Social Media is changing how we use the internet (at least for me!)
I have had a challenging, year and because of this, some things got put on the back burner…..for example the incubator’s web page. But is that the only reason? I could blame it on that but truthfully, social media has made the web site (and any web site) take the back seat. Now the core website is becoming just one component, albeit one with a central hub role, in a widening circle of a company’s web presence. Blogs, micro-sites, event based sites and most importantly social sites are taking on an increasingly important role in the overall web strategy.
Social media has made the web site secondary to the crowd you can reach on the likes of Facebook. That crowd has to make the decision to come to my 
web page . On Facebook, they are already present and you just need to talk and they will hear you. The days of needing to invest dollars to develop an appealing and productive web site are behind us when we can get all that “instant communication” from social media sites.
The reasons to avoid social media are many, fear of the unknown being a prominent one, but every forward thinking company needs to develop a strong strategy for using these “web 2.0″ tools to their advantage. Low barriers to entry (any business can have a Facebook page.) and low-cost (is free a good price?) make for easy participation The role of the website is changing again just as it has evolved from being a basic brochure to being one of the central methods for communicating with your customers. Don’t get too comfortable though, social media is changing the role of a company website yet again! It should be an exciting ride!
Want to know more?
Attend an interactive lunch and learn series sponsored by the MI chamber of commerce and Western Oregon University. This free four-part series will introduce you to the concepts of using social media to market your business to a wide market. See the Monmouth Independence Chamber Web site for more information.
www.micc-or.org
