Does your company have a Web page or a waste page?

The first sin: Does your company block social networks from the company network?
This is an absolutely unacceptable act for any company planning to launch a Web page. We always learn that to be a success in any project, everyone has to buy in, starting from the top management. So how can you imagine you’ll have success implementing a programme on a social network if your company policy does not encourage people to learn how to live in a social network? Believe me, no one will complain if your first e-mail tomorrow commands your IT department to unblock your company network.

--The second sin: Have you forgotten to ask your people about their ideas?
People always think about what to put on a Web page and how, but they always forget to ask their own employees questions about what they want to see on the Web page and what would make them return to visit again and again. How can you be a success if your Web page cannot attract even your own employees? Trust me, your employees are the first customers of your Web page that you have to deal with. Traffic and movement on the Web page are the most important things to make your Web page come alive. So let your people drive it.

--Who do you communicate with?
I believe that most of you will answer: “customers”. My question is: “Are you sure that’s the right answer?” If your company sells products to blue-collar workers, are they the target of your Web page? I doubt it. Maybe you have to communicate with the “influencer” instead. For example, if you sell fertiliser, I am sure that your Web page is not set up to communicate with farmers or gardeners, but rather with influencers like dealers, shop owners or even university students majoring in agricultural science. So make sure that you are communicating with the right people, then you will communicate in the right way.

--How do I build a community?
Without a community, a Web page is nothing. Having a nice format, being user friendly and offering hundreds of gimmicks are not enough to attract people to visit and re-visit, because you have to remind yourself that there are millions of more attractive Web pages than yours. Community is the answer. Experience from my blog has shown that the first step in building up my blog community was taking a “you visit me, I visit you” approach. It is the easiest way to build up your network and community, but you have to make your Web page attractive and interactive. If you don’t, forget about re-visits. By interactive, I mean if people come to visit and leave messages, you have to make sure that they get the answers as fast as possible. I would say that, more or less, you have to assign someone to fully look after your Web page. Do not expect people in the cyber world to wait 24 hours for your answer.

--What are you promoting?
Excepting companies that offer services that people need on a regular basis like commercial banking, credit card use, mobile phones services, etc, businesses need to think about promotions to draw people in. A promotion does not have to be big, but it has to be attractive. Small gifts like movie tickets, magazines, or whatever that you can offer through partnerships with your neighbourhood Web pages are good enough. The key is finding strategies to make people run through your Web page and come back to re-visit. I believe that if you have clear answers to the first four points raised above, it will be a lot easier to answer the fifth.
Amateurs understand amateurs’ problems, so suggestions from an amateur are worth listening to, unless you’re a professional or you don’t mind seeing your company’s Web page go to waste in cyber space.

Jirat Sirichalermpong is Project Intelligence and Development Department manager at Siam City Cement Plc.