Modern web is being built around people. Customers do not connect to the Web to be handed over websites that are one-dimensional as brochures or catalogues any longer. They seek connections and relationships that are meaningful to them and that enrich their lives. The emergence of the Social Web has vastly altered the competitive landscape for most web-centric companies and in the future, this shift will have a business impact on most enterprises depending on the degree and speed of response. This article talks about why organizations need to create and leverage high-quality social experiences as a source of competitive advantage.

1. Social Experience Design: A New Imperative
Modern web is being built around people. Customers do not connect to the Web to be handed
over websites that are one-dimensional as brochures or catalogues any longer. They seek
connections and relationships that are meaningful to them and that enrich their lives. The
emergence of the Social Web has vastly altered the competitive landscape for most web-centric
companies and in the future, this shift will have a business impact on most enterprises
depending on the degree and speed of response. This article talks about why organizations
need to create and leverage high-quality social experiences as a source of competitive
advantage.
© Rupa Shankar
www.cxpdesign.com

2. Social Experience Design: A New Imperative
The Web, as we know it today, has undergone transformative shifts across multiple dimensions. It’s
been only 20 years since the very first website appeared however; we have seen the web grow from a
purely static brochure-like experience to one with rich interactivity and functionality. This is the era of
the Social Web – which consists of complete social ecosystems for people to connect and interact with
each other.
Gone are the days where brands could survive with static websites, also known as a brochure websites,
that only present pre-defined, static information to the user about the company and its products. A
static website essentially displays the same information to all visitors, just like handing out a paper
brochure to customers in-person. Customers do not connect to the Social Web to be handed over
brochures and catalogue-type of information any longer. They seek connections and relationships that
are meaningful to them and that enrich their lives.
As such, Social Experience is parallel to user experience (UX). In the past, when the web was no more
than just the Web of content and commerce – an organization would formulate a “Web strategy” and
execute this strategy in part through UX design. With the emergence of the Social Web, organizations
are now formulating a “Social strategy” – the execution of this, in part, relies on the successful
implementation of Social Experience Design.
Social Experience Design Takes An Organization’s Social Strategy Beyond Just Likes, Fans &
Followers
Organizations have been responding to the Social Web imperative in myriad ways. A common response
has been to participate in social media – creating Facebook brand pages, Twitter feeds, Pinterest boards,
blogs and community review sites. The standard business practice in many industry verticals is to start
by crafting a social media strategy, identify the purpose and measurable goals, and select the tools that
will be used for monitoring, analyzing and publishing social media content. For many organizations,
execution of this social media strategy begins and ends with participation in popular third-party social
sites. Each of these sites consider its user base and social experiences as competitive differentiators
giving organizations with only a limited amount of control over the experience on the host site.
Organizations are quickly realizing this limitation and are looking to build social dimensions into their
online portfolio of sites and web applications. Some organizations undertake to design and build new
© Rupa Shankar
www.cxpdesign.com

3. social sites from the ground up however designing and building such systems requires the skills and
practices of a trained social experience designer. The successful social sites of today lead the way by
setting the principles and best practices. These principles must be adapted to the enterprise setting,
with the same fervor that the now well-known principles of UX design have been assimilated into the
enterprise sector.
© Rupa Shankar
www.cxpdesign.com

4. About CXP Design
CXP Design (www.cxpdesign.com), founded by Rupa Shankar, is a platform for marketers,
technologists, designers and leaders to discuss and gain a deeper understanding of cross-channel
customer experience design, develop empathy for customer needs and learn how to create
products and services that deliver "wow" experiences for customers.
When we check into a hotel. When we shop on-line. When we buy a pair of shoes. When we get on
a flight. These are experiences by which we measure brands every day. However, most companies
are without the tools to purposefully design those experiences for maximum value. That’s where
CXP Design comes in.
Day in, day out, we live, sleep, eat, breathe and unravel the riddle that is human experience, leading
to more loyal and committed customers for our clients.
www.cxpdesign.com
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http://in.linkedin.com/groups/CXP-Design-Creating-Customer-Wow-4726523
Rupa is an Associate Director at Happiest Minds Technologies (www.happiestminds.com), a next-
generation IT Services & Solutions company at the forefront of Providing Advisory, Implementation and
Managed Services on Social computing, Mobility, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Cloud computing,
Security and Unified Communications. At Happiest Minds, Rupa is responsible for uncovering and
activating innovative digital and social engagement strategies for its clients, spearheading the
development of frameworks and solutions for different industry verticals and enhancing the global go-to-
market strategy. She taps into her past work as both a design practitioner and marketer to help Happiest
Minds clients envision and define broad, end-to-end customer experiences.
© Rupa Shankar
www.cxpdesign.com