The Tendo View

You’ve got your social media strategy in place and in play. You’re monitoring Twitter accounts, managing Facebook pages, and posting videos to YouTube. But who’s paying attention to your website?

With so much attention focused on engaging customers in various social media outlets, many corporate websites have been left stagnant. You can make your website part of your social strategy, too. The biggest advantage to making your website more social is that, unlike social networks, you control your site.

Clorox is a good example of how adding social functionality can make your website more engaging for your community. CloroxConnects provides a forum for employees, customers, and outside experts to network and collaborate. Members can participate in groups and offer feedback and ideas about specific products, such as Brita, Green Works, and Hidden Valley Ranch.

CloroxConnects provides benefits for all involved. The company has a source for new ideas and employees get visibility, external experts get access to key Clorox technologists, and customers have a sense of ownership in the products the company creates or improves based on their suggestions.

The Washington Post has taken a different approach to improving the social experience on its website. The newspaper has added a tool, called Network News, which integrates a reader’s Facebook friends with washingtonpost.com.

With Network News, users can “like” a story and follow what their friends like and share on Facebook. The social activity, though, is confined to The Washington Post website, keeping readers there instead of directing them elsewhere.

There are other ways in which you can make your website more social, such as adding the ability for customers to review your products, participate in a game, or enter a contest. Have you made your website more social? Tell us how.