I got this from www.web-strategist.com. Its pretty good.
Again its common sense but sometimes we all need to hear a touch of common sense in order to stop us from going bonkers.
I use my blog to share good stuff I come across online with everyone else that might stop here. I also use it as a tool, sorta like my own reference desk for things that I think may be worthwhile coming back to. Lots of people say that blogs are just the regeratation of the same information and while I think its some times true I also think that the web is a big place and things need to be repeated.
So please don’t give me the credit for coming up with this good thought. Just give me the credit for having the good sense to repeat it so that everyone can read it. Without further ado…
Matrix: Evolution of Social Media Integration and Corporate Websites
| Sophistication | Example | Benefit | Challenge |
| 1) Do nothing, no social integration | Corporate websites that have no integration with social tools at all. | Cheap. Ignorance is bliss, at least in the short term | Your corporate website is irrelevant. |
| 2) Link directly away without a strategy | Corporate homepages that have chickelts that say “Follow us on Twitter/Facebook/YouTube” sending traffic away, see sharethis, add this and tweetmeme | Encourages growth of social channels | Sending traffic away, without having a strategy |
| 3) Link away, but encourage them to share with a pre-populated message | A chicklet that encourages new Twitter followers to Tweet at their friends “I’m no following X brand” | Triggers a social alert as a form of endorsement | Better than the above, it may not have a followup or call to action |
| 4) Brand experience is integrated in social channels | Extending the brand to social channels, so the corporate experience is somewhat mirrored on social channels | Regardless of wherever users go, they are still experiencing the brand | Social channels sometimes serve better as a conversational area –not for traditional branding campaigns |
| 5) Aggregating the discussion on your site | Aggregating select conversations from Tweets like the skittles homepage did, top discussions in communities or blogs, see Disqus and Echo. | Centralizes the discussion on your site, making it a resource to first look at. Low cost content | Lack of control over which content can be created, still links off site |
| 6) Social login systems that allow users to stay on site | Using FB connect, or Twitter connect allow users to use their existing logins to access site, see how JanRain and Gigya (client) helps | May increase sign ups, widening marketing funnel, chances are content is more accurate than a sign up form | May not have access to email addresses, as users passthrough using social logins. |
| 7) Social login systems that allow users to stay on site, but triggers viral loop | In addition to the above, there’s an actual social or interactive experience on the corporate site that triggers them to share with their friends | Users stay on site, interact with brand or peers, yet recruit other members in social networks | Requires planning, a campaign, and extensive resources. |
| 8. Complete integration between corporate site and social sites | Other than URLs there’s no difference between a corporate site and a social site, the experiences are seamless | Customers, prospects, and employees mix together, churning on new members and viral activity | It doesn’t exist, yet. |
Be Deliberate: Use This Roadmap For Your Web Strategy
Use this guide to map your current situation and where you plan to go, copy and paste the framework into your corporate planning deck, and identify where your assets are now. Get actionable by taking these three steps:
- Take inventory of current corporate website assets. Social strategists must determine what level of sophistication they are at now, and document in their project plans. Take inventory of all corporate web assets and tag with this framework.
- Identify what the desired state is, and then build a plan against it. Note that the further you go down in sophistication, the more resources and stakeholder buyin are needed. Start small and slow, and be sure to have a strategy.
- Don’t arbitrarily jump into to social marketing space without measurable KPIs. Be deliberate in your actions. Indicate on paper what the measurable goals are and how they’ll tie back to business metrics: Increase brand awareness, increase leads, increase site conversion.
