With the advent and increasing widespread use of Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Tumblr and social media channels, many people have been given a stronger voice and a free channel with which to communicate.

Being able to reach others and elicit some form of feedback makes people believe they know how to communicate, suddenly seeing themselves as marketing experts.

What is worse, companies and organisations are increasingly relying on these channels, especially Facebook, as their sole communication channel.

They believe that having a Facebook page is tantamount to having a website and are tempted into thinking that their corporate website is now obsolete. If this reasoning is to prevail, it will not only be a pity but a huge mistake.

Social platforms like Facebook offer advantages that no other medium offers. One of the most crucial of these advantages is the ability to interact directly and in real time with individual customers, who respond and react to what you post.

When a potential customer has a question, you can answer them there and then. When a client is dissatisfied with your product or service, they are no longer happy writing to you privately demanding an explanation (and perhaps a generous compensation) but use social platforms, knowing they can vent their dissatisfaction at your company and garner sympathetic likes from their peers.

In all fairness, these platforms also eliminate the time barrier for companies that can now react to complaints and criticism and redress unpleasant situations without letting dissatisfaction accumulate.

However, a Facebook page is just what it is – a page and just another means of communication. The company’s real soul – what it is and what it does, what it represents and what its vision is – is best communicated through its website, designed specifically round your requirements and crafted around your brand essence.

Too many businesses are relying on Facebook, a platform which, like others preceding it, eventually lost their flavour.

People leave Facebook but your website is always there and, alive with the right language, it can generate more traffic towards you through adequate and consistent SEO efforts.

Social media are valuable and hold huge potential for getting information and advertising value but ultimately people are always pulled back to the website. A website is a hub for people interested in your product and seeking more information.

Your website needs to be your most relevant communication tool. This is one important reason why its content needs to be well versed in a way that represents your brand equity and promise.

Website content needs to reflect what you really represent and define, in simple yet effective ways, what your customers are bound to get from you.

Imagery and layout are also key to effective websites. A Maltese expression has it that appearance makes the strongest first impression. So many websites, even local ones, whose business depends on selling beautiful artefacts, seem to miss this seemingly basic point and display small imagery, poorly laid out and alongside long and useless script that bores the wits out of potential customers.

Content is a currency which we trade for people’s attention. When we speak of content as branding, we are effectively seeking a way through which we can present a product or service in a way that will make our audience respond positively to it.

Just like in the event of a crisis situation, a ‘no comment’ creates a vacuum where everyone else – except the person or organisation in crisis – will shape the conversation, content marketing reacts the same way. In the absence of an active role in providing the right language and communicating the right brand promise, others will do it for us in the wrong way, many times with negative repercussions.

james@corporateidentities.eu

James Vella Clark is PR and media relations manager at Corporate Identities.

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