Web Strategy: How to evolve your irrelevant corporate website
Traditional Web Marketing needs to evolve, and this post intends to kick start the next generation.
What’s a corporate web site?
It’s the domain they use after every advertisement where you can learn more about a company, ya know it, anycompany.com
But we’re tired of the corporate website and all its happy marketing speak, stock photos of smart looking dudes or minority women crowded around the computer raving about your product, the positive press release, the happy customer testimonials, the row of executive portraits, the donations your corporate made to disaster relief, the one-sided view never ends.
While some of your traffic may be going up on your website, it’s not indicative of how corporate websites are being used. Analytics don’t tell us why people go to your site, and it may not be for the reason you want them to.
[The corporate website is an unbelievable collection of hyperbole, artificial branding, and pro-corporate content. As a result, trusted decisions are being made on other locations on the internet]
Why is your corporate website irrelevant?
Marketing has shifted, it’s no longer on two domains
Many web marketers are under the impression that the battles are only fought within Google search results and on the corporate domain. In reality, marketing has spread to many other areas where conversations occur: social networks, rating sites, chat rooms, and even blogs. I dedicated a whole post to why marketing is not on two domains only.Decisions are made before they go to the corporate website
Yesterday, at lunch with a college student, she told me that her peers get ideas about product decisions on consumer rating sites, and from their peers. They use instant messaging, facebook, (and other social networks) and rarely directly type in a domain name to corporate website. If this holds true, then it’s assumed that prospects make decisions on other websites BEFORE they come to the corporate website to get factual information.Factual information
Legally, corporations need to disclose product details, this is a strong case for the use of the corporate websites. However in my continued conversation with the Generation Y, she continued to tell me that she used corporate websites to get core feature stats and pricing, but that’s after she made a decision based upon her peer feedback to visit the corporate site.
The future, and how to stay relevant:
Websites are created with customers
This is disruptive, but I predict that the most relevant future websites will have customers building websites alongside employees. The most effective websites will contain a balanced point of view of both the product team and customers –even if they have qualms with the product.Unfiltered customer testimonials will appear
You’ll no longer only be the only one publishing to your website, customers, prospects, and other members of the community will have direct access to publish on your website. Sure, there will be controls to make sure the content is somewhat factual or reviewed, but it will be obvious to many that the only voice won’t be the marketing one.Content will have both negative and positive views about your products
This one is hard to swallow, but how do you build the most trust? By being open, authentic, and transparent to the marketplace. We know from research that the highest degree of trust comes from those ‘like me’, a savvy marketer will allow content to appear from peers, customers, and the market. These will not always be a product rave, in fact it may be downright criticism, the goal? To take that feedback, and demonstrate in public how you will improve your offerings in plain view. Case study: Dell has done this with IdeaStorm.Your website will be a Community Resource
This means that you’ll put your customers first, No Really, I mean it. This means providing analysis of not just yourself but to competitors as well, this means that you’ll link to competitors. Crazy? I did this myself at my previous role as a community manager, I created a wiki for customers that linked to competitors, and it made me more relevant.
[The corporate website of the future will be a credible source of opinion and fact, authored by both the corporation and community. The result? A true first-stop community resource where information flows for better products and services]
Outcomes
Customers will make your site the first place to go for information, trust will increase, you may be able to build better products and services with real-time customer feedback, and most importantly, you’ll be a community resource that will help you meet your customer needs faster.
Visualize:
We’ll start to see customers help write the corporate newsletter, feeds pulling in industry blogs, media (audio and video) customers rating and ranking and voting for what features they want improved, product teams working directly with customers in real-time, and customers self-supporting each other.
Translations
I’d love if you’d translate this post, I’ll add you to this list.
German, by Jorg Weisner Hebrew, by Omer Rosen Greek, by Nikos Italian, by Marco French by PR2Peer Dutch modification by Jacqueline Fackelde Sweedish version Spanish Version Chinese Version
Polish Version
Update: I’ve started to track different opinions from blogs on this post, or you can see all the trackbacks, there’s nearly dozens of links coming to this post.
118 Comments so far
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[…] Definitively check out this great post by Jeremiah Owyang: Why your corporate website is irrelevant. Without going into the details (which you should read), Jeremiah concludes: […]
Job ad of the future:
Wanted: Senior moderator with experience maintaining multiple social networks for a large corporation. Must have excellent communication and conflict resolution skills. Please send blog URL to….
This seems like a new role not filled by existing skillsets in most marketing organizations. The need to patrol for vandalism and surf for corporate-related flare-ups on third party sites will increase if more companies go this route.
[…] Today Jeremiah has written a great piece about why organisations need to think much wider than their own corporate websites. This is something that I have been banging on about in conversations with colleagues for some time - in the context of the government website rationalisation initiative, and my work on how government could use social media to interact better with its customers - this article is straight on the money. […]
Interesting ideas on Corpsite 2.0.
Brian
This role is called “Community Manager” or “Community Evangelist”
I held this title at Hitachi Data Systems. You can read about what this role is about here:
http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/03/26/understanding-the-technology-evangelist-role-a-few-of-my-favorite-folks/
Jeremiah, I think the community roles you describe are too general. For the new website you describe, companies will want product manager level expertise in these roles. Large companies with hundreds or thousands of products will require fast, knowledgeable and empowered action that a central manager/evangelist role lacks. Social networking experience will be like MS Office proficiency for these employees.
There’s no doubt that there will be multiple people performing this role.
In many cases, it will be in addition to existing and current roles (Product Management to Product Marketing to Product Support to Product Engineering)
[…] Web Strategy: How to evolve your irrelevant corporate websiteWhile some of your traffic may be going up on your website, it s not indicative of how corporate websites are being used. Analytics don t tell us why people go to your site, and it may not be for the reason you want them to. … […]
[…] This’ll get you thinking: Jeremiah Owyang writes about irrelevant corporate web sites, and more specifically, how such sites can (and will need to) evolve. In particular, I love this bit here: The corporate website is an unbelievable collection of hyperbole, artificial branding, and pro-corporate content. As a result, trusted decisions are being made on other locations on the internet. […]
[…] Jeremiah’s Web Strategy blog has a great post about evolving your irrelevant corporate website. […]
[…] Web Strategy by Jeremiah » Web Strategy: How to evolve your irrelevant corporate website A seminal post. Must read. Share and enjoy […]
[…] Read a pretty relevant write up by Jeremiah which says that corporate web sites should evolve from being “an unbelievable collection of hyperbole, artificial branding, and pro-corporate content. As a result, trusted decisions are being made on other locations on the internet” to be, “a credible source of opinion and fact, authored by both the corporation and community. The result? A true first-stop community resource where information flows for better products and services” […]
My pet peeve are FAQ’s that aren’t easily searchable. Granted I’m a librarin, but I’ve been on a rampage to link those technical resources with the community forum because I believe that people WANT to serve themselves whether the customer service desk is open or not. And there’s nothing worse than resources cleverly buried & no advanced search option! It has to reduce staff time in the end so it’s worth the time I believe.
On our personal site, we have our resources linked in 3 different ways so that people will find them while browsing. I wish that companies would be more conscious of the user experience in that sense!
Hi jeremiah
Thought you might be interested, we recently added ratings and reviews to dell.com in keeping with what you suggest here.
[…] Web Strategy: How to evolve your irrelevant corporate website - Jeremiah takes a look at how corporates can no longer control what’s being said about them by a website alone - there’s a shift in web usage now that leads to people searching for information on social networks. How can businesses embrace that shift? […]
[…] I’m pleased with the traction of the post that I wrote last week: “Web Strategy: How to evolve your irrelevant corporate website” (I also added this graphic). […]
you wrote, “The corporate website of the future will be a credible source of opinion and fact, authored by both the corporation and community. The result? A true first-stop community resource where information flows for better products and services.”
I’m not so sure I agree that this is a good thing. By commingling the voices of corporations and the community at large, we break down the barriers of objectivity that the external community has in theory. I agree that corporations need to be more transparent to build better and stronger trust. At the same time, however, external sources of information need to remain objective in their editorial authority. Think of the stories we’ve all heard from certain corporations or movie producers hiring people to go out onto external sites to say good things about their products/movies/whatever.
Just because something is more democratic does not make it more authoritative or credible. And just because it includes outside voices does not mean it is more transparent.
Clearly, Gen X became more cynical than our predecessors, and Gen Y is gaining a very strong skill in BS detection. But blurring the lines between official corporate (or government) position and independent editorial opinion is not necessarily a good thing, in my opinion.
To a certain extent, what you’re describing is something that will occur whether corporations drive it or consumers drive it. It just will be. But that does not mean it will be unexploitable. It just means misinformation can travel as quickly as information (and often more quickly, particularly if it reeks of scandal). The future you describe is one that includes not only virtuous corporate citizens but also the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Peter
Thanks for this insight. My vision is that the websites of the future will in fact contain both objective and subjective content. And it will be transparent in the subjective opinions.
I think there’s a way we can all make it work, perhaps the corporations just report the facts, and the community creates the marketing messages. seriously, it’s possible.
[…] Again, overall this is a fantastic start, and it’s a tread of what smart organizations are doing to let others join in creating content. It ties to why I believe the corporate website is irrelevant, and the future holds the communities creating it in addition to marketing. […]
[…] Trend spotting: Communities are writing your website It’s all for the better, the more interaction that websites have with their community, and the more relevant voices the better in my opinion. Websites that let customers voice their opinion on their site stay relevant, those that don’t grow irrelevant. One of the companies that I advise also has some solutions, if you’re really seeking the cooperatively built website then check out PublicSquare. […]
[…] A very interesting session. There is a growing and real understanding amongst Whitehall webbies that digital communication is no longer simply about managing corporate domains (there was also a brief discussion at the end about the potential for government of engaging in social media and many are actively playing around with this stuff). Its good to know that people are switched on about the opportunities. The real problem is convincing the holders of the purse strings that we can’t do everything our customers demand with what we’ve currently got. […]
[…] This is especially urgent given that much of the action is now taking place away from your own (increasingly irrelevant) website, ‘out there’, in social networks and online communities. […]
[…] I explained that I believe that corporate websites are irrelevant, and that probably relates to news websites too. The future of websites will have all members of the community writing, adding, editing, and voting on it. This is why I’m closely following tools like PublicSquare, which allow just that (more news on that soon). I forgot to share with the group about newstrust, (my review of newstrust) which is a unique multi-tiered system that I was given a demo by the founders, it uses several sources of editorial layering. […]
[…] I still believe that Corporate Websites are Irrelevant (read this first) and will even weave that into my presentation today in front of some of the top Social media practitioners at the SMC Workshop today. […]
[…] Presenting their stuff on DirectGov / Businesslink will also likely expose them and their responsibilities to a much greater potential audience than they could hope to achieve on their corporate website at the moment. […]
[…] It’s kinda like a cross between When Harry met Sally and why corporate websites are irrelevant. […]
[…] What did I speak about? Well several people told me they really got my message when I told them that corporate websites are irrelevant, in fact some people say I’m a radical. […]
Jeremiah,
I really agree with your post. Thanks for the great writing.
I just translated this post to German and published it on my blog. I hope you agree with this.
Joergy
I saw that post in my trackbacks before reading this comment. I’m impressed, and thankful.
I’ll be featuring you in an upcoming post.
[…] [www.web-strategist.com] […]
[…] Jeremiah Owyang, Director of Corporate Media Strategy at PodTech.net, has a great post on his Web Strategy by Jeremiah blog entitled “Web Strategy: How to evolve your irrelevant corporate website .“ Since I’ve carried the moniker “Corporate Webmaster” for about a decade, I’d say I’m almost obliged to comment. […]
[…] Hier in einer deutschen Version, und hier das Original in Englisch. […]
[…] About two weeks ago, I launched an idea that the Corporate Website is Irrelevant (read tihs first), for many of us, we already knew that, but now it’s more clear. While there are many corporate websites that are evolving into the Community Website (congrats) there’s still quite a bit of resources at every corporation that are dedicated to making the corporate site as the primary web marketing vehicle. I think that’s changing, and so do others. […]
[…] Sometimes folks wonder why I give away so much of my information away (speaking, on this blog, or in person) I really truly believe that if I do, I’ll build trust, be the first source they come to, and they’ll tell me new things, furthering my knowledge. So far it’s working, and I’m really happy to be a resource to corporations, in fact, in many ways, it generates many opportunities for the company–even if I think that most of their websites are irrelevant. […]
Do you think there is a difference between a brand website and a corporate website? The example you give of Dell is unusual, in that the brand and the corporation are one. Take Chivas Whisky for example, it’s a brand owned by a largely unknown (to most consumers) corporation - Pernod Ricard Group, the second largest drinks company in the world. How would your thinking apply to this example?
Philip
It depends on how the content is structured. Some brand websites are purely advertorial experiences created by interactive firms.
If they lack the opinions of prospects and customers they they are indeed corporate.
Perhaps an example of a community site is one that shows how Chivas is used with other brands to make new, unique flavors, but the drink recipes are from the community. That’s a communtiy site.
Make sense?
It does make sense. There is a ‘corporate’ www.chivas.com site, which is pretty much the the ‘advertorial experience’ you mention, however, you might be interested to take a look at www.thisisthelife.com which is I think a good example of Chivas running a community website which is engaging and enriching. I would be interested to know what you think.
[…] New Media Forum June 20, 2007 Posted by rainelai in events, women. trackback Was cool to be able to attend this forum and met some really cool people. Speakers were amazingwith vast experiences to share.. though there were some elements of ’selling’ involved but was still quite cool to get to see some of the new start-ups and products of adobe and microsoft etc (e.g. flexbook). Jeremiah had a pretty good debate going on about the relevance of corporate websites which can be found on his blog. […]
Philip, Great example, please continue to bring more
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Klassische Website vs. Corporate Blog…
Einen sehr spanenden Artikel von Jeremiah Owyang hat Jörg auf Job & Joy ins Deutsche übersetzt. Es geht um die vermutliche Entwicklung des Web-Marketing in der Zukunft und mündet in der Aussage, dass alle Wahrscheinlichkeiten dafür sprechen, da…
[…] How many corporations encourage their customers to come take part and be part of the company communications and ‘paint the walls’? The future of websites should be a combination of community and corporate employees, let’s all join in and create something together. […]
[…] The only thing I see on the Delta news page is positive news about Delta. Did I tell you that I believe that irrelevant corporate websites need to evolve? This is a great example. […]
Hey Jeremiah, I’ve translated this post in the Greek language. We Greeks are not a large user base, but better than nothing.
Is it enough to post it in my blog?
[…] Ο Jeremiah Owyang είναι ένας από τους σημαντικότερους bloggers που γράφουν για θέματα στρατηγικής στο Web και τον παρακολουθώ στενά. Πριν από λίγο καιρό έγραψε ένα πολύ ενδιαφέρον κομμάτι με τίτλο “Στρατηγική στο Web: πως να μετεξελίξετε το αδιάφορο website της εταιρείας σας“, το οποίο ζήτησε όσοι θέλουν να το μεταφράσουν στη γλώσσα της χώρας τους. Αποφάσισα να το κάνω εγώ για τα Ελληνικά. Από όσο ξέρω υπάρχει ήδη και η Γερμανική έκδοση - δεν γνωρίζω άλλη για την ώρα. […]
[…] Jeff Jarvis thinks forward in trying to understand what’s next after the homepage? He delves in to RSS, Blogs, and RIAs, do companies even need a homepage? That’s why I say the irrelevant corporate website needs to evolve. […]
[…] 13 Luglio 2007 a 3:00 pm · Archiviato in impresa, brand, marketing … trovare il giusto equilibrio (Jeremiah Owyang)* tra conversazioni con il mercato (Duct Tape Marketing) e monologhi dei brand (Adliterate)** […]
[…] What could Dell do next? Evolve that irrelevant corporate website! […]
[…] word is out: corporate websites are dull and irrelvant and they need to adapt community features […]
awesome post!
This is just a straight repeating of the Cluetrain Manifesto, about 7 or 8 years old I believe. See http://www.cluetrain.com/ for a history lesson.
Darren
The cluetrain is absolutely an influence over me. I read that book quite a while ago, it excited me to no end.
I was schooled by the Naked Conversations authors, which is a ‘business extension’ of Cluetrain.
My focus is on corporate websites, so I just brought my focus tighter.
If I did a post on ‘The irrelevant online newspaper’ you could say the same thing.
So, yes you are right, and thank you, I accept that compliment.
[…] 1) IT Decision Makers consume more Social Media than Vendor Content Is it true? that corporate content is less trusted than the opinions of customers? I think so. […]
[…] blogging. Should all companies blog? As more and more of us realize (check out Jeremiah’s Death of a Corporate Website post), corporate websites will have to morph into more accessible buckets of content that’s […]
[…] The irrelvant corporate website […]
[…] client who’s a Fortune 100 company, the Web Strategist of a community program confirmed that The Corporate Website is Irrelevant and needs to evolve and his analysis of the web analytics agreed with […]
Hi Jeremiah,
Very interesting article you wrote. I also believe that the future of corporate sites will look totally different than most people think.
Do you know if there are any companies in the world that have initiatives to create a business/customer controlled portal?
Best regards,
Hugo
Regards,
Hugo
There’s tons, see this list:
http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/02/12/list-of-white-label-social-networking-platforms/
http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/07/20/list-of-companies-that-provide-collaboration-platforms/
Oh, to be clear, those are TOOLs, there are companies that are using those tools. Companies like Microsoft and Dell are great examples
Check out Microsoft’s Channel 9
and Dell’s IdeaStorm site (where customers get to decided what products are to be built and sold)
Great ideas about involving customers in writing a website. Staying relevant though is more than listening to customers, though. There needs to be an environment of innovation as the engine that delivers on what customers are seeking. So, how to develop an environment of innovation should be a major thrust of the company.
[…] Social Media Measurement Companies that measure Social Media Social Media and events How to have a successful community event Impacts of BlogHaus (An event that had 600-800 bloggers) Advanced Concepts Marketing is not on two domains only Extranets move off the Corporate domain Impacts of the Social Media on the Customer Reference Program The many forms of Web Marketing The Corporate Website is Irrelevant […]
[…] Strategy Theory to know before you go forward If you’ve not already figured it out, the corporate website is becoming less relevant, and web marketing (and support) has spread off your domain and google results. You also know that […]
[…] Taken From Web-Strategist […]
[…] Here’s how corporate blogs can help a company: Soften or improve brand Rapid Response tool Intelligence gathering Build better products from two-way conversation Encourage advocates, embrace detractors Sales Tools: Education or conversation starter A living White Paper Sales lead One of the ways to evolve the irrelevant corporate website […]
[…] by my new friends PR2Peer, “Comment faire évoluer votre inepte site corporate” (Original in English). Apparently, there’s some addition analysis, any French readers who want to translate, would […]
[…] suggested to Kit Seeborg that for our SXSW panel in 2008 that we explore how to Evolve the Irrelevant Corporate Website –this time not hiding behind a blog, but out in person in front of real people. A bold and […]
[…] probably know how I rant about how corporate websites are irrelevant, but here’s an example of one that’s striving to be relevant. Mukund the VP of Innovis […]
[…] tijd geleden verscheen er een interessant artikel van Jeremiah Owyang, genaamd The Irrelevant Corporate Website. Jeremiah betoogd dat potentiele klanten zich via peer review sites orienteren op […]
[…] Strategy Theory to know before you go forward If you’ve not already figured it out, the corporate website is becoming less relevant, and web marketing (and support) has spread off your domain and google results. You also know that […]
[…] information for future purchases, or adding to the conversation. We don’t want to be an Irrelevant Corporate Website. To us, that means integrating community sites such as this blog, the Dell Community Forum, […]
I’ve been enjoying our corporate internet makeover lately at ibm.com. We have moved from pure selling/pitching to more information sharing, and not in an entirely marketing way. The ‘Ideas from IBM’ series is a good example. Just my two cents, for I agree with this assessment.
[…] sich vor einiger Zeit mit den klassischen Firmenwebsites beschäftigt. In seinem Blogbeitrag “Web Strategy: How to evolve your irrelevant corporate website” zeigt er auf, was Unternehmen tun müssen, um von ihrer Website profitieren zu können. Den […]
[…] blog that clarified the random thoughts that were roaming my mind. Check out this post about Why the corporate website is becoming irrelevant or How the corporation can no longer centralize their brand (in fact they should embrace this […]
[…] isn’t unique in this regard. I’ve previously referenced Jeremiah Owyang’s work on why the corporate domain is increasingly irrelevant. Corporate domains in government are still important, but its just as essential to understand how […]
[…] Owyang, a Web Strategist in the valley wrote an interesting blog post, The Irrelevant Corporate Website. The majority of the statements are correct around the idea that corporations should be embracing […]
Do I get a nod for translating it into Canadian? (Very interesting. Loved it).
[…] think scrapping corporate websites would be a little off-beam, but the realisation that the non-puff elements are important makes a […]
[…] could check out the original post in English, to date, it’s been translated to German, Greek, Italian, French and Dutch, all by the […]
[…] Web Strategy: How to evolve your irrelevant corporate website This went global and the community started to translate it into multiple languages Views: 4,743 […]
[…] zu UserInnen und wollen sich untereinander und auch mit Vertretern von Organisationen austauschen (Original-Beitrag auf […]
[…] With the concept going global, we’ve translations from many languages. If you want to translate it into your native language, do it on your blog or website, send me a link and I’ll add it to the growing list on the original post. […]
[…] is ‘turning it off in three years time’ - an obvious extension of the ‘corporate website is increasingly irrelevant‘ […]
[…] those who know that I subscribe to the doctrine of the Irrelevant Corporate Website it seems a bit ironic that I am spending so much time working on one. And there are those who have […]
[…] Irrelevant Corporate Website An interesting post on web strategy What’s a corporate web site? It’s the domain they use after every advertisement where you can […]
[…] Strategy Theory to know before you go forward If you’ve not already figured it out, the corporate website is becoming less relevant, and web marketing (and support) has spread off your domain and google results. You also know that […]
[…] website. I also want to know if there are ‘widgetized’ components that can embed on a static/irrelevant website. It’s my prediction that websites (corporate ones at that) will become social, with community […]
[…] tijd geleden verscheen er een interessant artikel van Jeremiah Owyang, genaamd The Irrelevant Corporate Website. Jeremiah betoogd dat potentiele klanten zich via peer review sites orienteren op […]
Great article first of all! I noticed that a lot of the points that are described in the ‘rules of SMO’ (started by R. Bhargava) are coming back here.
I think Dell indeed is a good example of SMO and therefor of the corporate site2.0, with IdeaStorm, the Dell blogs, the active role of Dell on external blogs and so on.
[…] 2007 Marketing , Strategy Tags: corporate websites, endangered, web strategy In his post, How to evolve your irrelevant corporate website, prominent web strategist Jeremiah Owyang declares the traditional corporate website dead, pointing […]
I think another important element that needs to be considered moving forward is the differentiation of a corporate site that looks at transactional and relationship content differently.
I am in charge of our intranet and my hunch is that the same deal applies. Do you have any postings you can refer me to in that regard? We are abut to embark on a collaborative process with employees to re-establish purpose, needs and functionality they want. Its strange, the uptake of collaborative tools is low- that may be a function of the internal hierarchial structures.
Just wanted to let you know that the Dutch translation-link is a dead link. If you still are looking for translators I would be happy to translate your post into Dutch ‘again’. In that case let me know by mail or twitter.
[…] do consuming editorial media or vendor content.” No reason to be surprised here, why read irrelevant content when you can connect with trusted […]
Hello Jeremiah,
Interesting post! I wanted to understand more about the highlight you have made - “The corporate website of the future will be a credible source of opinion and fact, authored by both the corporation and community. The result? A true first-stop community resource where information flows for better products and services”.
I agree with all the points but do not really understand how a community can be part of authoring a website for a “services” company. My question is relevant because we’re an open source consulting services company in India.
We have our ups and downs, great customer references and yet poor-performances as well. We could hardly have rants about us by our customers on our blog or website.
As for good references, customers have given us references on their website, such as on http://www.wizmo.nl/footer/partners.html; yet, what would motivate them to come and write a comment in our blog, about how happy they are with us? Do you see this practice being adopted in the coming years?
Thanks,
Rahul
[…] het origineel van de tekst klik je op de afbeelding. Mijn vrije vertaling ervan vind je, in cursief, onderaan de […]
[…] marketing wint terrein ten opzichte van advertising. Voor organisaties de noodzaak om de meer en meer irrelevante corporate website te […]
[…] A few months ago, I wrote a post about the impacts of social media to the corporate websites, and how it must evolve, it’s been translated by the community to many languages by volunteers. I’d like to thank Jacqueline Fackeldey (who focuses on human to human marketing) for re-translating it to Dutch. Original English version […]
[…] “How to evolve your irrelevant corporate website” by Jeremiah Owyang […]
Thanks for the writeup. Makes a whole lot of sense to me. But it’s still an uphill task convincing stakeholders that it’s ok to let outsiders contribute content to our site.
Yea, in this day and age, anyone with anything negative to say, will say it, regardless of where they do it. At least if they say it first on our sites, we get to know about it first, and are given a chance to decide on steps to manage the issues.
[…] Web Strategy: How to evolve your irrelevant corporate website […]
[…] by jjharris on January 15, 2008 This is a fantastic article that is easy to read by Jeremiah Owyang (look & click on my feeds to get more of his […]
[…] המאמר המקורי של ג’רמיה אויונג שטפו ותהנו: צלמיות אלו מקשרות לאתרי סימניות משותפות בהם קוראים יכולים לשתף ולגלות אתרים חדשים. […]
[…] I first wrote the Irrelevant Corporate Website, I never expected it to grow and spread, it’s now been translated into several languages, the […]
[…] Owyang, a Web Strategist with Forrester, wrote a great article on the topic called “The Irrelevant Corporate Website,” explaining why the typical corporate website is increasingly irrelevant in today’s age […]
[…] σας όπου αυτό τον βολεύει καλύτερα.Βέβαια τα έχει πει και νωρίτερα o “αρχηγός” - και τα μετέφρασε και ο Νίκος - περί της […]
[…] While luring prospects to your corporate website doesn’t ever go away, strategists need to consider that communities are organically forming on the social web. In these communities, real relationships form and grow, therefore trust is higher than the irrelevant corporate website. […]
Really interesting stuff Jeremiah,
What are your thoughts on how to establish trust and credibility in a non-irrelevant, customer-open corporate website.
Given the attempts to game wikipedia and fake “buzz” on social sites; won’t most people just not trust a corporate site - no matter how transparent it claims to be?
And given that customers (or competitors posing as customers) could write anything - wouldn’t the temptation to censor just be too great for any corporate?
Ian
[…] How to evolve your irrelevant corporate website […]
[…] Daarin zit een aantal interessante concepten. In de eerste plaats evolueert Fastcompany haar irrelevante corporate website naar een interactieve, sociale marktplaats waar mensen en ideeën elkaar kunnen ontmoeten. De trend […]
[…] 传统的企业网站，由于缺少与读者的互动，提供的内容老套而陈旧，被读者和消费者日益边缘化。在一篇关于如何提升传统企业网站的文章（中文版、英文版）中，社会化营销专家 Jeremiah Owyang 建议：和顾客一起创建网站。也就是，在传统的企业网站中，通过引入消费者反馈、内容贡献和相互服务（customer supporting each other）等，来增加企业网站对读者/消费者的吸引力和价值。Jeremiah Owyang 认为， 未来的企业网站将成为由企业和社区成员共同参与，提供各种观点和事实，因而令人信服的资讯来源。由此而产生的结果是，这样的企业网站将成为消费者首选之地，一个信息自由流动，促使产品和服务品质得以提升的真正的社区资源平台。 […]
This should be old news for b2b corporate websites. You should be offering a push / pull experience on their site in some form or another. Even if you’re nervous about negative comments, there’s always moderation. And no, users won’t be annoyed if you prevent spam and abusive emails appearing on the site. Achieving this balance will be the key to the success of the site. Many of the web agencies I know running blogs and opinion pieces on their site would kill for users to leave comments. Having meessages to filter and edit in the first place is a nice problem to have.
[…] This is just the start folks, where social computing (where individuals who participate socially to build something greater) work together to craft better products, services and experiences for companies. To me, this is one of the ultimate goals of web strategy, as we move away from the irrelevant corporate website. […]
Hi Jeremiah!
Although it’s been almost a yeat since you wrote it, it is so great post!
I’m convinced that every corporate (and not only) marketer should read it. For their sake
I translated it on my blog into Polish:
http://stempniaked.blogspot.com/2008/03/jaka-jest-przyszo-korporacyjnych-www.html
Regards,
Pawel Stempniak
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[…] spending time building microsites, and launching brochure ware on their sites, without think about the impacts of their corporate website becoming irrelevant. 2) Edelman Trust […]