Your Digital Storefront: Your Website or Facebook? - Ed Keller

There were two stories in the press about Facebook last Thursday that caught my eye The first was the story of Facebook39s first earnings report since going public Investor expectations were not met and the stock tumbled The same day a new research study was released and reported with this headline quotCustomers Still Prefer Company Websites to Facebook PagesquotWhile the earnings story was widely discussed and has clear relevance to the investment community the second story has important implications for the marketing community It helps to explain some of the challenges that Facebook faces when it comes to brand marketers and is a timely and helpful reminder to that in a rush to engage socially with consumers it is a mistake to focus efforts on online social networks at the expense of other digitalamp8212 as well as non digitalamp8212assetsThe new research from social marketing firm Get Satisfaction and analyst Incyte Group findsamp183 When people log onto social networks such as Facebook 70 of them do so for social networking with friends or family but only 13 say they visit social media to interact with brandsamp183 When customers want information to make purchase decisions they are more than four times as likely to go to the company39s website 89 as they are to use a social network 21 Similarly customers who want to learn more about a product are also more likely to visit the company39s website 81 than the Facebook brand page 20amp183 When people are introduced to a new product service or brand though a social network and want to learn more about it they are far more likely to visit the company website 81 than go to the brand39s Facebook page 26Get Satisfaction and Incyte Group concluded that users on Facebook don39t want brand relationships to be a part of their social media experience but rather to have the companies39 websites behave more like social networks This way users can get information as well as reviews and commentsGet Satisfaction CEO Wendy Lea summed up the findings by saying quotIt39s clear that companies aren39t getting the results they need from investing in social media Consumers don39t just want to be broadcasted to They want to engage with each other and companies about products and services they care about This study validates that social media strategy needs to include authentic customer engagement driven by a branded customer community and not be viewed and used as yet another digital advertising channel Getting results from social media is about relevant interactions throughout the customer life cyclequotThese results are highly consistent with research my firm has conducted which finds that when it comes to the digital tools marketers can use to drive word of mouth As Brad Fay and I write in our new book The FacetoFace Book Why Real Relationships Rule in a Digital Marketplace quotIt will come as a shock to many marketers that social media provide content to the smallest share of wordofmouth conversations among all forms of internet contact pointsquot Our research finds that brand websites are talked about more during brandrelated conversations than any other type of internet content and twice as often as social media Paid internet advertising is also far more dominant than social media as a source of online content that ends up being discussed in conversations quotThese marketing channels should not be abandoned or ignoredquotThere is clear lesson here for marketers Don39t ignore your website as you develop your social media presence it39s too valuable to let it languish As you invest in digital assets to drive social influence make certain that company39s website remains your first digital investment priority think of social media amp8212whether it be on Facebook or Google or elsewhereamp8212as a complement but not a substitute As the Get Satisfaction study concludes quotThe community can have an entry point on your Facebook brand page but your customers want to interact with you in your branded customer community not their open social networksquot Don39t trade the opportunity for a deep and meaningful exchange of information with your prospective customers on your branded website for what is often a shortterm quotlikequotEd Keller CEO of the Keller Fay Group has been called quotone of the most recognized names in word of mouthquot His new book The FacetoFace Book Why Real Relationships Rule in a Digital Marketplace was recently published by Free PressSimon ampamp Schuster You can follow Ed Keller on Twitter Facebook and Google or contact him directly at ekellerkellerfaycomRead all Edamp8217s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at WOM MattersCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership 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