“The impressive numbers achieved by social networking sites that have been reported in the media today will no doubt fuel the increasing sense of urgency amongst businesses to create Facebook pages and attempt to engage with the millions of individuals now using the site. However, although there are benefits to a well-managed Facebook page, what businesses should really be thinking about is creating communities of their own around their business, products or services.
Facebook is still an ostensibly personal space for its users and despite the fact that there are successful business or brand pages in operation within the site, its primary function is social. Facebook pages also present few opportunities for a business to understand exactly who their customers are – after all it is Mark Zuckerberg that owns all the data. By creating your own community you have a greater opportunity to turn visitors into registered users, capturing more detail on your customers and prospects as you go – data that you own. Companies now recognise that people will talk about them and their products online anyway, so why not host these discussions and at least be aware of them and have a chance of dealing with things that come up?”
Bob and his team are also available to suggest practical steps that businesses, brands, publishers and in fact anyone with an online presence with a desire to engage with internet users, can take towards setting up an online community and in turn how they can ensure it has longevity.
If you would like to discuss further with Bob Pike or a Siteforum customer please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
To get to the full article "Social networks overtake Google in UK web hits" click here.
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