Augmented reality (AR) is a developing technology that overlays computer-generated graphics onto a real image or video. The most popular example of AR is the yellow First Down line on televised football games. We’ve also seen it in rotating billboard displays on soccer and baseball, and briefly, the trailing comet tail to help hockey fans keep their eye on the puck.

Zugara, an interactive agency, experimented with online augmented reality in a couple notable online applications. The Webcam Social Shopper is a virtual fitting room that lets people see themselves in clothing before they buy. It also uses motion capture so a person can navigate the online store by moving their hands rather than stepping up to the keyboard.

They followed up with Cannonballz, a game utilizing a person’s web camera and Facebook Connect so the player becomes part of the action.

Oddcast has a simple AR demo. Just print the unique badge and display it in front of your webcam to bring an animated rocker to life. SekaiCamera is making strides in mobile AR as well; this video from LOEWE Tokyo offers a glimpse.

Location-Based Social Captioning

Layar is a Dutch-made program that enables people to leave comments on images captured by their mobile device. The app uses 3D technology to gauge distances as well as the phone’s compass and GPS or cell tower triangulation. Then, computing all this information on the fly, the real image can be geotargeted so that other people can read the comments and post their own.

People have already demonstrated a desire to share their opinions specifically. Check the level of user engagement in places like Viddler in-play video comments, Yelp reviews and the tips, reviews & crowdsourcing features of contextual location-based apps like FourSquare, Gowalla, BrightKite, Navizon and Waze.

Social captioning seems like a natural evolution of AR. With advanced filtering and administrative control, I can imagine a number of recreational and commercial uses for this kind of application.

• Ratings & reviews Restaurants, bars, local retail
• Visitor attractions City walking tours, Architectural and historical tours, ghost & event tours, sports & convert venues
• Real estate Listings, property details and contact info
• Scavenger hunts For fun & education, geocaching
• Amusement parks Maps, games and awards
• Convention exhibition Product interaction, marketing challenges
• Product testing & consumer feedback Large area or ticket items
• TV/Film Scene caption games, reviews
• Municipal services Emergency response, crime scene investigations, water & gas line mapping
• And more… Education, healthcare, transportation, shipping, traffic & weather, social communities, I could go on.

Layar recently won the Vodafone Mobile Clicks start-up challenge with a €75.000 prize. Here is the presentation they used in their pitch.

To see who is experimenting and applying augmented reality to the real world, visit the AR Consortium.

Police arrested a 66 year old woman this week for refusing to pay her $7.45 tab at Waffle House. The story got picked up by Drudge Report, then the broader media and finally through blogs and social media networks.

This is not a bona fide PR crisis, but this situation reflects poorly on Waffle House, a national chain with ~1500 stores. Dumb criminals are entertaining, but reports aren’t clear about why she didn’t (couldn’t?) pay. Many bloggers are finding fault with the restaurant and railing against it. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Google Blog Search]

The store manager probably should have discreetly waived the bill, although I can’t imagine they thought the situation would be elevated to national attention. Regardless, this is an opportunity for the company to define it’s relational strategies for crisis management and online consumer interaction.

Background: Waffle House Serves a Broad Base

Full disclosure: I love Waffle House. It’s a brand steeped in Diner Americana invoking the hot black coffee retreat painted by Edward Hopper. The all-day-breakfast menu is working class fuel, from pre-dawn to the deep night-shift. It’s the kind of place comfortable memories are made, from roadtrip pitstop adventures to the nighthawk’s final call.

Waffle House is a cultural icon rich in user-generated content. Click images to see Flickr comments.

Waffle House offers simple food, folksy patrons and they have some of the hardiest working & friendliest servers in the industry. Sitting next to the grill line when the place is slammed, the hot sizzle, greasy smells and barking orders is poetic to a business process nerd like me.

Recent Waffle House PR Challenges & Responses

Waffle House has already faced a series of bad press from unruly customers.

• October 2008 Robberies occur in Texas and Alabama. A fatal shooting Florida is met with calls for boycotts online.
• August 2008 LiveLeak has security video of a brawl complete with racist comments about Waffle House customers. The company should nail whoever is releasing these security videos to the public, although methinks it may have been released by plaintiff litigants who obtained them through the course of Discovery. Unfortunately, the damage is done; the company’s best response is being prepared next time.
• March 2008 Kid Rock pleaded not guilty for fighting in a Waffle House. I love the company’s response: they invited the star back to a restaurant to greet his fans and raise money for a local homeless shelter. Spokesperson Kelly Thrasher explains the company wanted to “take a negative situation and turn it into a positive situation.”

Waffle House brand managers should proactively apply this positive philosophy to social media. This recent series of events can be the impetus for a cohesive online PR strategy that touts the brand’s long-standing reputation for good customer service.

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!”
Grandma

What Should Waffle House Do?

I recommend a deep dive on some of these general actions.

• Develop an Online Persona
  One can expect resistance to social media from a brick-and-mortar diner chain, especially one that doesn’t advertise. Traditional PR might consult with Legal and publicly drop all charges. Or partner with local homeless services nonprofits.
   
  However, consumers have already extended the brand across social networks (more on that below). Blue collar audiences are online, 70% use social media and savvy brands are serving them.
   
  Whataburger is a Southern burger chain with a made-to-order heritage that targets men, 50+. It’s ad agency McGarrah-Jessee drives a polished effort online as well as in direct, outdoor and cool broadcast work reminiscent of my favorite down-home man-it-up Miller High Life spots.
   
  We tailored the BecomeAnEX campaign to help multiple shades of blue-collar audiences. We found a majority of our target already online and eagerly embracing mobile technologies.
• Engage Existing Communities
  My brief research uncovered a bevy of positive stories, pictures, a Wikipedia article and scores of cult-classic sentiments like this unassuming Waffle House Wedding in Georgia that would have been a hoot to crash. Git ‘er done!
   
  The alt.food.waffle-house Usenet group has 6000 members, there are YouTube videos, 1000s of pics on Flickr, large fan groups on Facebook and Ning and constant tweets on Twitter to name a few.
   
  Once brand managers know where people congregate online, they can enter discussions via PR and interactive advertising. I believe an approachable persona mixed in humurous kitsch and classic PR would be very well received in micromedia formats (@woot comes to mind).
• Develop Distinct Strategies for Each Platform
  Social media outlets are unique and some communities lend themselves to different business objectives (i.e awareness, response, promotion, revenue, feedback channels, etc). Plan accordingly.
• Leverage UGC
  Integrate user-generated content into Waffle House web properties.
• Attach the Brand to a Quirky Holiday
  Waffle House already does this to some extent. They are a sponsor of Real Men Cook, a family celebration event hosted on Father’s Day in Atlanta. Waffle House benefits with buzz marketing, product placement and celebrity endorsement.
   
  The company also celebrates National Waffle Week and hosts the World Waffle Eating Championship that garners press for it’s high-profile speed eaters.
   
  A cheap Quirky Holiday SEM Strategy could generate local press, elevate presence of mind & uptick sales for a couple days on an otherwise off-beat holiday. Eat What You Want Day [May 11] could be fun given their pick-n-choose menu. Other possibilities: Lips Appreciation Day [Mar 16] and No Housework Day [Apr 7].
• Update the “Newsroom”
  I’d wager the Waffle House Newsroom got a lot of hits today with this story. And it hasn’t been updated in over two years. Good media relations is critical.
• Web Analytics & PR Measurement
  Judging by the state of the site, and the apparent lack of a full-time PR manager, I’d wager executives don’t study inbound traffic sources. At one time, Waffle House partnered with Vocus for on-demand news monitoring and measurement. Hopefully company employs basic online monitoring.
• Implement a Brandjacking Defense Posture
  These are just the kind of one-off stories that instigate a brandjacking that will probably run it’s course in a few days. Even if this case probably will not hurt the brand long-term, why risk it? It appears @wafflehouse has already been brandjacked on Twitter and on Google’s Blogspot.
   
  Using my Social Media Checklist, Waffle House brand managers should snag social media profiles, even if it doesn’t actually engage followers.
• Speak to Security Concerns
  Customers need to feel safe. Be open about what security measures the company is taking and address flagrant misstatements when they occur. This requires active and passive online brand monitoring.
• New Price Points
  I’m not privy to current Waffle House pricing strategies, although, I do remember All You Can Eat deals for $3.99 in college! Brands have to be careful about competing on price when a depressed economy eventually recovers. However, this story got traction because of the economy; people will make a connection on price & this lady being unable to afford $7.45. A temporary high-level plan can hedge against public blowback.

Enterprise Strategies in Social Media

While PR focused on external messaging, Waffle House can use social media for internal infrastructure communications.

• Franchise Communications
  A few years ago, I got an internal sneak peak at Schlotzsky’s efforts to shore up internal communication among franchisees during a restructuring phase. I’d keep an eye out for anything that supported franchise relations specifically.
• Collaborate On Internet Messaging & Brand Identity
  Schlotzsky’s also addressed inconsistencies in external messaging, branding and stores across the franchise system, both in traditional and online advertising. From what I can tell, Waffle House is facing similar challenges today. Even after establishing a strict code of branding guidelines, policing and enforcement requires dedicated resources.
• Regional Online Marketing & Domainjacking Avoidance
  The lack of an online messaging strategy also puts the brand at risk for domainjacking. Franchises are already grabbing their own domain names, which is common when marketplace planning and legal don’t keep pace with technology.
   
  Waffle House should have a unified front in the WaffleHouse.com domain, improve the store locator & offer marketing pages for franchise owners so they can leverage the brand for local promotion. Following this, the company can develop strategies for regional online marketing & mitigate the risk of domainjacking.

Is this case study helpful? What would you suggest to Waffle House executives? Please share your thoughts below!

Case Study: Effective Online PR by Travel Brands

Working at GSD&M, I got to see some of the cool interactive and broadcast work we did for Norwegian Cruise Line. The creative campaign translates well across print, outdoor & direct and the TV spots have been well-received.

In the social space, Carnival has cruised to the front of the Twitter line. They have a brand evangelist, @CruiseSource, tweeting live from a Carnival cruise that is currently underway. His current bio reads “Your Source for Everything related to Cruising. Live from CCL Destiny 10.16.08.”

CruiseSource.us is a blog about cruising, not Carnival persay. My clients in the travel industry tell me that they enjoy perks from cruise lines and destination resorts in exchange for bookings and promotion. Presumably, that arrangement exists for CruiseSource, and it’s a good way for Carnival to dip their toe in the social ocean.

What is notable about this case is how effectively brand evangelists utilize micromedia to generate buzz and online PR for brands. This is also a good example of small businesses being nimble with social strategy and engagement.

Best Practices in Social Media Strategy & Engagement

CruiseSource is using Twitter to establish themselves as experts in their niche. Rather than just constantly link back to their site, an early mistake they seem to have overcome, they relate with their audience in meaningful ways. Examples:

• They spent weeks building excitement about this cruise.
• They invite cruise-related questions and follow-up with answers.
• They retweet properly.
• They reply and DM properly.
• They suggest cruising for nonprofit fundraising.
• They post cruise specials.
• They post cruise news related to Hurricane Gustav, primarily as a service, but they also attract Twitter search traffic.
• They search Twitter for lead generation. Very smart. They can expand their search by topic, by cruise line, by cruise ship and by destination to find perfect little nuggets like this.
• They listen to tweeters and engage them directly with relevant responses.
• They invite followers & prospective followers to give cruise feedback.
• They tweet about fun activities while aboard the cruise.
• They link to Flickr pics from the cruise ship.
• They are patiently building a Twitter following, maintaining a follow/follower ratio around 4:1.

Apparently their efforts have led a major cruise line to invite CruiseSource to participate on a web 2.0 advisory board. If this is Carnival, then kudos for building a smart partnership and generating inexpensive online PR. As long as CruiseSource maintains an air of industry promotion and authentic human interaction, Carnival will benefit from the company’s peer recommendations.

For any travel brand, I suggest a few more tips in establishing a genuine social presence online.

• Be more personable. CruiseSource has found a voice on Twitter and its blog, but it still hides behind the company name on all posts. Even using a first name (Tucker?) would cut through informality and lend credibility to their recommendation.
• Browse Peter Kim’s list of social media marketing examples for inspiration. Carnival Connections already made his list with it’s community forum, but the site entry is weighted heavily toward sales.
• Remain Authentic. Tyler Banfield offers good tips on authentic promotion.

I’m interested to see what travel brands develop on other social platforms, both in external marketing and within the company’s internal organization of staff, partners and sales channels.

Without being privy to formal Twitter usability studies, I’d wager most people rarely browse their tweet timeline beyond the first page. For those of us who follow hundreds and thousands of tweeters, we miss the vast majority of tweets in our network. It also means that only the most frequent tweeters have a chance of being heard by their followers.

How to hear your friends on Twitter

When I’m in a consumer mode, I often click on individual tweeters to read their last series of posts. I gravitate toward different people depending on what mood/topic I’m interested in at the time.

My friend who is new to Twitter asks, “How can I push my friend’s tweets to me?” Easy. Scroll to the bottom of a profile and subscribe to the RSS feed. You will see their tweets in your reader.

You may have select tweeters of whom you’d like to read everything they say, so subscribe to their RSS feeds. Note, when someone deletes a tweet from their timeline, it still appears in their RSS feed like Google Reader or Facebook. People in this category might include:

• News feeds
• Family & close friends
• Thought leaders, trend watchers
• Twitter HR: Coworkers, staff, employees, applicants
• Prospective tenants
• Online reputation management
• Legal forensics
• Private accounts for project collaboration
• Companies, products, sports teams, celebrities
• Others? Leave a comment below!

How to be heard by your friends on Twitter

Use @name replies so tweets about them will show up in their Replies list. I’ve found people tend to favorite these tweets more often (I do too) and people are more apt to reply back. Be sure to put the @reply at the beginning of your tweet, otherwise it will not appear in their Replies list (Twitter should fix this).

I also direct message (DM) people with increasing frequency. By default, Twitter sends them an email to their preferred email account and it lands in their Direct Messages queue. Good uses for @replies and DMs are:

• Expressing appreciation for new follows
• Conventions, tweet-ups
• To make an introduction
• Apply for jobs w/ Twitter-savvy recruiters like @kimhaynes
• Ping a friend’s mobile device (also use the Nudge feature)
• Quick & pithy emails
• Top of mind awareness
• Lead generation

Is this helpful? Please talk back with a comment or tweet me with an @reply or DM

Clients, agencies and interactive production shops can use this checklist when registering brands with social networks & web 2.0 platforms for a specific campaign. This list is helpful for domain planning and for domainjacking avoidance.

UsernameCheck.com is a helpful utility that scans social tools to monitor domainjacking. Brand managers may elect to register brands with tools, even if they are not initially used in the campaign. Services like Profilactic.com can help with social media aggregation

» Last Modified December 10, 2008
» # of Platforms 93

Micromedia, Status

Social Bookmarking, Tagging, News, Trends, Lists

Blogging, Self Publication, Mashups, Aggregators

Rich Media, Video/Photo Sharing, Podcast Networks

Social Gaming

Social Communities, Networking

Enterprise, E-commerce, Tools, Utilities

* = High risk for domainjacking. Register these accounts at minimum for all campaigns. Certain types of campaigns may require accounts on other/all platforms.

Was this post helpful? Have any additions? Don’t agree with my taxonomy? I wanna know. Please talk back & leave a comment!

Clients, agencies and interactive production shops can use this this TLD checklist when registering top level domains for a specific campaign. This list is helpful for domain planning and for domainjacking avoidance.

» Last Modified October 6, 2008
» # of Platforms 81

Generic TLDs

Nearly all campaigns merit registration of all Generic TLDs.
.biz
.com
.info
.name
.net
.org
.pro

Sponsored TLDs

Registration of these domains is limited to specific conditions.
.aero
.asia
.cat
.coop
.edu
.gov
.int
.jobs
.mil
.mobi
.museum
.tel
.travel

Commercial, Vanity and Domain Hack ccTLDs

Brands may utilize some of these popular country code TLDs. They may also build domain hacks that combine subdomain and TLDs for clever or shorter domains (i.e. del.icio.us).

.ad – advertising
.ag – agriculture
.am – AM radio, audio, podcasts, domain hacks
.be – domain hacks
.cc – carbon copy
.cd – Audio, podcasts, file sharing
.dj – Audio, podcasts, file sharing
.fm – FM radio, audio, podcasts
.gg – social gaming, gambling (gg = good game)
.im – instant messaging, domain hacks
.in – Internet, domain hacks
.it – Internet, domain hacks
.je – “You” in Dutch and “I” in French
.la – Los Angeles, domain hacks
.li – Long Island, domain hacks
.lv – Las Vegas, love
.md – medical doctor
.me – individuals
.ms – Microsoft projects
.mu – music, audio
.nu – “New” in English, “Now” in Dutch
.sc – source
.st – street
.to – Toronto, domain hacks
.tv – broadcast, entertainment, online video
.ws – website
.vu – “View” in English, online video
.vg – video games, advertainment

TLD References

IANA
ICANN
Historical TLDs
Generic TLDs (gTLDs)
Sponsored TLDs (sTLDs)
Country Code TLDs (ccTLDs)
List of Current IANA TLDs

Has your online community become stagnant? Are you struggling with “resource poverty?” Perhaps you don’t have the capital to upgrade your forum software. Or your mods are burned out wasting their time fighting spam, breaking up flame wars and banning trolls for a dwindling group of participants.

Some forums should be closed. But before you decide to eliminate your online community, reconsider its benefits, even if it is struggling. Reinvestment may be justified.

• Forum Participants Are Personally Invested
  People freely give their time to participate here. Knowledge is shared, there is a sense of community and authentic friendships are formed. Removing this data wipes out that collective investment.
   
  People will be pissed when their investment is cavalierly wiped out. If you are determined to close your forums, at least make them read-only.
• Deleting Forums Weakens Communities.
  You may notice that parts of your community swarm to new platforms like Twitter, Plurk, Ning etc. You will always have early adapters that dabble in new platforms, but chances are, you have regular participants + lurkers in stagnant forums.
   
  We decided to take down the SQPN forums when they got overrun spam and one bad apple troll because the volunteer mods didn’t have enough time to deal with them. A few people migrated to other related communities, but the vast majority of members just went *poof*. In hindsight, we should have made those forums read-only until we had the chance to properly devote resources to them.
• Deleting Forums Alters Culture.
  Building a new community is much more volatile than maintaining one. Salvaging a stagnant community with a safe inviting culture preserves the voice and culture. Creating a new community risks losing a notable asset. Read more about this group dynamic in the Online Community Lifecycle.
• UGC Is Gold.
  Companies are knocking themselves out to encourage user generated content. Even a stagnant community has nurtured a rich garden of UGC goodness. The personal investment of individuals strengthens bonds among like-minded people and presents opportunities for promotion, search marketing and higher advertising revenue.
• SEO Opportunities
  Your current forum content could easily translate to 100,000s of pages indexed by Google and other search engines. Every page, every keyword, every phrase, every misspelling, every link represents a long-tail opportunity to optimize free organic search results. SEO from your forums is a powerful way to attract more visitors.
• Lurker Conversions
  Forrester Research has found that 80% of community members are lurkers. Most new members are naturally reserved. They want to discern the benefits of a community before they commit themselves. Once they become active participants, your brand gathers more free UGC.
   
  Some community managers force registration to fight spam and keep trolls at bay. However, this policy misses tremendous SEO benefits. If this is your policy, you can assume that a large swath of fresh participants are dissuaded from ever participating.
• Donation Opportunities
  If your website accepts donations, there is almost certainly a direct correlation between unique site visitors and contributions. All of your forum pages serve both as point of new visitor attraction (SEO) and a point of donation awareness.
• Advertising & Sponsorship Opportunities.
  Each forum page represents an impression for which advertisers are willing to pay. This is a lucrative revenue opportunity that can cover the cost of forums. People will tolerate tasteful ads in forums if they know it supports the community and your brand.
• A Fresh Start
  Resetting your forum is a good time to strengthen your moderator team and help alleviate their workload. A new forum is also a good reason to reach out to lapsed members to invite them back.

Today’s forum software has smarter ways to fight spam, can handle massive traffic loads & integrate advertising. You can almost certainly find a flexible, stable solution that allows you to migrate data from your current forum and preserve all of the rich conversations and connections of your community.

HBO is experimenting with media convergence through it’s HBOlab unit in a new web series, Hooking Up. Set in a fictional college named Bask U, the show features popular video bloggers and web celebrities. HBOlab will release the show exclusively through online video venues.

The series would emphasize content and experience over relatively low production costs, something HBO has been willing to try in the past with Project Greenlight and K Street. Both of these pseudo documentaries also leveraged star-status to help generate buzz. I expect Hooking Up will attract more visibility given advances in social media platforms and a broader reach of online video delivery.

The show’s best shot at success is each star’s ability to self promote directly to their own massive fanbases online. The sense of being approachable lends a web celebrity a distinct advantage over the contests and film stars used in previous HBO projects. Moreover, the current fanbase is already in place and quite active.

Fortunately, it sounds like the project’s success will not be measured simply on it’s ability to turn a profit, rather HBOlabs appears to have freedom to really play in the social space. Following my experience on the BMW Ramp mockumentary, I anticipate a few benefits for HBO despite the low entry costs:

• Devoted Fans
  Behind-the-scenes commentaries & extra content can turn causal consumers into devoted fans, especially when a company engages them directly. Consumers that become personally invested with the stars and each other can become powerful WOM channels. Dwights Blog, Ron Moore’s Battlestar Galactica podcast and multiple Lost Podcasts are good examples.
• New Audiences
  HBO has an opportunity to develop new online communities around shows, storylines and set locations. They can also attract audiences from niche communities and convert them to devoted fans.
• New Real Estate
  HBO has an opportunity to develop new web properties with which sponsors will want to associate their own brands.
• New Talent
  HBOlabs can develop production and creative talent into other projects at HBO. Shows & talent can cross pollinate to generate more buzz and attract fresh audiences. We realize similar benefits at SQPN.
• Generate Buzz
  Free PR outlets like fans, evangelists, thought leaders and the business press help refresh HBO’s top of mind awareness and new paid subscriptions.
• Smart Positioning
  Companies that invest in social media are currently perceived as youthful, approachable and technically savvy.

HBOlab is already gaining popularity with Runawaybox, an interactive brand spanning multiple domains, including a behind-the-scenes blog, MySpace and multiple Youtube channels.

Hooking Up is written and directed by Sherwood “Woody” Tondrof, part of the creative talent behind “The BC“, a 2005-2006 web series spoof on Fox’s “The OC.” The BC tells the story of a troubled Boston College student who meets a kindly Jesuit priest. The show is fiction, but it effectively uses real BC students and professors and garnered national attention through a mixture of traditional and online guerrilla marketing.

Here is my POV on why companies are slow to move in the social space despite the benefits. I offer a suggestion to curious company managers as well: start a simple “Social Media Lab” to explore tools and best practices.

Before asking why companies avoid social media, let’s consider a brief primer on why they should.

How can companies benefit from social media?

Thousands of blogs are devoted to this simple question. Here are a few reasons.

Better Service
Customers appreciate multiple channels of communication. By making themselves more approachable and accountable in the marketplace, companies earn the trust of new and existing customers. This can translate to a culture of listening, testimonials, good PR and higher sales.

Better Support
Public support empowers customers to resolve problems quickly and independently.
Companies like SWsoft experience tremendous growth because they introduce their customers to each other for mutual technical support. The company keeps close tabs on rising issues in their Plesk product and refines their development roadmap for new features requested by customers. SWsoft needn’t be concerned with public criticism because they have an opportunity to openly demonstrate their commitment to service. They also enjoy quick and thorough defense from evangelists. Peer reviews are very powerful for growth.

Higher Sales
Trust and accountability earned in service and support broadens a company’s target. In addition, social media can elevate service for preferred customers. For example, Dell Premier Pages helps large customers handle procurement and support, but social media introduces opportunities for lead gen, sales assistance and higher per-sale closings.

Stronger Vendor Relations
Opening lines of communication and collaboration among vendor networks increases efficiency and cuts costs. This applies to everything from fulfillment to billing and encompasses breaking news, emergencies and feedback.

Internal Collaboration
For years, companies have benefited from intranet communications: news engines, wikis, document sharing, learning management systems, trouble ticketing, etc. Social media like message boards, blogs, commenting, online ideation, social chat and UGC sharing are part of a natural evolution toward group cohesion.

According to the Avanade study, among the companies that are early adopters of social media, two thirds have experienced improved customer satisfaction. 64% report an improved reputation in the marketplace. Most reported that social media is inevitable, and 2 in 5 companies can directly associated an increase in sales with a move to using new forms of media. So, the study begs the question…

Why are companies avoiding social media?

The Avanade study cited common reasons around fear and apathy for a lack of social media integration. Company executives worry that social media will cut employee productivity. They worry about security and reliability on unproven technologies. Social media advocates claim executives don’t understand the potential of social media on customers or employees.

My experience is that social media reticence within advertising stems from three key areas.

The Timing Is Premature
We have witnessed similar hesitation in nearly every iteration of online media. Indeed, the technology adoption lifecycle paints a clear bell curve between innovative early adopters and laggards. I remember a similar argument among small businesses on why they should even publish web sites. Today, it seems, the examples of good uses of social media are coming from small businesses seeking to distinguish themselves as nimble and responsive to large competitors. It is simply a matter of time until early social media success parlays into broader adoption.

Advertising Reactionaries vs Progressives
There exists within advertising two philosophical camps: Reactionaries that cling to traditional media and progressives that tout the bleeding edge of new media. Reactionaries tend to live in the upper echelons of account, creative and media departments. Progressives are younger up-and-comers across agency ranks and most have had high-speed Internet access their entire adult lives. Reactionaries read printed versions of Advertising Age and progressives watch daily Ad Age vidcasts. A cycle of conflict ensues: progressives respond to reactionary skepticism by pushing the latest interactive trends (even if inappropriate) and reactionaries respond to the idealism of progressives by not supporting cool projects (even if appropriate). Internal strife abounds before and after work is presented to the client.

Marketing vs IT
There exists within companies a natural push-pull between Marketing and IT groups, especially around web site management. In the realm of interactive advertising, Marketing is drawn to new methods of reaching audiences despite unproven technologies, high costs and lack of resources. IT resists high implementation costs and distractions from principal duties in security, uptime and data management despite the potential benefits of a well executed campaign.

How can companies explore social media?

Nobody wants to risk undo harm to their brand. Therefore, competing groups tend to look to the market to guide their next steps. Social media tools are so new that virtually everyone waits to see which tools, platforms and best practices bubble up to mainstream. The market naturally gravitates toward proven success.

Taking a page from the Google Labs playbook, I suggest that curious companies create their own “Social Media Lab” that explores the social space. Competing groups can build a social web strategy by sharing their perspectives on risks and opportunities and performing light experiments.

Both Marketing and IT groups have individuals that tinker on the edge of new media. Marketing has people that are always entertaining new methods of reaching untapped audiences. IT has people that apply their their own sense of creativity to new technologies and platforms. Putting these people together with an expressed common goal can yield fascinating results.

While working at Power Computing, a very successful Macintosh-clone company, we experimented with several tools in the mid 1990s that precipitated the rise of social media. We devoted resources to extranet development so internal staff and partners could collaborate. We monitored public forums and listservs closely in order to engage the public directly, announce news and respond to emergencies. We eventually shared our internal support knowledge base with the public, a tool that became the basis of Apple’s online support. Each of these activities contributed to the public perception of Power Computing as young, edgy and well-intentioned, giving the company a competitive boost.

Forrester Analyst Jeremiah Owyang describes the evolution of brands on Twitter. His web strategy offers insight into any social medium the Lab wants to explore. He advocates a crawl-walk-run approach for brands curious about social media.

A Social Media Lab does not need to be a distraction. With a little concerted knowledge sharing and a playful approach to social media, companies can harness energy and interest amid small teams to realize potential for the entire company.

Links

Web Pro News Article “Majority of Companies Avoiding Social Media,” Sep 8, 2008

Coleman Parkes Research, author of the survey, “CRM and Social Media: Creating Deeper Customer Relationships.” See also: “Web Content Development and Management,” a white paper on the tension between Marketing and IT.

Avanade Press Release “Most Companies Avoid Integrating Social Media Despite Evidence of Benefits,” Sep 8, 2008

Avanade CRM & Social Media Reports from the Avanade Advisor.

Avanade Thought Leadership Series of webinars, podcasts and white papers on commercial use of social media and digital collaboration.

Although Social Media Will Normalize, Dedicated Roles and Direction Are Still Needed Forrester Analyst Jeremiah Owyang foresees natural dedicated roles as corporations define business goals and put budgets and resources towards social media.

I found this member’s disposition to be quite amusing in spite of the anguish he caused. He really did know his stuff, even though his tough-love modus operandi ruffled feathers. I joined the group and started a new topic entitled “Ode to [whatever is name was].” I wrote a simple sonnet a la the meter of “There once was a man from Nantucket” about this particular individual.

In an amusing and respectful way, I essentially pointed out how smart this guy was. People needed to look past his curmudgeon persona and listen to the genuine knowledge he had to offer.

The response was very positive given that it was so personal. People came forward to give the guy the credit he deserved, yet inviting him to chill out. He appreciated the gesture, other lurkers came out of the shadows and several people even wrote their own poems; very funny in a stale financial forum.

Unfortunately, Clark’s moderator got wind of the thread and, incredibly, removed it because it didn’t meet some strict (and secret) rule about never ever under any circumstances deviating from financial discussions. Shortly thereafter and ever since, newcomers are assaulted with the glaring red warning to behave and to watch out for unscrupulous behavior, negative messaging that is sure to drive them straight to the shadows of Lurker Land.

The moderator’s decision was a real shame because we had planted a fun seed of comradeship and goodwill amid a well-intentioned community. Moreover, this online brand was desperately struggling to find a kind voice that welcomed new members. It’s remarkable because if you spend 2 minutes listening to Clark, you’ll hear a very gentle and humorous tone that was in stark contrast to the vitriol people encountered on his website at that time. I think the moderator’s seemingly hip-shot decision to stamp out any fun was a serious mistake for another reason as well: Community leaders should never forget that people are actually investing themselves when they contribute content. This investment strengthens a community and develops brand evangelists. And converting lurkers to active participants should always be nurtured whenever possible.

Thankfully, Clark seems to have learned some important lessons. His team has a presence on the boards and applies more consistent moderation. New visitors can see clearly demarcated subject matters to consume content relevant to them.

Clark also does an excellent job of directing his radio listeners to his website during his “Trash Clark” segment where he invites people to log on and leave feedback in his “Clark Stinks” forum. This strategy accomplishes two key objectives simultaneously. (Note: I hesitate to say “strategy” because I believe Clark’s success is in large part because he has a true servant’s heart. He cares deeply about his listeners.) First, by promoting his message boards, he is encouraging people to participate beyond listening and lurking. I’d wager his website enjoys long length-of-stays and very low bounce rates. It’s prime real estate for his radio advertisers which presumably could generate more revenue for some technology improvements.

Second, Clark provides a vehicle for people to give him direct public feedback, which amplifies his nice-guy approachable image. Few people actually bash Clark, but his gesture is very smart.

While part of this online community feels as though it’s clinging to adolescence, at least it has matured beyond puberty. Clark’s radio convergence and enthusiastic team shows signs of even greater potential.