We recently had a debate in our office about the role social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Tagged, Ning, etc. have in business and more specifically in a business' web strategy.
On the one side we have social network fans saying it should be the foundation of your web strategy on the other side we were saying, as business owners, that it should be part of your web strategy, but only in so much as directing traffic to your own site. This is where things got interesting!
As business owner's and marketing directors we've seen this first hand where an advertising company that we did work with a few years ago advised their client to set a small budget aside for their website, but to keep the bulk of their budget available for the advertising agency's work that they would be doing throughout the year. The justification used by the advertising agency was that it was "Worth more to place your content on a social network or blogging site, since that's where the majority of people spend most of their time on the web these days!"
Those are a few big points scored by social networks fans and advertising agencies, because in essence what they're saying isn't wrong. Yes many people are spending their time on social networking and blogging sites. You're reading a blog right now, so clearly blogging is useful! But when it comes down to it where would you rather spend your money? A) You could spend your money driving your valuable traffic to a blog site such as Blog Spot or a social network site such as Facebook or MySpace, or you could B) Spend your money on driving traffic to your own site using blogging and social networking as part of your web strategy for doing so.
Our position is this: If you owned a store in a mall and a customer came to your shop and said "Nice products", you wouldn't respond by saying "Why thank you, if you'd like to find out more, go to the coffee shop around the corner where we have a dozen or so brochures for you to read whilst you have a wondeful cup of coffee and perhaps a muffin!"
This logic is backward! Surely you leave the brochures at the coffee shop to encourage potential customers to come "to" your store not to send them away.
Keep your blog on your own site and use social networks like Facebook to attract potential customers to it. The technique is very similar to that of e-mail marketing whereby you send out a regular mailer to your client base to encourage them to come back to your store/website to make purchases again, or even just to visit your site regularly for an update on your products. In the end you're building a loyal base of readers that frequently visit your own site who in turn can be converted into customers. Use the social networks and blogging sites to increase your revenue, but don't increase their revenue by sending them all your web traffic.
One example I can think of off-hand is another customer of ours who sponsors a national sport. The sponsorship comes with a dedicated website where readers can find out the which clubs are participating in events nationwide as well as a host of other useful information. They have a group on Facebook dedicated to this sponsorship as well, but the primary role of the Facebook Group is to drop highlights on for readers to view on their Facebook walls and eventually make their way over to the sponsorship website to get the full details.
Mr. VIDEO, a new client of ours, has just launched their new website and will be using Facebook in the same way. They will be posting small quick posts on Facebook announcing newly released movies which will show up on the walls of those in Facebook who sign up to the group. If they want to read the full details, or view the trailer, of the movie, they'll need to click through to the Mr. VIDEO website. This generates traffic to your website and in the long run Mr. VIDEO can convert this traffic into new advertising revenue, Franchise Owner's, and a bigger and loyal movie rental customer base.
Think carefully when making decisions about your web strategy. The question you should be asking yourself is this: "Where does the proposed strategy direct value?"