Will Social Networks Be Part of Everyone's Next Website Design?

Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media.

5/12/2008

Our recent webinar on Business Strategies for Social Media was well-attended, and the questions we received were excellent examples of what's facing businesses when considering how these tools and strategies might impact their business in coming months. One point that people asked about frequently was the benefits of building a social network to embrace their customer base and transform them into a community.

Companies like Mansueto who publish FastCompany magazine have taken the plunge. Ed Sussman, president of Mansueto Digital, converted their website into a social collaboration platform, where users could post articles and stories of their own that might see equal billing with featured articles from the magazine's staff. Built on open-source content management technology (Drupal), FastCompany.com has become a vibrant network platform, as well as the frontpiece to the web presence of the magazine. And with a community leader, Lynne d. Johnson, in place, FastCompany feels they have their customer base's interests and concerns covered.

But why do this? It seems like a lot of moving parts, fraught with potential problems, the threat of negative user-generated content, and the risk of a lack of marketing focus. The answers are simple: it promotes more page views, builds search rank, delivers more inbound links (which Google counts as another measure of value), and builds thousands and thousands of pages upon which to serve advertising impressions.

Your company might not be a media company. (I'd argue that we're all becoming media companies to some extent.) The benefits of providing a gathering place for your customer base and your prospects are many, even if your business is traditionally in the B2B space. For one, it encourages lateral conversations between existing customers and prospects. Building a social network for your customer base allows passionate users to represent their relationship with your brand in a personalized way.

And this isn't for technology companies only. GM created GMNext as a place for car enthusiasts to learn about what's coming next, as well as a place to talk about their remembrances of GM cars they've owned in the past. The collaborative part in this case (besides the ability to comment and rate several parts of the content overall) is a wiki, where car owners are encouraged to tell stories about their history with GM cars.

Should your company consider building a social network for your customer base, and maybe one that encourages in new prospects? Have you already experimented with this? I'd love to hear your story. Send mail to [email protected] to talk about social networks.

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Will Social Networks Be Part of Everyone's Next Website Design?

Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media.

5/12/2008

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

National Association Partner

ITEC-TV

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ITEC Connect

Will Social Networks Be Part of Everyone's Next Website Design?

Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media.

5/12/2008

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CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

National Association Partner

ITEC-TV