Brands entering the social sphere tend to pigeonhole themselves into the idea that the only conversion that matter are sales. They tend to forget about social conversions, that means community building, engagement metrics, and conversation. So if we building a landing page for sales, why not build a hub for social media?
What are Social Media Hubs?
Social media hubs are pages built specifically for social visitors. Potentially, this is the site shown to digg, stumbleupon, and other social users.
Many times the hub takes the form of a blog. However, for some brands a blog requires too much effort to maintain. This can be a simple page that highlights the other social platforms the brand is on.
Sometime, and only in the worst case scenario, the social media hub can be placed on a Facebook page. The downside to this is that traffic is being sent to Facebook, instead of the brand domain.
Why is a Social Media Hub Important?
The social media hub is integral to community building. It creates a platform that continually keeps consumers engaged, and allows users to have a back and forth with the brand.
The page can be used to offer important information to bloggers, and consumers alike. Finally, it’s used to channel visitors to other social platforms.
What Makes a Good Social Media Hub?
Social pages have to be designed slightly different than other pages. Unlike a regular site page, the social media hub should be updated frequently and offer timely information.
Also, social pages can be built with the more technical in mind, since most social media users are “Internet savvy”.
Finally, social media hubs should be easy to navigate and intuitive. With calls to action regarding joining the community, engaging the brand, and reaching out to other social platforms.
How Does it Benefit You?
Brands gain a lot out of having a social media hub. Instead of having a user land on the corporate homepage, which isn’t tailored for the specific consumer, this allows the user to join the community in the hopes of converting later down the line.
Much like building a newsletter list, the social media platform should have specific calls to actions that build the “social media list”.
Examples of Good Hubs
Obama blog includes good use of other social media platforms. Social media hub acts as a gateway to other portals. Articles include “email a friend” and “comments”. Permalinks make it easy for bloggers to link to the article.
Dell highlights the “participatory” nature of their community. With multiple landing pages for specific platforms. Also, highlights how to engage and communicate with the brand.
Know another site that uses the hub properly? Leave a comment. Is there another important aspect of the social media hub that helps it be an effective traffic converter? Let us know how you use social media hubs.
{ 25 comments read them below or add one }
I think this is a great observation Samir and something which all brands should embrace if they have a presence in social media. One clear advantage of creating a social media hub on your main website is that visitors can see at a glance where you are in social media and choose the best option for them whether that’s on Facebook, a Youtube channel, RSS updates or discussion threads in some community forum. The other benefit of creating a hub is that it helps to connect brand evangelists and fuel further conversations in social media. I think Jeep in the US is a great example of a brand which does this really well. http://www.jeep.com/en/experience/community/urban_ranger/
Richard
As the tourism marketing arm for our resort community, our Chamber of Commerce posted our first blog on posterous.com today. Your post is most timely for us and I appreciate your tips which we will put to good use! Thank you very much!!
Leslie
I am going to create a social media landing page for my blog – thanks for the great idea.
Dell is a great example indeed. I think your link below with “IBM” actually is meant to reference Dell as well, given the illustration above.
Ack thanks Marcus for catching that. – Thanks for the awesome comments guy! Glad it could be useful
Samir,
Great post, just started following you on twitter, so I am reading some of your old posts, and noticed this one, very close to my heart.
I actually run biz dev for a company that create “social media hubs” for brands and individuals. I would love your (And all your fans) opinions on out tool, and how we an improve it, and who might benefit most from it.
http://smithsonian.gizapage.com (an example of a page, that is currently in development, and soon will be whitelabeled on Si.edu)
Thanks so much everyone,
Mike
http://Social.MikesPad.com (example of a white label domain, for an individual)
Samir,
I love the “hub” idea. I set one up for my brand, and it seems to work. It’s below;
http://www.TheFranchiseKing.com
Joel Libava
I couldn’t agree more with you Samir. As social media gains importance I think its key for brands to centralize access to their social media activity. Instead of sending people to facebook, twitter, youtube, etc…just have a central hub where they can access all this content.
Check out this example of a social media hub being used by a sports team @ http://www.ottawa67shub.com
Cheers
Thanks for the insightful post.
I feel that the entire website should serve as a hub. After all, the internet is one big network – why not make the most of the whole shebang?
Enjoyed reading your post. Looking forward to perusing the site!
Thanks for the comment Leslie! I’m glad you enjoyed the post.