Doing Social Media Well

Can we say, for the moment, that a social media campaign knits together tools-in one place, or in disparate sitesthat allow visitors of various kinds (prospective students, alumni, or others) to share information they or others have generated-and interact with each other in various ways. So your campaign might involve a blog, a Flickr group, YouTube videos along with some sort of social network. Pretty exciting, au courant, Web 2.0ish.

And fraught with the opportunity to make public, stupid mistakes. So before you start your own social media effort, I suggest you take a close look at BL Ochman’s “What Kills a Social Media Campaign” to observe some of the mistakes to avoid. She offers case studies of a number of corporations that have implemented social media campaigns—most of them ill-advised.

Take Edelman Public Relations, which was caught twice flogging on behalf of Wal-Mart [flogging involves posting fake blogs]. This one was particularly egregious:

Wal-Mart’s first flog was a folksy blog called Wal-Marting Across America. It featured the journey of Laura and Jim, a couple on their maiden trip in an RV (recreational vehicle), capturing stories of their trip from Las Vegas to Georgia, during which they parked their RV in friendly Wal-Mart’s parking lots.

Or other companies (can you say Ford?), which tried to control the message—which is not an option in an effective social media campaign.

You can avoid these mistakes, at least—and make your own. And explore the innovative models offered by Lego and Netflix. These companies are doing it right, Ochman says, developing creative effective online/offline communities and involving their customers in some truly innovative ways.