We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, its how well we do it – this was a key quote I got out of the Socialnomics book by Eric Qualman

Brands big and small, all had to change their strategy almost overnight to include a digital component and separate clauses for Facebook, Twitter, My Space, Websites, Blogs etc.

There are some who are still struggling, but more and more are doing it RIGHT

Here are the the highest ranking brands in social media and also my favs: (due to their ROI where social media cost is so low and viewership/usability is oh so high!)

1. Blendtec

This video is my least favourite, nevertheless I watched it a numerous amount of times along with 9.8MM other viewers

(To avoid shock and disappointment – they blended an iPHONE! and smoke actually came out!)

Result: 5 fold increase in sales just via short videos of “Will it Blend?” on You Tube featuring their CEO Tom Dickson

2. Burger King “Sacrifice”

Sacrificing 10 friends on FB never got you a free burger before Burger King’s “Sacrifice” app

Result: 200,000 friends were “sacrificed” and 20,000 users adopted the app, ticking off the viral status for BK

(The app got shut down for privacy concerns but BK got the BUZZ and the followers out of it!)

3.  Starbucks wants your ideas

My Starbucks Idea went out on a limb and asked you what you as a consumer think

You can post an idea on technology, food and of course coffee drinks, you can share on FB and Twitter and join discussions – basically its an awesome forum and Starbucks is hearing you and engaging you as a user – great social media implementation

Result: The Starbucks brand gives a personal touch to coffee and saves millions on market research

4. IBMer’s Blogs

IBM provides a platform for their PEOPLE to blog about anything they like, so there is a disclaimer that the views expressed are not necessarily representative of IBM, but thats great news! That means there is freedom of expression and thats what social media should be embraced for!

Result: A network of blogs created a higher hype than just one company/CEO blog and employee connection directly increased which is great news for IBM

5. Zappos.com on Twitter

Zappos leads the way in Twitter utilisation for retailers

They provide instant communication with clients and there is a mini blog which collects all the buzz and mentions that happen on Zappos Twitter page to interact with consumers on a daily basis.

Their unique proposition is that the CEO’s personality is the brand’s personality and people feel like they are chatting to a friends as oppose to a brand.

Result: Social media ingrained in corporate culture resulting in outstanding customer service and therefore following and sales

6.  Dell Dell Everywhere

Dell stepped in and didn’t just use one or two social media platforms. Dell uses them all and cross promotes across their entire network. This is the new way to ad block except you are actually engaging with users.

This is called a cross-platform community which includes multiple blogs, social media pages, mini blogs and Twitter handlers

Result: Dell’s social media efforts helped create $1 Million in Revenue

7. Home Depot – creating a HOW TO Community

The plan:  create the ‘hybrid’ job of social-media store associate to staff the How-To Community, open 7 days a week and complete with forums, project and buying guides, and the how-to blog.

• select 25 selected associates work 2 days a week on social-media efforts, and 3 days a week in their existing store job
• spend social-media days managing the How-To Community, answering questions, and creating content for use company-wide
• social-media store associates get cool names like SteelToes, ChrisFixIt and THDiva, as reported by AdAge

The results:  How did this non-traditional social media team structure work for the brand?

• 7 months after launch, the How-To Community is ‘exceeding benchmarks’
• Nearly 2,000 topics have been started – some discussions have led to hundreds of posts
• the volume of posts is so high that the corporate can’t review all content before it’s posted, though all posts are reviewed within 24 to 48 hours
• the associates are creating content beyond the How-To Community and will soon begin contributing to the company blog, The Apron
• the Home Depot Facebook page has over 350,000 fans
• @HomeDepot has nearly 40,000 followers on Twitter