Put the Custom in Customers.

Businesses have learned that Social Media is no longer a presumed fad, it is actually an evolution of our communication and due to this they have inserted themselves on Social Networks, revamped their Internet Marketing strategies and learned as much as they can about adding the human touch to their social activities and advertisements, but what about their websites?

So maybe your website isn’t the place you prefer to socialize and perhaps you want to keep that aspect to the social sites you build upon daily, adding a blog to your website can be a form of humanizing your website, but let’s take it one step further.

Ford Motor Company is proving yet again that they are social leaders within the Automotive Industry, with their Global Head of Social Media, Scott Monty; Ford is reinventing the way businesses do business. In the included video [2:19] you will learn more about Ford’s future and how they turned “TheFordStory” into “FordSocial”, a site in which has articles, vehicles and… badges?

That’s right! Ford has implemented the popular badges feature to their FordSocial site, where their readers can chose a badge of which vehicle they love, example: a Mustang badge, to be displayed when accessing the site. Currently they have no requirements attached to the badges; however, this is just the beginning since Ford is planning on having those same badges help customize what the reader will see.

What does that mean?

It means that depending on the badge you choose it will eventually cater to the content the FordSocial site will provide, so if you love Mustangs and you choose the Mustang badge, then you obviously want to read and learn more about… you guessed it, Mustangs.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/39306136[/vimeo]

This small addition to your site can change the perception people have about your business, simply by ensuring that you are customizing to their needs. The badge system has already proved popular on sites/apps like Foursquare, GetGlue etc. which will help in enticing customers to want to join in, since familiarity plays key roles in what we will take part in. However, finding a clever way to humanize your website by customizing to your customer is another form of Social Media, it is a silent form of socializing, basically an acknowledgement of the customer and a fun way to make your business more unique.