I Have a Web Site, I Don’t Need A Facebook Page - Bill Balderaz

I’ve heard the argument that companies are so busy building, maintaining and updating their corporate web sites they don’t have time to manage a presence on social networks.

That’s kind of like saying you don’t need email because you have a web site. Or you don’t need a cell phone because you have a blender. Your web site and your social media profiles serve fundamentally different purposes, here are three differences:

The people you want to reach use social media every day.

Think about a professional relationship you have is rock solid. Maybe it’s your advertising agency, or your CPA, or your number one supplier of widgets. Now, how often do you visit their marketing web site.

That’s what I thought.

Most B2B sites, aren’t (to borrow a 1990s phrase) “sticky”. There aren’t compelling reasons to come back.  No matter how much your clients and prospects love you , they probably don’t frequently return to your web site.

It’s no different in the retail world. Think of your favorite restaurant, tennis shoe manufacturer or beer. Now how often do you get back to the site?

Or let’s say you really want to connect with the media. Log in to your Google Analytics and tell me how many page views your press section received last month. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Now imagine if your market or audience visited your site every day. Imagine if you could connect with your clients frequently while you are developing the new release of your software.  Imagine if you could tell everyone within 15 miles of your retail location about overstocked USB drives you are selling for $10. Imagine if you could directly connect with the editor of the most important trade publication in your niche industry to talk about your break through research.

Your clients, customers and the media simply aren’t going to visit your site every day, but they are logging on to Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn every day. If you are there, visible, communicating with them you can get your message out.

Your web site is a monologue, social media is a conversation

I know, I know, you have a “Contact Us” form on your web site. But for the most part, your site probably talks, rather than listens. The magic of social media is just reverse. Social media is the world’s largest, fastest, least expensive and most accurate focus group.

At Webbed Marketing we’ve worked with dozens of clients to help them use social media. Without exception, the ratio of listening to talking is directly proportional to success of a company’s social media strategy. (That is, those that listen do much better).

Here are some examples: Sign up for Tweet Beep and see what consumers, the media, competitors, vendors and employees are saying about your company, and your competitors. You’ll find out who your clients are talking to, how your competitors price and what the media really thinks of your latest product. Google Alerts can help monitor posts on blogs and other social networks. Even visiting sites like LinkedIn and Technorati and searching on your name provide great insight. Don’t be surprised if you’re surprised. You may be sure that your customers love you because of your product features, and discover that it’s really your customer service that wins them over.  We marketers can sit at a table and work to define our brand, but nothing is as accurate as real time conversation, from real people.

I haven’t called a customer service phone number since I joined Twitter. Today, if I have a terrible shopping experience, or visit a beautiful airport, I tweet about it. In almost every case the brand finds my tweet and responds to me in less than an hour. If you’re not participating in social media and monitoring the conversation about your company, you’re missing valuable market data.

Okay, go ahead and add some content to your site that is relevant to today’s news. Great, okay, now run it by your brand team. And legal. Now get it to IT to upload to the CMS. Wait! Your search engine optimization agency needs to write some title tags. Good, okay now upload. But wait, we need a new spot in the navigation for the content. Contact your web design agency to change the navigation. And we need the usability folks to do a run through.

Social media is faster than your web site

Okay now it’s posted. The story is three weeks old and irrelevant. And Google won’t even crawl and index the page for another two weeks.

Now, suppose you need three beta testers today. Or you’re shipping a truckload of building materials to an area devastated by a hurricane. Or your new software is current with the new FDA regulations issued last week. Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are instantaneous. Your content immediately reaches your audience and shows up in search engines in hours or minutes.

Yes, you’re spending a lot of time and energy to maintain your web site. And I’m not suggesting you stop. But while your web site today is a great way to present a polished corporate image, social media is about listening and engaging in real conversations, with the right people, right now.

Bill Balderaz is founder and chief optimism officer of Webbed Marketing. Based in Columbus, Ohio, Webbed Marketing helps organizations use the Internet to produce real business results. The company specializes in goal-oriented search engine optimization, pay-per-click and social media marketing programs.