By Niland Mortimer

Social media as a standard marketing discipline has expanded how brands communicate both within their corporate cultures and with their constituents, customers, and consumers.  From tightly controlled internal communications to the most forward looking approaches to open branding, social media platforms are creating new channels to solve traditional marketing and business problems.

A couple of weeks ago in Amsterdam we attended an Enterprise Social Media 2.0 conference that included speakers from companies ranging from Lego, Kodak and L’Oriel, to Vodaphone and Nokia, to Google, SAP, Airbus,, Swift, and Dominos Pizza.  Their uses of social media were as remarkable and as diverse as the companies themselves, with each providing instructive lessons in creativity and social media best practice.

Common to all was the assumption that social media is grounded in strategy that supports overall marketing goals and objectives.  It’s another tool in the marketing team’s tool-kit to drive business and add value.  It’s not a stand -alone activity for the sake of participation in a new media.

Two examples stand out for their different embrace of social media.  The first is Domino Pizza, or more correctly, six local Domino Pizza shops in downtown Chicago managed by one owner-operator, Ramon DeLeon.  It would be wise to remember this name, because what Ramon has done with social media in his shops is nothing less than revolutionary.

Ramon uses Twitter, YouTube and Facebook the way most fast food retailers use coupons, POS, and standard local promotions.  Actually, he uses these new mediums to greater value than the old tried-and-true models, both as a lower cost replacement as well as an enhancement.  As Ramon says “I cannot make money selling pizzas for One Dollar, but I can make money off the conversation it generates.”  Echoing the common sentiment, Ramon goes on to say that social is made up of tools you can use in addition to your core business plan.  “It is not meant to replace it.”

For instance, imagine walking into a Domino’s to pick up your order and being encouraged to become a fan on Facebook, or Tweet your experience, or upload a video, right in the shop while you wait!  Or watching an apology on YouTube for a late pizza delivery only a short time after the event.  One such apology, made personally by Ramon and his stop manager, has had nearly 50,000 views.  Ramon follows his Twitter stream daily using Monitter.com so he can Tweet back in real time with suggestions, thank you’s, or corrections to any error one of his six shops might make.  As he concluded, “Conversation is the new online currency!  Twitter is a Goldmine of Conversation.”

The second example is how Lego from Denmark uses brand communities to foster long term value creation.  Specifically, Lego looks at its audience as segmented communities of users who each contribute to the brand in ever more significant levels of brand involvement.  Theirs is one of the best examples of “open branding” among large consumer marketing companies, based on acutely understood customer behaviors starting with the purchase of products and services and ending with creation and co-creation with the brand.

Using social media crowd sourcing, Lego gives users the opportunity for actual product development.  Users submit their proposals online, in which they generate new product ideas or customize existing Lego products.  Once a certain item receives 1000 votes by other users, Lego Group will consider it for manufacturing.  If selected, the proposer receives royalty payments based on sales revenue.

Lego sees it business as a value creating and value capturing eco-system involving both the company and its consumer base.  The dynamics of Lego’s consumer affinities are impacted by both the relationship between the company and its users and the connectivity and relationships among the users.  It’s a win-win scenario for all parties.