ANALYSIS
Social media gets down ...
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This a tool that helps brands seed their messages
via social media users, since people are likely to
listen to their friends than an official brand message,” says McCann’s Pesevska.
What about the company website?
For the last 20 years or so, companies the world over
have poured big time and money into building and
maintaining their individual websites. It seems like
that is rapidly becoming unnecessary since fewer and
fewer people are likely to visit them. According to the
“Wave 6” study, consumers are moving “away from
increasingly siloed brand websites, viewing them as
specialist or one dimensional experiences compared
to those offered by social media.” The study shows
a 13% decrease in visits to single brand websites,
a trend expected to continue. And this downward
trend was most obvious among 16-24 year old survey respondents.
Allweb’s Buldioski says that he wouldn’t recommend
that companies eliminate their websites. “That is
the brand’s home, where you can do whatever you
want. The brand owner sets the rules there, so
you’re in control. But brands do need to find ways to
make their sites more social and give users a fresh
experience, which
takes some research, time and other resources.”
The business case
Akin to the rather sudden importance of launching a
company website in the mid-1990s, the shift toward
social media for marketers is about remaining
relevant to the next generation of customers, who
have different expectations and habits than their
predecessors. As with any paradigm shift, companies
will need to invest resources to learn about, test and
finally change current practices in order to adapt to
the new reality.
The shift to social media for companies could reduce
costs for everything from providing customer support
to recruiting new employees. After all, social media
offer companies direct, electronic communication
with potential and current clients, employees and partners. This should translate to a significant reduction in
resources applied to other channels meant to achieve
the same ends – think call centers, brick and mortar
storefronts and the like. It should also mean an exponential increase in the effectiveness and reach of their
current efforts for a fraction of the traditional cost.
Winning with Customers ...
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It is also more efficient, with a measurable ROI that offers an organic
way of promoting products and
helps generate leads (social netw