Social media needs to be part of an overall sales and marketing strategy that includes your website, not something that is isolated from everything else you do to promote your business. It isn’t a one hit wonder that will magically drive people to your business.
Source: socialmediatoday.com
Sue Cockburn makes a great point on SocialMediaToday; and one that I’ve often seen underestimated: just like in ancient Rome, all your social media roads should lead to the center of your online presence, aka your website (as a matter of fact, I was highlighting it myself in a talk last week).
As she pointed out, one of the reasons for this is certainly the hype on social media (and its apparent simplicity).
With the Scoop.it team, we’ve been trying to identify the other reasons explaining that by observing many companies – small or large – implementing their content strategy:
– small businesses are often finding it difficult to integrate their social media publishing efforts with their own website in a simple way (hence our own efforts to integrate with WordPress, offer embeds and make website integration easy);
– larger companies can also face that (even when they have IT departments, they’re not always reactive and available for marketing-driven projects) but there’s another factor: very often, social media publishing was initially defined as a standalone role (and even if it’s a cliché, sometimes to the millenial in the team who “got it”). This meant it grew in a silo alongside other marketing activities such as SEO, content marketing or building up the WebSite to modern standards.
Any other factors that explain this that you came across?
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I don’t agree, it’s like thinking that the earth is at the center of the universe. I don’t believe that a social media strategy must only be about inbound marketing. Of course, at some point you have to lead your customer towards your salespoint, but the key is really to provide a difference experience to the customer, more engaging, satisfying and unique. So I’ll say “all Social Media roads should lead to the center of your online presence aka : your customers. ;)”
So aren’t we saying the same thing then? “at some point you have to lead your customer towards your salespoint” => yes, precisely my point too. You can’t escape that fact if you want ROI. But sure, I agree with you this road doesn’t need to be a boring, abrupt and straight highway: there will be discussions, questions, comments and opportunities to engage before converting. Said differently, Social Media is larger than social media publishing. But the point is that many companies don’t even try to drive their social media audience to their websites; which in Sue’s (and my) opinion… Read more »
Yes, I know that in fact we agree 🙂 I was trying to add some perspective to this post. I think that a website is bound to become just another planet in ones business solar system and needs to be considered as such. The question is not how you will integrate your social media efforts on your website, but how you will develop a coherent and synergetic Customer Experience through all channels of communications. Which is as you said, the big challenge for large companies who too often carry out innovations as standalone activities…
Thanks for the comment (and the mataphor ;-)). I’ve actually just elaborated on another aspect of that here: http://blog.scoop.it/2014/06/18/social-media-publishing-is-dead-as-we-know-it/ (in the light of Facebook recent changes).
for my business, holding a Scoop it page does now make sense, I realized months ago that sharing was not enough for all the reasons your mentionned in a previous article (about how social media we use to know is dead) but also because all the time and effort i m putting into writing emails is vain after few weeks because my posts disappear from my home page when i produce new ones… therefore, pinning on scoop it will make it easier for my target to get all my content in once and select their entry point to my blog….
Guillaune, thanks for sharing this article. I just happened to come across it. Glad to see it sparked a bit of discussion.
My pleasure @suecockburn:disqus: you made a great point which is spot on what we’ve been preaching. I also elaborated on this here: http://blog.scoop.it/2014/06/18/social-media-publishing-is-dead-as-we-know-it/ Thanks!
Social media grew in a silo because it is a voice that comes from a person, to a person, and invites a response. Corporate mass communication, and specifically brand advertising were not the share points where ‘corporate’ wanted to interact with consumers,. They relegated it to an after the fact share point – the black hole of – ‘customer service’. It was not until the share point as a data collection point for buying behavior that brought it into parity and the need to integrate with the corporate website. However, I have to disagree with the author;s premise that the… Read more »