Corporates need to socialise brand websites

June 11th, 2010 by Daniel Young | Filed under Media, Social media.

I was delighted to have an opinion piece run in the Media & Marketing section of today’s Sydney Morning Herald.

The article makes the point that companies need to make their brand websites more social, personal, human and interactive. We’re already seeing a lot of brands moving in this direction with corporate blogs and community content built into their branded website experience.

I think this trend will continue.

Some may argue that social media fulfils the need for interactivity and conversational marketing; they’re right but I do believe that we’ll see the balance equalise for the following reasons:

100611 - DYoung Corp Web Article_SMH

Brands know that social network users are fickle and that sites can quickly fall out of favour. This makes it a risky place to invest in order to establish your social presence online
Branding is about differentiation – social networks inhibit differentiation by forcing brands to work within templates. Brands owners will want to regain control of the way they are presented
The conversations that make up social media will become core to business – the emphasis will shift from social networks back to the branded website
Brands will become leaders and not followers in social media as they become content producers & media companies in their own right
Brands will allow the user to create their own experience within the confines of the branded website by adding or removing social objects, content and apps, which the user can then bring into their social network. The brand website will act as a social hub.

The article ran in today’s Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age: Building a better relationship with online customers