Less is More with Social Media Landing Pages

Landing pages are typically used in paid search or email marketing campaigns to invoke a single response, promote a specific offer or measure a certain campaign tactic in an isolated environment.   Effective landing pages provide visitors with an online experience that gives them relevant information and a clear path to having their needs met. Nothing More, Nothing Less. This same concept can be applied to providing access to and driving engagement to your social media assets and content.

Social media visitors generally have a different perspective and expectations from brands and companies who they choose to engage with through social media sites.  Marketers can maximize the experience for social media visitors by offering a unique design that is an extension of their social media presence. The social media landing page experience may include different and non-traditional calls-to-action  like RSS subscriptions, voting, commenting and linking.  These unique metrics should also be integrated into the design and strategy.

When designing social media landing pages, remember, less is more. The focus should be on providing content in a streamlined and intuitive manner. Consider limiting navigation to other sections of your site, minimizing banner advertisements and unrelated imagery, replacing traditional “contact us” calls-to-action with more social interactions (listed above).

Below is a list of companies who have effectively designed and integrated social media landing pages into their corporate websites.

SEARS
Sears aggregates their social media presence using the My Sears Community concept. Navigation, and calls-to action are focused on social engagement including product reviews, seeding community conversations, polls and blogging.

AT&T
AT&T is reaching out to connect with customers via a social media landing page using Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Flickr, Blogs and even Posterous. Their social media landing page is  integrated into the “About AT&T” navigation. The theme of their social media landing page and community is “Continue the Conversation.”

Best Buy
Best Buy has created a theme, “Everyone’s talking”, for their social media landing page.  Their calls-to-action include inviting discussions via  forums, ratings & reviews, and engaging on Twitter (also via their Twelpforce).

Microsoft
Microsoft cares “What people are saying about Windows 7” and uses this theme for thier social media landing page.  The Microsoft landing page  aggregates links to their social media content and presence and also displays the conversations on Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, and other social networks directly on the landing page in real time. Visitors can respond to the primary call-to-action on the landing page and “Join the Conversation”.