Death of the brand website? A Lounge perspective...

There's been a lot of discussion about this lately. Of course brands have been setting up camp on Facebook for years now, but to date a branded Facebook page has normally been as a side offering alongside a separate brand website.

However, the more sophisticated Facebook brand pages become and with brands like ASOS is championing Facebook ecommerce (allowing users to buy through their Facebook page as well as their site) it begs the question over whether there's a need for separate brand websites and how much longer they may last.

One of the latest discussions around this is The death of the brand website? on Brand Republic.

Our MD, James Layfield, offers a Lounge perspective...

Stop. Lets not worry about "The Death of the Brand Website". The crucial thing we need to actually do is better understand our consumer. So hold off signing that PO for a new social media thingamabob.

First let's ask, what do our customers need from us as a brand, how do they want to talk to us, how would they like to be engaged? Please let's stop the knee jerk reaction which results in marketeers ping-ponging from one "strategy" to the next.

Don't get a Facebook site just because everyone else has one and your MD's daughter uses Facebook. Don't get on Twitter if you have nothing to say of any value.

Think. Stop and think. Talk to your audience, but more importantly listen to them. After all, that is the big benefit of this new age; we can now have a dialogue with our consumers.

But this also offers some challenging realities. Consumers aren't all going to do what you want them to; they are going to tell you how they see it. The big challenge is really in whether your business does anything about it or not. Is your business genuinely willing to listen, to adapt and to change? Or is it more about ticking a box?

You've got to get people in your business to embrace the fact that they need to change, this needs to happen before you do anything else. Otherwise - branded website, Facebook page or both - you are basically just wasting your money.