Evolution of social media integration
As you know, I regularly share posts I read via my Google Reader shared items. This weekend, however, I read a post that I thought should be highlighted in my blog. One of the blogs I follow is Jeremiah Owyan’s “Web Strategy”. Yesterday, he posted an entry entitled “Matrix: Evolution of Social Media Integration and Corporate Websites”. In this post, he includes a matrix that shows an evolution of how and organization can evolve their social media strategy, starting with with “do nothing” and ending with “full integration”. But how do you get from nothing to everything? That’s the best part of this matrix: it gives you the baby steps in-between.
I am reproducing the matrix below, but I encourage you to go and read the entire post to get the full scope of how to use it. Though it is written for businesses, ministries and non-profits can also benefit from it.
| Sophistication | Example | Benefit | Challenge |
| 1) Do nothing, no social integration | Corporate websites that have no integration with social tools at all. | Cheap. Ignorance is bliss, at least in the short term | Your corporate website is irrelevant. |
| 2) Link directly away without a strategy | Corporate homepages that have chickelts that say “Follow us on Twitter/Facebook/YouTube” sending traffic away, seesharethis, add this andtweetmeme | Encourages growth of social channels | Sending traffic away, without having a strategy |
| 3) Link away, but encourage them to share with a pre-populated message | A chicklet that encourages new Twitter followers to Tweet at their friends “I’m no following X brand” | Triggers a social alert as a form of endorsement | Better than the above, it may not have a followup or call to action |
| 4) Brand experience is integrated in social channels | Extending the brand to social channels, so the corporate experience is somewhat mirrored on social channels | Regardless of wherever users go, they are still experiencing the brand | Social channels sometimes serve better as a conversational area –not for traditional branding campaigns |
| 5) Aggregating the discussion on your site | Aggregating select conversations from Tweets like the skittles homepage did, top discussions in communities or blogs, see Disqus and Echo. | Centralizes the discussion on your site, making it a resource to first look at. Low cost content | Lack of control over which content can be created, still links off site |
| 6) Social login systems that allow users to stay on site | Using FB connect, or Twitter connect allow users to use their existing logins to access site, see how JanRain andGigya (client) helps | May increase sign ups, widening marketing funnel, chances are content is more accurate than a sign up form | May not have access to email addresses, as users passthrough using social logins. |
| 7) Social login systems that allow users to stay on site, but triggers viral loop | In addition to the above, there’s an actual social or interactive experience on the corporate site that triggers them to share with their friends | Users stay on site, interact with brand or peers, yet recruit other members in social networks | Requires planning, a campaign, and extensive resources. |
| 8. Complete integration between corporate site and social sites | Other than URLs there’s no difference between a corporate site and a social site, the experiences are seamless | Customers, prospects, and employees mix together, churning on new members and viral activity | It doesn’t exist, yet. |
2 Comments to Evolution of social media integration
Well done to link us to this, Dave. It's a keeper (meaning, it's a passer-around!
March 29, 2010
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Dave Bourgeois. Dave Bourgeois said: Where is your ministry in the social media evolution matrix? See the matrix and find where you are: http://bit.ly/9zfFPt. Get in the stream. [...]
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Welcome to the Lessons From Babel blog
This blog is where I share the latest thoughts on the world of technology and faith. Feel free to join the conversation by leaving a comment. To find out more about me, my company, and this web site, or to see what resources are available on this site, click on the images right below this.
- Dave Bourgeois
March 29, 2010