for other online activity. To keep pace, and meet folks where they are, we must make our websites our “home bases”, embracing interactivity and user-focused content.
Websites have become a point of embarkation and disembarkation enabling constituents to comment on blogs, post reviews, like your Facebook posts, visit your LinkedIn page discussions, share your tweets, etc. We want to make it easy for our consumers to get engaged, to find new friends, to participate in meaningful dialogue and to share items of interest with their contacts. We want the entire website to be an engagement tool — something that aids us and our users in accomplishing mutual goals.
Websites today must fully incorporate web elements that enable interaction. I’m advising my clients to think of their blog (and blog feedback) as their central marketing creation. Everyone won’t read (or be interested in) every post, but it’s a great way to develop relevant, engaging content in real time; then call it up when and where it may be needed. A newsletter can derive from the blog, for example (as a monthly e-digest that points to articles where the reader can “read more”). Similarly, tweets, FB posts and even video can derive from this resource. Participants can easily choose the elements that appeal to them. Every element should point back/forth to other elements to complete the circle of dialogue and engagement. Notes Paul Fabretti , Digital Director at Brazen PR:
it will be crucial for websites that are in development this year to understand how they can better integrate social content into their websites – whether that be brand mentions sitting alongside brochureware pages, user-generated reviews or images sitting alongside product or simply a list of bookmarks to social channels where product is being mentioned.
“What’s the nicest thing your website does for your constituents” is a question I posed in a recent post describing ways we can make our websites more attractive to audiences we seek to engage. It turns out that one of the nicest things we can do for them – and for us – is make it really easy for them to have a conversation and give/receive feedback. Our website can be a way we collect/consolidate what is happening in multiple media channels so that constituents who wish to can find everything from a single portal.
We commit a lot of time/resources to monitor outside social channels. How can we integrate these external sites into our own website? Let’s give the content already being created outside of our control a place within our control.
4 Comments
What do you suggest for the more passive constituents who do not want to be "super" engaged? Personally, I like a simple platform that allows me to "window shop", drop a donation off, and continue living my life
No problem. The point of using the website as homebase is to allow people to simply window shop if that's what they choose. We don't need to drive those who prefer not to engage to do so. Some people are more social than others. But we want to guard against keeping all our interesting content segegated in social silos . We need to figure out an integration mechanism that feeds social tidbits to the busy socialites and the non-socialites alike. Digest formats work great for this. Thanks for commenting!
Eclaire…well written and well said. Brochure web sites are definitely a thing of the past…but many still are grasping with the old way of doing things. Funny, old is only 5 years ago! It's fantastic to be on the curve of change and embracing the new way of business.
Thanks Miriam. This reminds me of the old saying: Time flies we can't they fly too fast. We really have to do better than just keep up; we need to be a bit ahead of the curve of change you describe, and definitely embracing.