posted on Friday, September 14, 2007 12:20 PM
by
PetePrestipino
Asking Why: Social Networking Deployment
Blogs, RSS, Social - you hear about these topics everyday because everyone
(Website Magazine included) is talking about them, analyzing how to use them
effectively, finding ways to draw every possible amount of value from social
add-on functionality. But very few ever ask "why should we do this?" - following the crowd is not always the best course of action.
HRmarketer.com yesterday announced
improvements to its website which clearly shows how even smaller, niche
communities can leverage the power of socializing a Web enterprise for the good. Since its debut in 2002,
hundreds of HR vendors/suppliers have used HRMarketers.com to generate
publicity, website traffic, sales leads and improved SEO for their company,
making HRmarketer.com a popular destination for those in
the human resource industry. The site is deploying an impressive list of enhancements and emphasizing the social networking capabilities to its audience.
I spoke with Mark Willaman,
founder and president of HRmarketer yesterday morning and while we agreed it's important to
understand the technical and usability challenges of deploying social networking
features (which we'll look at in a future article of Website Magazine), it's also important to understand why companies are deploying these
solutions and how they can ultimately benefit.
"Change is constant in the HR industry, and these new features are designed
to transform HRmarketer into an online community," explained Willaman. "Social networking is the future, and we’re making this
investment so our members can enjoy the latest interactive tools that will keep
them ahead of the technology curve." But there is much more to the story than jumping on the social media bandwagon alone.
Unique as a subscription-based service, HRMarketer must generate renewals to
stay in business. Anyone actively engaged in any web-based business an attest
that social features encourage more participation and give users a reason to log in.
When users use the site more often, this increased interaction will ultimately result in renewals.By deploying social media features you too will generate more site activity and build community which in the end will result in an uptick on the bottom line. That's something we can all get behind.