Alright, so you have a Facebook Fan Page, a Twitter account, even some photos of your organizaton up on Flickr. Good for you.

Does all that have a common landing spot though? Where do all the pieces of that puzzle come together?

If your digital marketing efforts are going to have any sort of anchor, your company or organization's home website should be it. For some companies, a blog serves as a home website, which works well in some instances. For most this isn't the case. Many companies a home website will ultimately be the main lead generator through the use of contact and request forms.

So how does social media play into all of this?

The Mothership

Your home site should serve as the main hub - a mothership if you will - of all your digital marketing activities. All of your social media channels should not only serve as conversation engagers and community builders for your brand but also point those relationships back toward your main web page. My personal thoughts on social media is that it should first and foremost be a relationship builder. A place of genuine interaction between a brand and a consumer. However that is only half the game. It's called social media marketing because - in the end - there is a desired sell. The relationship building drives interest in the brand...enough interest to learn more about that brand through visiting its home website. If you've gotten to that point, you're halfway to the point of being able to ask for the sale.

SEO Is Half the Game

Community building and brand loyalty are major players of the social media game. The other main (and often forgotten) player is SEO. Google's new optimized search, Caffeine, has changed how we view our SEO strategies. The refresh rate on organic results are worlds faster which puts some brands who used to have high organic rankings onto a page two or three category. Google's new search algorithm, which has a heavier emphasis on real-time search, has made social media even more relevant for digital strategy. The more real time results for your brand, the more interactions, and even more importantly - the more cross linking that you participate in through your social media channels, the higher your SEO will be (website architecture aside).

Consistency Is Key

All your social media channels and the home website should have consistent design and brand image. Your Twitter or Facebook (blog, Flickr etc) followers should see your site with some degree of familiarity. After all, that's what branding is all about right? Delivering a consistent message across multiple channels (which design plays a part in).

Social media will help be there before the sale and build a community around your brand. Ultimately, it'll most likely be your home website helping close the deal. All your digital efforts should be extensions of your home web efforts, not separate entities.

What do you think?