A social media landing page is a hub on the brand.com site that highlights all the social media platforms the brand is on. Similar to other landing pages, it’s a page tailored for a specific user group that is indexed by search engines. However, unlike landing pages for paid search or display banners, a social media landing page (SMLP) offers very different calls-to-action. They typically include the usual suspects such as engaging the brand, joining the community, and reaching out to other social platforms, which place more emphasize on social conversion instead of traditional sales conversion.
So what are the juicy benefits of SMLP?
Pulling segmented social channels together to increase awareness and exposure
Adding legitimacy to help differentiate the brand-owned pages & user generated pages
Sending more traffic to the brand website (Facebook Fan Page can be positioned as the “hub” if traffic is not a concern)
Allowing brands to track the number of social media visitors from various channels
Giving the tech-savvy social media users more context around the brand’s approach to social media and engagement policy
Enabling more creative display of the brand’s social media assets and content
With the key benefits in mind, a well designed SMLP can effectively integrate the brand’s social media assets into the corporate website. Below are some examples of brand’s SMLP with quick assessments-
To clarify, HootSuite didn’t pay me to write this post. I am recommending their service simply be’cuz I’m a happy user. I’d like thank my fellow co-worker Sarah Gay @sarahgay for introducing the tool to me. This note is written for all the social media community managers who are deep in the trench managing multiple social network profiles for their company.
Without further do, here are the 10 WHYs:
1. Multiple social network profiles, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn All-In-One
I coach and work with many brand social media managers, one of the questions I receive frequently is “how do you jiggle multiple social network profiles at once?” With HootSuite, you no longer need to waste time “sign in, sign out.” One account login will give you access to viewing multiple Twitter feeds, the Facebook news feed, your Fan Page wall and your LinkedIn Network Updates without ever leaving the application. AND, you can update all of them at once if you’d like, just make sure you select the correct profile(s) before you hit the “send” button!
2. Multiple editors, different levels of control
Want to invite a few others to tweet with you but keep the Twitter password to yourself? If you are the ultimate keeper of your brand social media properties, you can simply add “editors” on HootSuite while maintaining control of the profiles. Basically, there are two types of users on HootSuite – level 1 “admin” is the account owner who can add/remove social network profiles and invite other users to participate on selected ones; level 2 “editor” is capable of tweeting & viewing but has no visibility to the social network credentials. I find this feature very useful for organizations that feature occasional guest Twitters or event reporters. After they are done chiming in, “admins“ can easily remove the “editor” access.
A Must Watch Forecast by TrendHunter, these top 20 Consumer Trends shall keep all the designer, marketer-types going back for more.
20. Tangible Personalization – Last year, we saw personalization entering the phyical realm with personalized bobbleheads, custom dresses and crafts. This year, the credit crunch is accelerating this trend with a shift away from luxury products and a desire for personalized gifts.
19. Unservice Forward – Thinking businesses are getting customers to service themselves. From nightclubs and pubs where you serve your own beer to self-serve hotels, unservice not only saves you money, it lets customers get a sense of independence and creative control.
Over the past two years, the most powerful broad trend in media is fragmentation and while mass media remains, it is becoming a smaller and smaller proportion of the overall media landscape. Audiences have become fragmented – and they have more choices in a fragmented media landscape. Today, our informed customers aren’t happy to blindly consume what mainstream media is feeding them. Instead they want: participation, openness, conversation, community, connectedness & all of that in real time!
The upcoming year we will see increasing opportunities because of this world of fragmentation and the proliferation of media channels. Along with the continuous technology advancements, LOCATION is becoming more important than ever. In 2010, I think there are 3 “hyperlocal” trends that will grow and re-shape the social & mobile business -
1. Local advertising becoming ubiquitous
WHY: Advertisers have been constantly evaluating and experimenting with new models to bring more relevancy and context to the online ad kingdom. After behavior-targeting & social-targeting getting their debut in 2009, location-targeting advertising models start to emerge. There is a future in hyperlocal, and advertising certainly is a big part of it.
WHAT TO EXPECT: New ad-generating application such as Place Local will get more traction as it automates the ad creation, sales and management. Since local restaurants, retail outlets and entertainment venues are the most popular search categories, we will see local business owners jumping on the bandwagon first. As more companies seeking to take advantage of the growth in local ad dollars, more widgets and apps will be available, creating location-based ads will be easier than ever.
2. Local media replacing big journalism
WHY: Traditional news organizations faced cutbacks or closures in 2009, by contrast, small and local publications are doing pretty well by serving niche markets. Although the market is smaller, the community is much tighter. Additionally, Twitter just bought Mixer Lab in an effort to pinpoint the locations of people posting messages on its service. Biz Stone believes that when current location is added to tweets, new and valuable services emerge – everything from breaking news to finding friends or local businesses can be dramatically enhanced.
WHAT TO EXPECT: Those who understand the fragmented media landscape and know how to reach customers cost-effectively will thrive. Highly entrepreneurial sites that are a blend of community-building and a focus on tech expertise such as Oakland Local will look to fill the gap in news content. On the Twitter side, location-aware tweets will simply be the main source of future breaking news. Remember how Twitter beat CNN on reporting the plane crash over Hudson River? Expect the real-time location-aware updates to substitute big journalism, very often.
3. Local on-the-go searches
WHY: As we know, the majority of smartphone owners in North America are the younger consumers. According to Forrester’s latest Technographic survey, Gen Yers and Gen Xers are 4-5 times more likely to perform local searches than Boomers and Seniors. Those GPS embedded devices have enhanced the mobile search experience tremendously.
WHAT TO EXPECT: In 2010, GPS embedded handsets will become a necessity while mobile-based local search process will continue to evolve. More web 2.0 sites will translate into the mobile channel; more mobile apps will incorporate maps/destination-search function to extend the usefulness of their core offering. More attention on the location-based social networks and mobile games Foursquare & Gowalla? You bet, their service is proving to be more useful by the day. The possibility is endless!
As the location-battle rages on, what you do you keep an eye on?
This multinational fan-based crowdsourced music video had just made my day! I can’t begin to imagine how much coordination it takes to synchronize all those webcams all over the world. It’s eye-opening and jaw-dropping guaranteed, take a look yourself.
For more info on the artists and lyrics, please click here.
