Social Media Innovators Continue to Amaze!
Posted by Rosemary Brkopac on Mon, Oct 26, 2009
The level of creativity and ingenuity shown by some social media marketers in engaging their customers in a web 2.0 world is truly astonishing. While many non-media companies such as Nike® have successfully used media-type tools to quench the growing expectations of their followers in social media platforms, other organizations are using challenges to educate and inspire their fans.
By way of an example, let's take a look at what LEGO® is doing in the social media space. Back in August the company launched MoonBots: A Google Lunar X PRIZE LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Challenge. Here is some information from the company about the contest:
"The new contest will challenge small teams comprised of children and adults to design, program, and construct robots that perform simulated lunar missions. We want students and their parents to understand that they can tackle difficult engineering problems and generate important new ideas regardless of their age or their background-and that they can have fun doing so.....The competition will encourage the participants to use free software tools such as Google's SketchUp, LEGO's Digital Designer, National Instruments LabVIEW, and Google's YouTube platform to delineate how their entry will be constructed and how their team will function.... The mission of the LEGO® Group is to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow, and we hope that the MoonBots Challenge® can be part of fulfilling that mission". 
I am excited about this challenge and look forward to returning to the corporate web site to see how it is progressing. Although my niece and nephew Izabella and Cody already have some LEGO® sets, with some of their pieces being artifacts inherited from their dad, you can be sure they'll be getting more this Christmas!
By now it should be apparent that it is risky for marketers to shut out social media applications from the framework of their overall marketing strategy. If you have not yet taken the plunge into the world of web 2.0 I have a few suggestions to help you get started and to ensure you do your social media marketing right, right from the start:
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Form a social media committee within your organization that includes members of your marketing, legal, IT, and security staff. Charge this committee with the task of learning about the various web 2.0 platforms available.
- Formulate a web 2.0 strategy, deciding on which platforms can be best leveraged to reach and develop your community.
- Don't spend money on platforms your client base never visits e.g. maintaining a Second Life presence if your demographic is over 60.
- Continue to keep up to date with new technology and use where it is a good fit e.g. iPhone applications
- Entertain your followers so that they keep coming back. Many brands are acting like media companies on web 2.0 sites even though media is not their core business. Instead of blatantly advertising, entertain.
- Recruit customers to help design your next generation of products
- Hold events where information is shared, exclusive offers made and extra savings given to members of your online community
- Deliver online benefits tied to your product or service e.g. give special deals to customers that respond to Tweets you have sent out. Demonstrate the value of being connected to your community, and your customers will keep coming back
- Participate in online conversations and be transparent when responding to questions and concerns
- Develop and enforce polices regarding trademark use by company employees, affiliates, licensees and third parties
- Monitor and evaluate to ensure your presence on a social media site is a good investment. Maintaining a web 2.0 presence requires a lot of human intervention so make sure you are getting an R.O.I.
Next time we'll take a look at how brand owners can ensure their rights are protected in social media platforms. We will also have a look at some simple tools anyone can use to help monitor their presence on line.