The divine corporate blogging expert Debbie Weil recently asked this question on her blog, as part of a Kindle version refresh of her excellent book “The Corporate Blogging Book.”
Debbie asked me to think about whether a blog should be the social media hub – your epicenter, the place where you’re trying to bring your customers and prospects. Based largely on the comment I left on her blog, here’s what I think. What about you?
Should a blog be the hub of your social media efforts?
It depends on the objectives the company has for its social media efforts.
Maybe Facebook Is Your Hub?
If the objective is to interact with current customers, keeping your product or service top -of-mind and building kinship with the brand, Facebook may in fact be the best hub, given its inherent sociability, ease-of-use, and large audience. However, I’m always troubled by companies putting too much emphasis on Facebook (New England Patriots, Vitamin Water and many others are favoring Facebook over their corporate Web sites/blogs). Do you really want to build your social media program on what amounts to rented land? One terms of service change and your social media program has to scramble.
Maybe a Private Community is Your Hub?
If your social media efforts tilt toward customer service and market research, a private brand community might be the true hub. Something like Communispace or My Starbucks Idea. This is where you might have the best engagement and insight flow. But, these are typically tip of the iceberg communities from a numbers standpoint, and may not have the breadth to really be considered the “hub”.
Paul Gillin (whose blog is excellent) mentioned in the comments that he viewed Twitter as a satellite opportunity, not a hub per se. I agree. I see Twitter as a complementary tool for all the others – with the possible exception of a focused customer support program like @comcastcares or @twelpforce where Twitter is really a post-modern 800 number that has freestanding benefit to the company and its customers.
Yeah, Probably Your Blog
Generally, I do believe a blog is the best hub for most social media efforts. First, because blogs can be significantly more social than most corporate Web sites. Second, because blogs are typically not burdened with all the product info, support info, background info and other semi-useful pages that corporate Web sites need to support that mostly just get in the way. Think of a Christmas tree that didn’t include the crappy ornaments that you got from your parents but feel obligated to hang, but only displays cool ornaments you bought from yourself, or that your kids made. That’s the navigational and information architecture advantage of a blog.
Not to mention that blogs are far superior to corporate Web sites, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts with regard to inbound marketing. If your social media objective is even tangentially about attracting new customers, the SEO value of the blog alone makes it a suitable hub.
Lastly, the longer-form nature of blogging makes it ideal for developing connections between the company and customers. There is only so much humanization you can do in 140 characters – even in somewhat longer Facebook posts. Sure, you need to have a variety of social media presences to accommodate the usage patterns of your customers and fans. (Great interview here with Steve Rubel about that). But, unlike Rubel I believe you have to have a nucleus for your social media strategy that the other outposts orbit.
All good companies are made up of great people. Social media lets you prove it, and blogs are still the best way to do so. Right?
(photo by yumyumbubblegum)
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Twitter Comment
Should a Blog be Your Social Media Hub? [link to post] #socialmedia #news
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Twitter Comment
Should a Blog be Your Social Media Hub? [link to post] #socialmedia #news
– Posted using Chat Catcher
Twitter Comment
Jay Baer ponders the question of whether your blog should be the hub of your social media program: [link to post]
– Posted using Chat Catcher
A related and relevant post by Chris Brogan.
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/how-outposts-improve...
Jason — good post. For me, it still comes down to strategy. Any of your social media sites can be your hub but you need to spend some time thinking about how it will work, why it should be there and what you are going to do with it once it has been established.
I believe your blog should be your conduit to other sites. Generally, I root for a mix of all, with emphasis on my blog. Good post!
“Do you really want to build your social media program on what amounts to rented land?”
This.
Your main hub has to be within your control. even if you start momentum on FB or Twitter, eventually the homebase has to be within your home.
Great post
I believe that a blog should absolutely serve as the hub of social media for a business. Using Facebook for that purpose is kind of like sending people to a tradeshow booth space rather than to your company showroom. I see Twitter and Facebook in supportive roles – like the assistant to the head honcho, the blog. Just in terms of brand building, I think it's essential to have the blog a the key place for community, relationship building and conversations which all other social media outposts should lead to…
Your blog is the best hub. Not only for the reasons you list above but, with an emphasis on “rented land”. It's almost inconceivable at the moment to think Facebook could “go away” or even become less relevant but, as history shows, it could happen.
great topic.
Phew, had me going there for a bit. Thought I would have to write a paragraph long answer to explain it, but you answered it correctly at the end. Here is my thoughts.
Think of New Media (blogging, podcasting) as a car. The car is cool and everything, but there is one major problem. You're pushing it. Social Media is the engine to that car to get you moving places. Without it, you are still using limited manual labor. People, unless they are gear-heads (in which case they are strong admirers of the “technicalities”), don't say, “Ooo, look at that awesome 16 piston, turbo throttled, flame belching, liquid cooled engine!” Nope. They say, “Whoa! Sweet car!” That is the difference and the same applies to our world as well.
Exactly Scott. It needs to be built on “YOUR LAND”.
Good topic. Each platform can serve different goals within the same objective. I think it goes without saying that you have to address the capacity of each as relative to your objectives. It's just basic business. And if any of your platforms aren't serving your objectives you probably shouldn't be there.
People should be at the hub. Go where the customers are, listen and love.
What a coincidence as I was literally writing a post for my blog on the same topic. As I see it social media is first and foremost about educating the people in your market and providing them with solutions to their problems. I think Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites are great for introducing yourself and establishing creditability in your communities. These and other social media sites should be drawing people to your blog. Your blog is where the bulk of your educating takes place simply because you can use audio, video, photos and longer, more detailed posts. From your blog you can direct people to your “money site” whatever that may be.
Hello,
This post asks all the right questions. I would like to add, if I may, to this wonderfully executed piece: Some compagnies, in the early adoption stages of social media may indeed consider social networks as their Hub; but growing to understand Social media more, they will consider expanding their digital footprint with a Blog. As I it has been mentionned, it is your own, it is yours and you bring back customers on in your home.
Karima-Catherine
One more vote for your blog being your hub. A blog is yours. You own the URL. The only person who can change the terms of service of your blog is you. Who knows what the future has in store for Facebook, Twitter, or SuperSocialMediaSiteofTheFuture, whose decisions about your content and channel are being made by someone else. When considering one's hub in terms of online real estate, it's best to own than to rent:-)
Jay –
I really like what @unmarketing says, “Your main hub has to be within your control.” I agree a ton w/ that statement.
Also, I really like the blog as the hub as – unlike most corporate websites – a blog is the place you can infuse personality. You can certainly use Twitter and Facebook for that as well, but the blog *seems* to have a longer life, right?
Finally, my question to you – and where I still struggle – is that I feel like a corporate website makes more sense for lead gen compared to a blog. If that is true, how do you balance/justify that fact? COO, CEO, Sales dudes want more leads. It just *feels* better to put a lead form on a corp site vs a blog.
Am I making sense?
Oh yeah, one of my new favorite Jay-isms: “All good companies are made up of great people. Social media lets you prove it, and blogs are still the best way to do so. Right?”
See you next week in Miami.
DJ Waldow
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
@djwaldow
Twitter Comment
Jay Baer ponders the question of whether your blog should be the hub of your social media program: [link to post]
– Posted using Chat Catcher
Twitter Comment
RT @dvendley RT @jaybaer Should a Blog be Your Social Media Hub? [link to post]
– Posted using Chat Catcher
I guess I have a slightly different take, Jay. My assumption is that any social media marketing effort is aimed to drive new business. A heretical statement for many I'm sure, but I'm a capitalist.
So the ultimate goal is to sell and that is going to happen on your website, which should contain clear call to actions and points of differentiation heralding your business as the bee's knees.
In my view, the website is, and probably always will be, the central hub for a marketing effort. However, the role of the website is dramatically different in the context of the social web, serving as an engine to shuttle people to places on the Internet for meaningful content whereve it may be. Likewise, the social media content should point back to the center of the hub — your website.
Forget all the conversation and community stuff. That's fine. I get it. Ultimately, you're still trying to influence a purchasing behavior. The influence may come from the social web but your website has to close the deal.
Jay and Mark:
This is kinda what I was getting at w/ my comment above. Mark just said it better…
DJ Waldow
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
@djwaldow
I recommend drawing a picture. AbbieF is dead on with her strategy comment. Each element is part of the mosaic that is your strategy. Decide if you need a pattern or a picture. Both have their place.
I agree. Anything can be your hub. There are pros and cons. The most important piece is that you HAVE a hub. Too many programs just have a collection of outposts and no strategy or funnel.
Thanks. I largely agree. I certainly can see the advantages of a Facebook-centric approach. It just scares me (for now).
Fantastic analogy Cheryl! I love the trade show booth paradigm. Nicely done.
Fantastic analogy Cheryl! I love the trade show booth paradigm. Nicely done.
Thanks so much for the great comment. You raise an excellent point. In some cases, Facebook, et al are the path of least resistance, and companies start there and go with a blog later. I hadn't thought of it that way, but you're onto something. I'd love to create a survey about that sequencing. Hmmm.
Absolutely. A blog alone is a pretty lonely hub. It's a mix, but you need some idea of where you want people to end up, and why.
Alta Vista
Excite
Circles
Friendster
MySpace
?
I like to leave you in suspense. Great analogy. I have no idea how my car works, and I don't care to. However, I do know that Twitter is the gasoline for this blog.
Yep. Each tool has its place. Although Twitter as a hub is difficult for me to get my head around, because the content is by definition ephemeral.
Absolutely. The field of social graph anthropology is going to get huge this year, as companies need to know where their customers are hanging out – not just where their customers are talking about them.
Well said. I think we'll see more and more people trying to turn the blog into the “money site” and skipping the last step. We'll see.
Unless the real estate market goes down 30% a year, but that's a different blog post! I already have my username staked out on supersocialmediasiteofthefuture. (I also registered /ronploof there, just to annoy you).
Nice. I concur that in many cases the transaction feels more appropriate on the corporate site. But, I don't believe that has to be the case. As I mentioned in a previous comment, I think we'll see more and more companies trying to close the loop on the blog itself, which eliminates click leakage when people move from blog to corporate site. In general, I think most blogs are way too subtle about calls to action and conversions. Yes, it's community. But it's still commerce, too.
We come from the same background. But, I think (and I'd love to prove it) that your conversion rate from a blog is higher than your conversion rate from the corporate site. Certainly, your search rankings should be better unless it's a very crappy blog.
Jay
Great analogy. Was having this convo just last week and so wish I had this analogy with me…far more concise than whatever babble I managed. Totally agree… letting FB or anyone own you fans/presence and control the terms of engagement scares me.
@TomMartin
Touche, Mr. Baer. Touche
Jay
I very much agree with the central hub being your website/blog. It you own it, design it the way you want and drive traffic to it from SM efforts. What happens when your customers hang out on FB and not matter how much effort you put in, they still engage on FB. It is a bit of a problem as your website is your central hub but they are more comfortable or use to communicating elsewhere. Karima-Catherine has a good point as when people are just starting to create a presence, they do go to the SM sites to develop their presence so that when the blog is ready they have a following per se to push to.
Great analogy as so many have said.
I like to think of my blog as my car, social media as the engine, and change as the fuel. Good stuff Jay! Keep it up!
I think it comes down to what you are trying to accomplish. For some, a blog may be the best place to center in, where as others who don't give it the same time and are trying to reach a more general audience would be best served with Facebook. I think its a preference thing and no one has been doing it long enough to know which pays off more. Good post, Got me thinking.
Jay, I like your thinking. As a service provider, I find a blog the most useful hub. Products that people get excited about are better candidates for Facebook hubs and company sites are more formal by “necessity” and not conversation-friendly. Communities need a lot of care and feeding and depending on how orchestrated can be daunting for newcomers. A lot to mull over . . . Great post and I look forward to reading you more often! P.S. Just discovered Milagros tequila, now a favorite.
Twitter Comment
RT @dvendley RT @jaybaer Should a Blog be Your Social Media Hub? [link to post]
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This is a pretty key question isn't it? Where do conversions come from? Shouldn't we know that? I would say it's a combo meal. Ya got me thinking.
Tom you can call me for on-the-spot analogy help whenever you like, as long as I get the Vieux Carre treatment like Brogan.
True that Facebook is a more general (larger) audience, but I'm not sure people are going to engage with you there unless they are already engaged with you elsewhere – or at the very least are a customer. There's a blog post in there that I'll write soon.
Oh yes. The Milagro single barrel anejo is a top 3 for me. Tastes like honey.
…except if your name is Steve Rubel and you think blogs are dead.
Twitter Comment
RT @MarkatEMR: most social media marketing is on *someone else’s property* Critical point made in grt article by@jaybaer [link to post]
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Well now, that would require you to come to the Vieux Carre now wouldn't it
look forward to your arrival.