Does this mean the death of the corporate website?

 

According to many marketing commentators, corporate websites no longer feature in their top tactics.  The old one-way monologue communication style of company websites has transitioned into a more user-engaged, experience-led two-way dialogue. And improved dialogue means better relationships.

 

 

What are the reasons for using social media? Here’s 11 reasons:

 

Customer engagement

Direct customer communications

Speed of feedback results

Market and customer research

Low cost

Brand building

Market research

Credibility of the 'crowd'

Reach

Great lead generation source

Customer service

 

Source: Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) 'Social Media in Marketing', as cited in press release, November 2008.

 

There are companies that are full-on advocates of social media (like the Skittles website, which uses Twitter to the extreme!) and others that are far more wary. Whatever the opinion, it’s something that no company should ignore. But, that doesn’t mean that companies need to scrap their existing website. Actually, for many companies, it may well just be a case of adding some social features and interactive tools to work with the existing website. Even small tweaks can mean significantly better engagement and, ultimately, better performance.

 

A great example of this is the Empowering Mums web design project that we're currently working on, which will be using a range of tools to engage with mums - such as Wordpress blog, its Facebook group and email marketing.  But, more on this when we launch the website in the next couple of months!